#the aesthetic of act ii is more horror-inspired but i feel like act i is probably the most frightening for the characters because there

[gribbo]

omg omg. 32 for silk ♥️

32. dust motes

"What is the worth," asks the lich, "of a single mortal's life?"

Shadowheart sparks a fire in her hand. Vally Dell, self-styled Ranger of Reaching, reaches for her knife. The minstrel who's somehow found himself in such company slides down the wall, his legs giving out halfway, and scrabbles for the music-box he'd dropped. His hand sinks to the wrist in a fur of dust. A cog rolls past his foot and clatters against a loose floorstone.

"I ask again." The wrinkled leather of the lich's face shifts. Its voice is less dry than the rest of it: mild and unhurried, a water-wheel turned by a strange current. "What is the worth—"

"A life is worth its weight in pain," snaps Shadowheart, thrusting the torch of her hand out. Her terror burns behind the minstrel's eye. Even the white flame, leaping high, trembles as it sweeps the shadows from every corner. "Come any closer, monster, and yours will break the scale."

Vally jogs her weight warily from foot to foot. "I'll happen he's already weighed, flower."

He needs that cog, the minstrel thinks. The nature of clockwork: one missing piece, no matter how small, and you’re back to squinting at sundials. It's something Jem had told him once, crawling on her filthy workroom floor after something minuscule and bright; he had knelt too, blacking the knees of his best breeches, and found the sprung spring winking at them under a trolley.

"Depends on the life," Vally's saying to the thing that will finally kill them, "doesn't it?"

The minstrel reaches across the floor. The lilt of Shadowheart's voice—she'd sing in a lovely coloratura, he suspects—muddles with the noise of their thoughts, his and hers and Vally's, and the steady drip of groundwater from the ceiling of the crypt. He misses the cog twice. His head throbs; he'd woken sticky-faced and sick on the riverbank, those hours ago. His eye's scabbed shut. All the blood's crusted his hair into a sort of plaster—

"Thy companions have answered," says the lich, leaning down to him. The eyes that should have putrefied—grave, curious eyes, empty of malice—glint inches from his own. "Wilt thou?"

It's not going to kill them, he understands with a horrible lurch. It means them no harm at all. He'll soon have to get up again.

Shadowheart's not realized it, yet. Her voice rings out harsh and desperate. "Say something."

He has no head for riddles even when his head's on straight. Still, it's a simple one. In a cupped hand fuzzed with crypt-dust, he holds out the cog.

[send me a number, and i'll write a microfic using the word or phrase!]

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats #17 | The Erotic Reveries of Rinse Dream

Cafe Flesh opens with a title card orienting us to its post-apocalyptic setting. After a calamitous apocalyptic event known as the "Nuclear Kiss", the world is made up of 99% "Sex Negatives", and 1% "Sex Positives". The Sex Negatives can't have sex and can only watch. The Sex Positives escaped such a fate, but are instead forced to perform for an audience of Positives for their vicarious enjoyment. There are many such venues but the one we spend the movie in is the Cafe Flesh of the title, a nightclub where the decor and patronage evoke a cross between punk rock and retro-futurist aesthetics and a hint of Rat Pack era cool. A smarmy comedian in a white tuxedo introduces the sex acts, which are elaborately staged performances that play almost as genre parody with their tongue-in-cheek choreography (plenty of costumed grinding, as with a performer in a rat costume early on, and mimed thrusting, as with another performer in a pencil costume in a later scene) until the turn into the real thing with the requisite close-ups. Futuristic jazz reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's music plays over the proceedings.

This serves as the background to a story about a woman who may or may not secretly be a Positive (played by scream queen Michelle Bauer and, in certain scenes, a body double) and the impending arrival of a legendary Positive performer known for his virility (a towering, square-jawed Kevin James, introduced in black sunglasses and an oversized blue suit). We also get a sense of the tensions in this nightclub ecosystem, particularly between the heroine and her boyfriend, a new performer, the comedian, the owner (who puts the comedian in his place in one scene by having him cruelly recite "the rhyme"). (The comedian is played by Andy Nichols and the owner by Tantala Ray, both of whom played interview subjects in Gregory Dark's Devil in Miss Jones two-parter, which leads me to believe the latter was influenced by this movie, as Nichols in particular doesn't have many screen credits.)

This movie apparently was a bit of a success in the midnight movie circuit, and it's not hard to see why, based on the strength of the mise en scene and the performances. The cool, smoky backgrounds of the reaction shots provide a nice counterpoint to the avant garde looking performances and give the highly stylized setting a nice evocative quality. There's also a level of genre commentary here, as the story ultimately is about the heroine's agency over her pleasure and the roles sex performers are forced into by greater society, ultimately imprisoned by their own abilities. Truth be told I found the performances got a little less enjoyable when they got down to business with the penetration and whatnot (it gets harder to pull off inspired choreography when one of your appendages is stuck in another person, or vice versa), but I also think it's necessary for those themes to resonate.

Cafe Flesh was directed by Stephen Sayadian, credited as Rinse Dream, and he'd previously used that pseudonym on Nightdreams, for which he co-wrote the screenplay. (The director was Francis Delia, who went on to a career of directing mostly music videos and television, while the other writer was Jerry Stahl, known for his memoir Permanent Midnight, as well as writing for shows such as ALF and movies such as Bad Boys II.) This movie similarly concerns agency over female pleasure and is about two doctors (Andy Nichols and Jennifer West) conducting experiments on a mentally ill young woman by inducing erotic dreams and monitoring her brainwaves. There's a dream involving a giant, monstrous jack-in-the-box. There's one with a pair of cowgirls and something other than a gun stored in a holster, with the cowgirls spouting stilted dialogues in robotic monotones, a Sayadian trademark of sorts. Wall of Voodoo's cover of "Ring of Fire" plays over the action (I'm not sure if they paid for the rights, but Delia and Sayadian did direct videos for the band). There's one with a group of bedouins sharing a hookah and then her. There's a giallo-esque scene involving a masked assailant, but this happens after an aborted nightmare about a shrieking man with a hollow chest from his pants emerges a shrivelled up, monstrous baby. Did David Lynch jack off to this? I wouldn't rule it out, folks.

There's a scene where she blows an anthropomorphic box of Cream of Wheat, while a jaunty cover of "Old Man River" plays on the soundtrack and a man dressed as giant piece of toast dances and plays saxopohone. An IMDb user review cites this scene for its cutting racial commentary, but I found this tonally jarring with the rest of the movie. After this, there's a trip to hell where a demon and his minions subject her to such horrific tortures as prodding her with a giant claw and then an even more fearsome double-pronged contraption. The scientists argue over fears that they gave her too much stimulation. ("This woman's on the brink of an orgasm. Let her enjoy it. She doesn't need interruption from a man." "You call it orgasm. I call it breakdown.") The movie then makes way to its final set piece, involving fog, a background of blue sky and pillars and soft piano music. The cinematography in this scene is in stark contrast to the mostly shadowy, intimate imagery of the previous scenes, with the camera pulled up to admire both their bodies and the scene continuing for some time after the climax. It almost brings to mind a certain scene in Jerry Lewis' The Ladies Man that I found disarming in its stylistic and tonal break from the rest of the movie. Without revealing too much, the film's coda sets the record straight.

It probably doesn't say anything flattering about me that I found most of this pretty hot. The movie has a tinge of horror running through it, giving many of the sex scenes (especially the one in hell) a real tension, while the scientific framing device gives it a cold, calculating quality reminiscent of David Cronenberg. (Alas, this doesn't predate some of his most influential films, but for all we know, David Cronenberg jacked off to it as well.) A few of the character names (Mrs. Van Houten, Mrs. Chalmers) make me suspect that Matt Groening might have seen (and jacked off to) it as well. This is pure speculation on my part, but as far as I'm aware, none of them have denied it either. The movie's distinct tone is grounded in an impressive lead performance by Dorothy LeMay. I wasn't all too impressed with her work in Taboo II, but here I think she skillfully evokes the heroine's derangement and "erotic trauma", in the words of the scientists.

Sayadian and Stahl collaborated again for Dr. Caligari, a relatively mainstream effort that also found some success as a midnight movie. I say "relatively" because it's still pretty fucking weird. The movie positions itself as a loose sequel to Robert Wiene's classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this time about the granddaughter of the original Caligari conducting illegal experiments in an insane asylum. From the earlier film it pulls a German expressionist influence, but combines it with a campy, MTV-inflected style to present the asylum as a warped funhouse. The dimensions of the architecture are distorted and full of odd angles, decorated in a mixture of pitch black and gaudy day-glo colours (lots of yellow and pink costumes). This is not a pornographic movie, yet it's hardly less obsessed with sex, as the villain's plan concerns the weaponization of female pleasure. There's also the occasional grotesque sexually-charged image to spice things up, like the sight of a woman with giant, phallic-shaped breasts. Some of the imagery also gives it potency as horror, like an oozing sore or a cake full of intestines. There's a lot of strange, stilted dialogue, as in this exchange:

"Describe your life in three words or less."

"Un-ending torment."

"Elaborate, please."

"Blankety blank blank."

"Thank you for being specific."

This is matched by the angular body language of the villain, played by Madeline Reynal in a deadpan yet very physical performance. This movie also brings into focus a voyeuristic theme, which was present in those earlier movies but didn't seem quite as confrontational in its presentation. A character utters, basically to the audience: "I know you're watching me. I feel your eyes like wet fingers touching me in special places." (This is a line of dialogue that appeared in the next few films I'll talk about.) Truth be told, I was a little exhausted by the sensory overload of Sayadian's style here, and in retrospect appreciate the way the sex scenes act as a counterpoint to his more aggressive tendencies in his more explicit films. But at the same time, this is full of memorable imagery and has a weirdly compelling lead performance. I don't know if there's much else quite like it (or at least operating at this force), so it gets a recommendation.

Sayadian followed up Nightdreams with a few shot-on-video sequels. I skipped Nightdreams 2 as I could only find it in a heavily degraded transfer, but I did make time for Nightdreams 3, which has a self contained story that's essentially a more explicit if relaxed version of Dr. Caligari, once again concerning a doctor conducting sinister experiments at an insane asylum. (This time her experiments mostly involve just fucking her patients and other staff.) There's more of the stilted dialogue, even closer to non sequiturs than they were in the earlier film, with the music by Double Vision providing an off-kilter soundscape to match the weirdness of the dialogue. (Highlights include "My pussy's like an erotic assassin" and "I happen to know she has a thing for longshoremen. Just mention On the Waterfront and she gets randy pants.") The video imagery quite frankly is pretty ugly, with the green carpet and purple drapes that decorate the set looking especially ungainly, yet Sayadian seems aware of this, as when he uses video's flattening effect to create a crude facsimile of a split diopter shot. The video collage style he adopts meshes uneasily with the plot, as if to call out its meaninglessness, giving the whole thing a slight MST3K vibe, especially as characters speak directly to the camera.

Some of these tendencies are honed to a more pleasing form in the two-part Party Doll A Go-Go!, where we spend time with a number of attractive, shapely women in bright coloured lingerie as they spout '60s-inspired dialogue at the viewer in between scenes of copulation. (Not all the dialogue is '60s-tinged, however: "They're overcome with retro wordplay...Us modern girls prefer synthetic future".) Like many pornographic films, this is a collection of loosely related sex scenes, but Sayadian's construction turns those genre requirements into parody, having his characters offer colour commentary (albeit channeled through his campy prose) on their own scenes and even getting interrupted by the stars of subsequent and preceding scenes. The number of quotable lines is even greater than those earlier films, and I admit I was scrambling to write down the choicest ones as there were so many. The best lines go to Jeanna Fine, who also has the huskiest voice and the most penetrating stare, so she was easily my favourite. I certainly was not unmoved when she insisted that she's "never run around buck naked and bubbling for man-winky" or "never wrapped[her] lips around a throbbing johnny". (She does not, however, deny having ever interacted with beef bologna.) Or when she asked the audience "Was I a bad girl?" (said three times in rapid succession) or if we've "ever seen a double orgasm on videotape?" (She adds "Watch, pornhound" and "Calling all porndogs, watch me work, uh-huh.") And I definitely wasn't unmoved when she demonstrated her talents on a dildo dangled in front of her (which she refers to as an "artificial man-thing", a "chubby rubber fella" and a "flying princeton"). No, definitely not unmoved.

There isn't much of plot here, except in the latter half when one of the girls can't stop "the wiggle" and needs to be rescued with an emergency injection of "boy jerky". Sayadian, once again bringing voyeuristic concerns into focus (the characters all talk to the camera), seems to be satirizing the very idea of porn having premises and certain their lazy execution. Even the production design is transparent in its chintz (the movie is shot entirely on the same set, with the bare minimum in alterations to the set dressing to make it look even slightly different), while the video images, which feature lots of Dutch angles, zooms and whip pans, match the campiness of the whole affair. This is probably a little long at a combined 2+ hours, but at the same time, it settles into a nice groove and is full of really attractive and reasonably charismatic actresses delivering amusing dialogue and indulging in "girl homo" (sometimes "big time girl homo") or getting "boy jerky". I don't have much interest in delving into '90s pornography and shot-on-video productions strain the dignity one can feel while trying to watch pornographic films as actual movies, but I'm not gonna pretend I didn't have a good time with this.

[lanottedellastrega]

Out of the Shadows

Metal Hammer, Summer 2015. Transcript behind the cut.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS Poised to release their third album, Ghost have returned from their unholy slumber to reveal how their conversion mission is progressing - and when their end times might come... Words: Chris Chantler. Pics: John McMurtrie

Surely this can't be right. Hammer is awaiting an audience with a Nameless Ghoul from the Swedish Devil-worshipping cult of Ghost, half-expecting to be blindfolded and ridden to the ruins of a deconsecrated church for a clandestine rendezvous with the masked and robed envoys of Satan. Yet we're in the executive lounge of a Kensington hotel, and there's an extremely polite, alarmingly youthful-looking short-haired man in a leather jacket being introduced as "the author of Ghost." Hammer experiences some cognitive dissonance, imagining that this is a hoax, that Ghost are slyly pretending to have human faces and interpersonal skills to divert attention from the true nature of their esoteric origins or seduce us into foul practices. The only visible clue to this young man's role as Ghost mouthpiece is the symmetrically matching pair of skull-and-crossbones patches on his leather sleeves. Yet when he starts talking about Ghost's third album, the majestic Meliora, it's clear this guy knows what he's talking about.

"The first album [2010's Opus Eponymous] was about the impending doom of a more old-school Biblical sort, where death and destruction will come in the form of locusts and dark fog: it was the coming of the Antichrist," he explains in soft, measured tones, choosing his words with care, maintaining near-constant eye contact. "The second album [2013's Infestissumam] was about the presence of the devil, taking place aesthetically in a 1700's milieu with a more Baroque theme. Whereas this album is the absence of God. It's a futuristic, pre-apocalyptic record. The cat is out of the house and the mice dance on the table. But at some point, the cat comes home..."

Meliora is a godless state, where Ghost's totemic frontman-cum-sigil Papa Emeritus wields power and terror with fearful impunity. And like his spiritual predecessor, Iron Maiden's Eddie, he's renewed with each new phase of band activity, so we're now on Papa III. His city bears more than a passing resemblance to the world we live in.

"Meliora is the metropolitan landscape in which this album takes place; a backdrop that looks like a big city with a lot of hopeful people living in fear of not succeeding," he explains candidly. "Many of the lyrics on this album deal with ambition. It's ridden with a certain degree of self-loathing. I really hate ambitious people - that's why I live in a place where there's not a whole lot of them."

Ghost may not have had any grand ambitions, but five years on from their debut demo, single and LP, some of their original concept has had to be compromised by unimagined levels of growth and demand. For example, talking openly and earnestly to the press in his street clothes, his face and voice undisguised (rumours suggest he's singer-songwriter Tobias Forge, but his real name is politely unconfirmed) is something the Ghoul never intended to do. But he admits that the success of the band thus far - and the enthusiastic patronage of superstar superfans such as James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo and Dave Grohl - has greatly surprised and humbled the men behind the masks.

"Contrary to popular belief, we did not know that we were gonna get that much heat," the Ghoul affirms. "It's fun to play high horse and say it's just a trick and we're fucking with everybody, which we obviously are not. We had no idea. When we were rehearsing our debut, we had a conversation with Rise Above and were contemplating whether to make 500 or 1,000 copies. And maybe we could do a show at Roadburn. It was very innocent - even though that's a word I've never used in terms of Ghost! We've had to grow with it, and we had a lot of catching up to do between the first and second albums. But aesthetically a lot of things we're planning on doing are things we had on paper to begin with."

Realizing something magickal was happening, Ghost made a concerted decision to spread their message of Satanic arch camp horror out of the underground, moving from cult indie label Rise Above to Spinefarm, an imprint of Universal, the world's biggest major. But from their first recordings, Ghost were a musically accessible, traditional, melodic pop-rock showbiz act with influences from some of the biggest bands of the past (Kiss, Abba, Blue Oyster Cult), a strong visual identity and a mischievously lurid theology; it was clear this band needed a level of production above the average low-key doom band.

"In order to present ourselves in the way that we intended, we needed a larger setting," agrees the Ghoul. "We want Papa's hat to not touch the ceiling. We want the band to look like we're performing a mass rather than in a punk squat. What we saw in our minds was something that looked and felt solemn and larger than life."

From their earliest pronouncements, Ghost were demanding the world's attention, and with "a lot of touring," they made sure they got it. But the question of how long they can hold it for is one that the Nameless Ghoul is acutely aware of.

"We have our figure. We have our concept. We can work with that. But we're just on our third record. Out of all our favorite bands, where were they on their third record? They sure weren't chickening out and doing the same safe shit. That's not how you make a third record; that's not how Master of Puppets or Number of the Beast got made. You have to build and be as bold as you can be, even though it feels a little scary. Because we know, we can fuck this up. Especially on the third record, when you're supposed to take a big step. Are we gonna go down to the basement again? You don't know how many chances you get. This might be our last one."

To make that all-important leap forward on a pivotal album, as Metallica or AC/DC can tell you, the secret often lies in the choice of producer. Although there's a great metallic crunch to the music on Meliora, and a psychedelic audacity, Swedish pop savvy is the band's trump card. To further that end, Ghost employed knob-twiddler Klas Ahlund, best known for his songwriting collaborations with Britney Spears, Kylie, Katy Perry and Madonna.

"We felt, 'Maybe we should work with someone who can really help us redefine what we're doing,'" the Ghoul reasons. "He was keen to find a rock band with their own material, and we were looking for a producer with more of a songwriting skill, so it was a good match. As much as we could drive a car on the energy of thinking we're the best band in the world - a very small car! - we knew there must be things we can do better. Every band with self-respect should work with someone who can really challenge what you're doing, and we did that with Klas. When you're on a major label with bigger expectations, you have the opportunity to get a yes or now from people you'd like to work with. But early on we realised, as much fun as it is to look at records we love and say, 'Let's get Mutt Lange!' or 'Let's get Bob Rock!' it felt like we should get our own man. Many of these big producers weren't big producers until they did that big record that we associate them with."

As they await the world's reaction to Meliora, Ghost have already amassed "the ground basics of what will become the next album." Nevertheless, for a band with such clear vision and attention to detail, it's tempting to wonder if they've planned an exit strategy.

"I had one vision two years ago and I have another vision now, and I may have another two years from now," muses the Ghoul. "We can catapult our concept around a few times, into different eras and spheres, but it has its time and place. I don't think anybody would enjoy having us around doing this forever; when there's nothing more to say, I hope we're sober enough to yank out the cord. We're not going to use Ghost for every musical dream we have. It's all fun and games to be in robes, but it's also lots of fun playing three-piece punk rock in your t-shirt."

However, with the musical development evident on Meliora, happily Ghost look set to continue expanding their sound and mythology. Have you joined the cult?

---

WHO IS PAPA III? Three things we know about our new, mysterious leader...

Papa Emeritus III is younger than his brother, Papa Emeritus II, by three months. Nameless Ghoul: "There are several Mamas. And one big, old, really, really bad Papa. That might give you an indication of what's gonna happen in the future. There's one shark in the water you haven't met yet..."

He controls his followers in Meliora. Nameless Ghoul: "Papa is the authoritative religious leader among his followers. He comes into the vacuum of the godless contemporary world and manipulates the people. We are, together with our fans, agreeing that you are here to worship us, and we are telling you what to do. And in this era, it's all taking place in the futuristic dystopian city of Meliora."

He was inspired by Sir Christopher Lee. Nameless Ghoul: "From Scaramanga to The Lord of the Rings, Sir Christopher Lee played a large role when it came to the concept of Papa. A scary, sophisticated, handsome older man who inflicted terror and arousal. I greatly admired him."

[nomadicism]

Now that She Ra is over, what are your thoughts on it? What about that Catradora kiss?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ Where to start?

I have so many thoughts on the show, and I’ve had so many thoughts since season 1. I’ve not written much of anything about She-Ra because I keep coming back to this problem of ‘where to start,’ or how to structure my thoughts beyond a +1000 item list. I can’t even pick one or two thoughts to dive into, because they all end up connecting to everything else —> honestly, that’s the mark of a tight narrative, even the big pieces that can fully stand on their own are still leading through to another piece. I fail at every attempt to write something brief.

Section I: Short answer first.

I have a very short and subjective list of media where I not only love (for different reasons) nearly every character (main, secondary, background), but where I also feel that their individual places or moments or arcs concluded in a way that felt right from start to finish. It’s a short list of media where connections and conflict between characters never felt forced, out-of-place, out-of-context, or done for shock value. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power makes that very short and subjective list.

It’s not often that a story hits all the right notes with me, and it’s much more often that a story starts off strong like that, and then turns me off ½-⅔ of the way through. I’ve quit video games during the final boss fight because the story lost me in the lead-up and I wasn’t going to waste 10-20 minutes of my time for something that turned out to be ‘meh’. It ain’t got to be deep, or anything either.

I really loved the voice acting. Everyone is great. A post for another time.

I love the aesthetics, which I wasn’t sure of at first teasers, but won me over in less than 3 minutes of the first episode (season 1) because I love bright pastels, the character designs are fun (can I still gush over variety of body types? YES), so many opportunities to explore stylish takes on the characters, and those Moebius-inspired scenery/background designs are a special interest delight. Season 5 delivered a visual ‘end game’ for the aesthetics in many ways, Section III further down will get into that a bit.

Section II: “What about that Catradora kiss?”

I gotta preface this with, shipping is not my go-to for how I enjoy creative works. It’s not a hobby for me. Sure there’s a few I dig more than others, but I’m otherwise agnostic about ships, unless there is a really bad story-fit (and that’s usually a subjective thing), or involves tropes that are a deal-breaker for me (and those typically relate a lot to the story fit).

With that said, I’m really happy to see Catradora be pulled off so brilliantly, and I think the kiss is a bold and beautiful big deal in a way that might not be obvious when considered in a vacuum. I see it as passionate and heart-felt, but also, it’s achieving(?) a relatable outcome (for me at least) that’s hard to describe. It’s an outcome yielded by a story in which two women—a hero and a villain—are divided and fight bitterly and then reconcile through love, while fighting a purity cult whose founder-prophet-god-king forces subservience through a conversion designed to strip someone of their identity (e.g. names they’ve chosen for themselves), memories-and-motivations, and love for others.

Despite these conversions, love still remains, it can’t just be baptized or therapy-ed away. Controlling puritans and authoritarians wielding religion or peace-panaceas as a weapon have been the villains in the lives of countless women and LGBTQIA people for a very long time. So yeah, I’ve got some feels about that. The last time I felt anything similarly relatable, or as strongly, was the Utena and Anthy relationship in Revolutionary Girl Utena (and really, their kiss during the surreal sequence at the end of the film adaptation).

Section III: Thoughts on Cult Aesthetics and Clones (the rough cut)

(1) In the future scenes at the end, Adora’s white dress with gold tiara and accents have this kind of goddess-like or Pallas Athena feel to it, which is a great mirror of the design choices for the god-like Horde Prime, his Purity Space Cult, mechanics/ship, and flagship interior scenery. Not saying that was the intention, but that’s how it came across to me.

Of course, those colors would be used because She-Ra already wears white and gold with a bit of red accent, which complement how the princesses are bright and colorful (pastels and jewel tones). The bold and bright colors helps signify that Etheria is full of life. Etheria is verdant and magical, and that sets up a contrast to the Fright Zone and the darker colors found in Horde characters (Hordak, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Catra, Entrapta, etc).

So the first kind of contrast was with the Fright Zone standing out as a poisoned/toxic against the bright, lively colors of Etheria and the princesses. Season 5 introduces another take on that contrast as Horde Prime is the opposite, or antithesis of Etheria’s colorful life. He’s like anti-life with his shades of light-and-dark grays on white, and only glow-green as an accent. In some cultures and religious traditions, white is associated with purity, and in others it is associated with death.

When Horde Prime ‘purifies’ Hordak for the sins of individuality and emotion (emotion for others, for his own sake), Hordak is drained of the colors he chose for himself during exile. In addition to being a contrast to Horde Prime (and informed by the 80s cartoon design), Hordak’s dark blue (or blue-black) and red color palette reflects the traditional use of red as a color for evil (especially vampirism) from back when diabolism was a stand-in for ‘the Devil’ in many forms of visual media (comics, live-action, animation, etc). In place of diabolic red, Horde Prime has toxic glow-green.

I absolutely love the use of the glow-green accents. Color trends for villains and significations of evil come and go, and I’m glad to see the color green be used again, and used so well. The last time I saw that shade of glow-green used so well was in Sleeping Beauty (re: Maleficent’s magic and the orb on her staff) and as the Loc-Nar in Heavy Metal. In both films, there are connotations of evil as a poisonous and corrupting influence. Green, in the context of evil, almost always signifies poison (and sometimes envy). I also like that the glow-green color is used in ways that aren’t immediately saying ‘this is evil’, such as the green baptismal waters and flames from the purification scene, or the green amniotic protein fluid. The language of piety and trappings of the sacred can cloak a sinister purpose.

I don’t know if any of that was intentional, but Horde Prime feels like the perfect synergy of purity and death (which has additional connotations, but that’s a very personal interpretation).

(2) Horde Prime immediately gave me subtle cult vibes in his first cameo (Season 3), and the follow-through on that was perfect and exactly what I was hoping to see. The background music throughout the scenes aboard the flagship fits well (love the soundtrack), and has the quality of Ecstatic Experience without pulling directly from any specific religion. Horde Prime’s dialogue is a delightful bit of narcissism veiled with the language of piety.

A purity cult comprised of clone-brother-worshippers of the cult’s founder-prophet-god-king reinforces that narcissism and has all the fun-dark feels of shiny-techno-future-dystopias. It is also an interesting use of clones, especially in a story format that usually never has the time to really dive into the complexities of cloning. This is the sort of thing that you’d be more likely to see in a one-off episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, rather than the basis for a greater scope villain, or multi-season nemesis. (and yes, Star Trek: TNG had an interesting clone episode)

Clones in science-fiction tend to fall into just a few tropes, and I generally dislike seeing clones show up in a story because the execution nearly always feels sloppy (in small ways or big ways). I did not get that feeling from She-Ra, where, the clones occupy the “cog in the machine” trope, but it is not their existence as clones that make them that way, it is the Will of Horde Prime that does. They are simultaneously expendable and sacred in their unity. It’s a nice flip on “stronger by working together” that Adora and the others have to learn (and struggle) to do.

It seems like, despite their religious programming, the clones have a little bit of their own personalities until Horde Prime ‘inhabits’ them to exert his Will. I’m trying not to read too much into it, b/c what comes across as ‘inhabits’ to me (especially with the religious/cult context), was probably meant more literal like described in the dialogue as a hive-mind control kind of thing. The first time it happens—to post-wipe/death Hordak—felt to me like a possession scene from The Exorcist, but without the kind of horror visuals that would scare both adults and children. The quick-and-subtle amount of body contortion and sound is still gross and creepy (because it should be), but it also reminds me of Ecstatic Experience in the form of speaking in tongues, or snake handling, or being a medium for a spirit. Again, I’m not saying any of that is intentional, but that’s how I see it.

(3) Finally, there is Entrapta, Hordak, and Wrong Hordak. Clones rarely get to be ‘humanized’ through friendship or romance arcs. I can think of a dozen or more robots that get to be humanized in that way, but can’t recall any clones that have (excluding doomed clones whose friendship/romance only existed for the sake of selling the tragedy of their death). Hordak gets death, renewal, and romance in a way that worked really well, and the totality of it is unique. I was a bit surprised that they could work in another clone—and I love Wrong Hordak—who pulls triple-duty as (1) comedy; (2) relevant to moving various pieces of the story along; and (3) more humanizing of the clones, which, again rarely happens as most stories take the easy low road when it comes to clones.

For Entrapta’s part, she’s never put in the position of giving up who she is (‘weird’ by many standards) for a romance. Her passion for technology is both an amusing double entendre at times, and integral to who she is. A romance for Entrapta does not replace her passion for technology, she can have both. Dating myself but, I came up in a time where most media (for children or adults) would rob a woman of her agency or passions during the resolution of a romance arc. Maybe times have changed, but it’s still nice to see none of that nonsense happening here.

[unelectedofficial]

my muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless

is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK

is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK

were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO

were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG

are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO / IDK

how’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL 

how strictly do you follow canon?

i  think  that  i  follow  it  pretty  well  ,  but  there’s  a  lot  of  gaps  that  i  have  to  fill  seeing  as  wicked’s  timeline  (  especially  from  act  i  to  act  ii  )  can  be  a  bit  unclear  at  times  .  also  ,  it’s  important  to  note  that  actresses  who  play  nessa  truly  do  put  huge  variations  on  the  role  that  affect  her  core  values  and  how  she  would  react  to  things  ,  so  that’s  important  to  take  note  of  .  while  the  lines  are  set  in  stone  ,  the  intention  and  intonation  of  how  such  lines  are  delivered  are  not  ,  which  it  part  of  what  makes  theatre  cool  --  but  also  blurs  the  lines  of  what’s  considered  to  be  “canon”  ,  especially  with  a  show  that’s  nearly  seventeen  years  old  .

SELL YOUR MUSE! aka try to list everything which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals

nessa  is  a  super  interesting  character  imo  !  most  of  the  characters  in  wicked  have  a  lot  of  depth  to  them  and  it’s  really  great  to  analyze  them  and  see  how  their  intentions  and  motivations  have  been  skewed  by  the  world  ,  their  pasts  ,  and  how  we  view  good  /  evil  .  nessa  particularly  is  interesting  to  me  because  of  her  negative  character  development  and  how  you  can  see  what  pushed  her  to  be  the  way  she  is  at  the  end  of  the  show  .  it  also  is  important  to  note  that  she  dies  ,  which  is  another  puzzling  thing  because  it  poses  a  question  :  would  she  have  improved  and  turned  her  life  around  after  she  realized  the  horrors  that  she  caused  ?  i  think  it’s  really  nice  to  have  the  emotional  diversity  of  her  because  in  different  verses  she  is  extremely  different  and  i  think  that  it  gives  a  lot  of  options  .  

now the OPPOSITE. list everything why your muse might not be so interesting (even if you don’t agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

people  don’t  really  pay  much  attention  to  her  in  the  fandom  (  not  the  wicked  rpc  or  general  broadway  rpc  )  and  i  honestly  don’t  really  understand  it  .  they  often  make  her  out  to  like  hate  elphaba  or  just  be  a  overly  terrible  person  .  it’s  hard  to  explain  but  it  just  it  very  :/  you  know  ?  also  ,  seeing  as  she’s  a  side  character  she  gets  ignored  a  lot  so  there  isn’t  a  lot  of  content  available  . 

what inspired you to rp your muse?

i  just  really  like  her  !  no  ,  but  i  had  seen  other  rp  blogs  and  thought  that  it  would  be  cool  to  join  them  and  try  my  hand  at  it  .  to  be  fair  ,  i  had  only  intended  on  trying  it  for  a  few  weeks  or  months  and  now  it’s  been  nearly  three  years  oops  . 

what keeps your inspiration going?

my  friends  /  mutuals  ,  lich  rally  sophia  for  listening  to  me  ramble  ( @cadyhcrons​  )  ,  and  probably  the  sheer  fact  that  i’ve  been  here  for  so  long  and  am  too  stubborn  to  leave  --  but  i  love  it  .

some more personal questions for the mun. give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. /  i  think  that  i  do  !!

do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.  i  have  a  google  doc  of  ones  that  i  have  to  write  out  officially  ,  but  i  haven’t  gotten  to  it  yet

do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO.  

do you think a lot about your muse during the day? YES  / NO. 

are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO.

are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO / SOMETIMES.

are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO.

do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

i’ve  never  actually  gotten  any  ,  but  i  think  that  i  would  take  it  pretty  well  as  long  as  the  person  in question  was  polite  about  it  because  i  truly  would  want  to  improve  and  know  what  other  people  think  about  my  writing  !

do you like questions which help you explore your character?

i  love  them  ! 

if someon>e disagrees with a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

i’d  probably  want  to  know  and  see  how  other  people  would  interpret  her  character  ,  though  i’ll  admit  that  often  times  people  have  cold  takes  .

if someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

i’d  probably  just  be  confused  because  if  they  don’t  like  it  then  they  should  just  not  follow  ??  like  to  each  their  own  of  course  ,  but  i  think  someone  actively  disagreeing  would  be  kinda  rude

if someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

HAHA  this  happens  !!  in  the  past  i  will  admit  i’ve  taken  it  really  badly  and  gotten  like  personally  offended  by  it  .  there  have  also  been  people  who  have  used  this  to  their  advantage  to  upset  me  (  like  .  .  .  threatening  to  write  her  as  homophobic  )  .  now  though  i  think  i’m  more  chill  about  it  and  have  matured  more  ,  but  it  still  kinda  sucks  when  people  feel  the  need  to  tell  me  they  hate  her  .

are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

i  think  if  it’s  done  in  a  way  that  isn’t  mean  or  rude  and  i’m  actually  friends  with  them  /  we  talk  ooc  then  i  probably  don’t  mind  !!  i  know  that  i  break  a  lot  of  the  rules  when  writing  for  the  Aesthetic  and  i  would  probably  be  kinda  mad  if  people  got  angry  about  that  because  let  me  live  

do you think you are easy going as a mun?

i  like  to  think  that  i  am  !!  i  try  to  be  nice  and  helpful  to  people  because  i  know  when  i  first  started  i  craved  help  from  people  lmao  and  no  one  ever  offered

tagged  by  :  @wldbirds​  ! tagging  :  whoever  wants  to  !

[nathanielwharton]

My 2018 in Pop Culture

Same plan here as usual. This is what meant most to me last year in pop culture.

Top Forty Things From 2018

40. King Kong on Broadway I wrote about this as an adaptation of the Kong story over at SportsAlcohol.com, but here I'll just say that while I was really disappointed with this as a musical, the execution of Kong himself on stage was breathtakingly rad.

39. Rhyming "is nae" with "Disney" in Anna and the Apocalypse In theory, I don't have much of an appetite left for a zombie comedy, having been well and truly sated by Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, and the wave of imitators that followed them. I felt like I'd seen all of the moves that are possible with that particular genre mash-up, and then I read about a Scottish zombie comedy that ALSO threw in the musical and the Christmas movie. So it was almost with a sense of grudging obligation that I accepted the inevitability that I'd see Anna and the Apocalypse. It won me over. It's got a winning cast, catchy songs, and a surprisingly effective melancholy tone. But I have to admit, the moment that really won me over was a moment in the song "Hollywood Ending" where "is nae" ("is not" in a Scottish accent) is rhymed with "Disney."

38. The Conners/The Roseanne Revival This was a real roller coaster in 2018. I was excited and apprehensive about the revival, and only slightly relieved when it began and was mostly pretty good. Still, there was an uneasiness with the way that the Roseanne character had been conceived for the revival and that basically exploded thanks to the behaviour of the real Roseanne. Still, overall I've enjoyed the revival and The Conners, and while I'm sad about what happened to TV Roseanne and real Roseanne(for different reasons)

37. "The Queen" episode of Castle Rock I liked the show pretty well overall, but oh man did this episode stand out. For most of the run, I'd just thought it was a cute bit of casting to have Sissy Spacek playing what seemed like a strangely minor role. Then this episode happened. It's a real acting showcase for Spacek and it satisfies with suspense and emotion in equal measure.

36. Kurt Russell performing "Santa Claus is Back in Town" in The Christmas Chronicles I'm a sucker for a Christmas movie, and this one is agreeable enough. There is some attempt at telling an emotional story that might hit you if you're in the right mood, and there is pleasant hint of Gremlins in the movie's portrayal of Santa's elves, but mostly it is a pretty satisfying expansion of the thought, "what if Kurt Russell was Santa Claus?" Russell is a hoot in the role, and the movie hits a peak when his Santa ends up in jail and breaks out into a jailhouse rendition of "Santa Claus is Back in Town." Downloaded and added to my Christmas playlist.

35. Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert This new wave of live musicals on TV hasn't always resulted in a great show (I honestly have forgotten a lot of the Peter Pan and Rocky Horror broadcasts), but sometimes they end up with some really cool television. Grease Live still reigns as the champion of these things, but this production of Jesus Christ Superstar was exciting and energetic and featured some neat ideas in its staging. It's shows like this that keep me hoping they'll continue to try these live musical shows.

34. The Death of Stalin Wrote about this for SportsAlcohol.com.

33. Isle of Dogs The visceral aesthetic pleasure of this film might outweigh the delicate emotional effect all of Anderson's films tend to achieve, but even if the complicated story and worldbuilding in the film kept it from succeeding for me fully on a first viewing, it did get me to want to watch it again (and again).

32. Keira Knightley in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms The movie as a whole is a good enough time in the way that all of these lavishly produced live-action Disney fantasy movies tend to be. But Keira Knightley, as the Sugarplum Fairy, single-handedly drags this movie up a notch with her fantastically daffy performance. To explain all the ways that her performance delights would be to spoil what happens in the movie, but I'll just say that she finds a few different registers to play in the film and she is amazing in each one. Think of this snub when you watch the Academy Awards.

31. The Favourite A three-hander where each leg of the triangle is different and spectacular. Turns out that acidic dialogue works just as well in the Yorgos Lanthimos world as alien affectedness, and the cast he's got for this one hurl barbs with aplomb.

30. Ash vs. Evil Dead Series Finale The third season of this show lost a bit of a step for me, not quite balancing the goofs and the horror quite as deftly as the show had done at its best. But it really brought it back around for the last couple of episodes. The finale in particular had some surprisingly big action and an ending that felt perfectly Evil Dead. If that's the last we see of Ash, it feels right.

29. DuckTales The first season wrapped up with some good adventure and some ambitious emotional storytelling. And the second season has seemed, if anything, even more confident so far (including an excellent Christmas episode).

28. Eighth Grade What a lovely, humane, gem of a movie.

27. The Old Man and the Gun I was head-over-heels in love with this one like halfway through the opening scene. If it had ended after that scene, I might have been satisfied, but the rest of the movie was truly wonderful too.

26. A Series of Unfortunate Events Season Two There's no twist for book readers as great as what they did with the Parent characters in the first season, but this second season of the show continued to be really great.

25. Rusty Lake: Paradise & Rusty Lake: Paradox This year I played all of the Rusty Lake/Cube Escape games, and it's probably a good thing that it takes a while between game releases or I might just burrow into these Twin Peaks inspired puzzles and not come out.

24. The last 20 minutes of Halloween I pretty well loved the entirety of this 40-years-later sequel, but the last twenty minutes or so were just next-level great. Basically, once everybody gets to Laurie's compound, this film was as scary as I wanted and as fist-pumpingly thrilling as I didn't know I could have expected.

23. Lost in Space Season One Might have loved this if it was just the one thing after another space survival show, but when you layer on an intriguing mystery and then add on Parker Posey's slitherly Dr. Smith? Yep, loved it.

22. The Haunting of Hill House Mike Flanagan has been doing cool horror work on smaller movies for a few years now, and I'm glad he seems to have found a patron in Netflix. The broader canvas of Haunting of Hill House allows him to do pretty much everything he's so good at, and even allows for some new tricks (like that "one long shot" episode, or the creepy background ghosts that go uncommented on in the story).

21. Creed II Creed was so great, and the notion of Stallone returning to the Ivan Drago well so worrisome, that I was a little apprehensive that this one would disappoint me. What a great surprise, then, that this was basically a best-case scenario for how this could have worked out. Even the Drago stuff is pretty compelling! I'd love to see more with Adonis and Bianca sometime, and I certainly still love Rocky himself, but for this round of playing with fire, I am satisfied.

20. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters & Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle The first two (out of three) animated Godzilla films hit Netflix last year and they were much more curious and idiosyncratic than I expected when they were first announced. Slowly paced, with an intentional disregard for the expectations of kaiju fans, they take a brilliant concept and proceed to use it to explore the perils of various belief systems. Each of these ends on a cliffhanger, so the success of the whole thing might depend a bit on how Godzilla: Planet Eater wraps things up, but for now it's a fascinating experiment.

19. The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs I can't say I sat around missing the horror host thing (I also love and regularly watch the family-friendly Svengoolie), but I was still surprised by how enjoyable and how nostalgic I found the experience of sitting back down with Joe Bob to watch a trashy horror movie. I didn't watch this as a marathon, but it did make for a bunch of swell weekends catching up with some movies I'd never seen and a charming film buff I hadn't seen in a while.

18. Bad Times at the El Royale Everything about this, from the cast to the aesthetic to the story, was just right up my alley. There was a moment late in the film where Maggie and I turned to each other, our jaws literally dropped, and we burst into nervous laughter.

17. BlacKkKlansman Wrote this one up over at SportsAlcohol.com.

16. Three Identical Strangers This documentary knocked me out. It's an amazing story with a bunch of incredible twists and turns and fascinating characters. It also poses some really intriguing questions and left me with a lot to think about. Don't read anything about it, just see it!

15. Disenchantment As a big fan of The Simpsons and i (and knowing the similar arcs they followed pretty well), I was pretty excited for a new Matt Groening animated show, and the first season of Disenchantment might have surpassed my expectations. It's funny, visually appealing, and takes some effective swings at the kind of emotional storytelling that it took the earlier series a couple of seasons to really nail. The finale sent me scrambling to the internet to see if it had been picked up for more episodes.

14. Nancy by Olivia Jaimes As a regular and avid comic strip reader, I propose that I was more blown away than most of the internet by the new Nancy. I regularly checked in on the soggy Gilchrist version of the strip, so imagine my surprise and delight at the change! It is neat to see a newspaper strip make any kind of impact in the culture again. Plus the strip is really fun!

13. Star Wars Star Wars: Rebels came to a close with a run of really exciting episodes and a really excellent finale. The comics continued to be really good. And Solo: A Star Wars Story showed up with smaller, not so fate-of-the-galaxy stakes and still just nailed the iconic characters it was digging into in exactly the ways it needed to. In a year where Star Wars fandom was showing itself to be home to a lot of the same toxicity as other fandoms, Star Wars itself kept up its end with lots of fun stuff.

12. The Last Best Story I thought I had a good idea what to expect from a high school newspaper riff on His Girl Friday, and this book certainly (thoroughly, delightfully) satisfies that. But I wasn't exactly prepared for the emotional depth and lovely observational detail in Maggie's book (I mean, I probably should have been, but it still sneaked up on me). I finished and just wanted to read it again.

11. "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" episode of The X-Files This second (and seemingly final) revival season of The X-Files boasted a more confident ratio of hits to misses than the previous one (even the nutso mythology episodes showed a stronger grasp of how the show works and what it means in the current moment) but the highlight, again, was a virtuosic episode written and directed by Darin Morgan. It was brilliantly funny, very X-Filesy, and sneakily provided a hilarious alternate series finale for fans in the event that Chris Carter would botch the actual one a few episodes later (luckily, he did as well as I might have hoped, really).

10. Arrested Development - Season 5, Part 1 I disagreed with most of the complaints people lobbied against the fourth season of Arrested Development, but I do think the batch of fifth season episodes released last year did fall prey to some of the shapeless storytelling and clunky greenscreen they were accused of before (I thought the fourth season did wonders with having the characters separated, while they flailed to meaningfully integrate Lindsay in the fifth season). And because episodes weren't as clearly defined in their storytelling, it left some of the character stories feeling both too dragged out and thinly developed (thinking here of Gob's struggle with his sexuality and Tobias's relationship with Murphybrown) by the time the half-season ended on a slight cliffhanger without really building significant momentum. But for all that, I love these characters so much and the show particularly really does right by the way that Michael and George Michael try to navigate their relationship with each other after the events of the fourth season.

9. Mary Poppins Returns This movie had impossible shoes to fill, and you can tell that everybody involved took that seriously. I saw this one twice. The first time, I really enjoyed it. The second time, it made me cry.

8. Marvel Cinematic Universe Black Panther was so fantastic, Avengers: Infinity War felt like a really special theater experience, and Ant-Man and the Wasp was a delightful trifle with an amazing, playful gut-punch of a stinger. Really, I had a great time will all three movies they put out this year and I loved the ride they took us on all the way through to the final text card in the Ant-Man credits.

7. Surprise, it's The Cloverfield Paradox! Sure, this is easily the least of the Cloverfield movies so far (it's still a fun haunted-house-on-a-space-station movie with an overqualified cast), but I don't imagine there'll be a more fun way to see one of these. I was already feeling that familiar Cloverfield excitement as the online marketing game started spooling up, but I pretty much leapt off the couch when Katie and I saw the Super Bowl ad that announced it would be dropping soon on Netflix, and freaked out even further when I looked on Netflix and saw the tag that it would debut after the game ended! We stayed up and watched it that night, and I went to sleep in the glow of a new Cloverfield. Gonna be hard to top that for excitement next time, but I'm looking forward to seeing them try.

6. Support the Girls Basically a "day in the life" movie about a manager of a Hooters-style sports bar, this movie (starring a perfect Regina Hall) is warm and human and reassuring because of the way it eschews the normal reassurances of this kind of thing and just plays it real. It's a beautiful movie.

5. GLOW I loved the first season of GLOW, and I think this second season is even better. It digs a little deeper into the supporting cast, doubles down on its resonance with things happening in the culture right now, includes that delightful episode within an episode, and ends on a perfect and delicate emotional note.

4. American Vandal Here's one of those shows with a perfect first season taking a shot at a follow-up, and they nailed it. Whatever trades are made in taking on a case with less personal involvement for our investigator leads are made up by the incisive observational writing (and hilarious bathroom jokes), this time throwing race and class into the mix. I'm sorry we won't get to see them take on another case and format, but these first two seasons are perfect.

3. Ready Player One I am in the tank for pretty much any Spielberg movie (I've loved the dramas he's done in the last few years) and here he's made a movie with cameos from King Kong and Mechagodzilla. I enjoyed the book this was based on, but I loved the movie even more. The visuals and action (and that amazing Shining sequence) are terrific, but the way that they restructured the game tasks build to make a moving argument for the ways even popular art are used for communication and connection, and Mark Rylance's portrayal of the Wonka-esque Halliday makes it all land.

2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs I wrote about this one over at SportsAlcohol.com. I loved it.

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One & Two To be quite honest, this would be hard to beat in any event since I got engaged to be married between Part One and Part Two. Luckily, the show was a really special event even beyond that personal association. A surprisingly moving epilogue to the Harry Potter stories (and more satisfying in performance where the performances of the actors makes up for some of the ways the supporting characters seemed more thinly conceived in the script than they did in the books), it was also a dazzling theatrical experience. The variety of tricks employed to bring the wizard world to the stage meant that just as you figured out how they pulled off one big effect you were met with three other nifty flourishes. I dig Rowling's continued noodling around in her wizard world through things like this play and the Fantastic Beasts films (I enjoyed Crimes of Grindelwald) as a way to tell new stories and explore nerdy minutia without undoing the lovely bow of that original series of books. (Side note: Because my pleasure reading time has been so heavily curtailed as I get through this first school year, I'm only about a third in on Lethal White. Really digging it, but don't feel like I can include it on this list properly.)

Top Twenty Things I'm Excited About in 2019

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Never would I have believed that we'd be getting a big-budget American Godzilla film that would prominently feature Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah as the third film in a shared Godzilla/Kong movie universe. Now it is happening, and everything they've released to do with the film (trailers, posters, etc) have looked incredible. Gonna be hard to top this one for excitement this year.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Captain Marvel looks like a lot of fun, I'm sure Spider-Man: Far From Home will be great, and I'm pretty interested in whatever Marvel Studios ends up doing for the Disney+ streaming service, but the main event this year is obviously Avengers: Endgame. Whatever form this big finale for the first decade of MCU stories takes, I cannot wait to see it.

Star Wars As with Marvel, there's plenty to look forward to this year, with The Mandalorian presumably accompanying the debut of Disney+ along with the revival of The Clone Wars, but the biggest deal will of course be Episode IX, the grand finale of the main Star Wars saga and the story of the Skywalkers.

Arrested Development The original run of the series was nearly flawless. The fourth season is, in some ways, even more ambitious and special. And even though the first half of this fifth season was, to my eyes, guilty of some of the baggy, formless storytelling that season four had been accused of (and splitting the season like this meant that the first half felt weirdly unsatisfying), it still had a ton of joke that I really loved and developed the relationship between Michael and his son in a way that I did find satisfying after the fourth season cliffhanger. Excited for more of the show and crossing my fingers that it nails the landing.

Stranger Things III This one drops on my birthday! Setting the story in summer sounds fun to me, and I'm pretty excited to see these characters again after a year off.

The Twilight Zone The original series is a deep foundation of my pop culture world and I even found things to like about the UPN revival in the early 00s, so I'm predisposed to be interested in this. But giving it to Jordan Peele (also so psyched for Us) seems like a masterstroke and the trailer they just released is so perfect (both for the obvious love it displays for the original and the new energy it promises) that it's driven me to distraction. Cannot wait for this.

The Addams Family I was obsessed with The Addams Family back when the two Barry Sonnenfeld films came out in the 90s. I loved the 60s sitcom, the movies, and the animated series (and more recently was bitterly disappointed by the Broadway musical). But most of all I adored the Charles Addams cartoons. This latest animated film has been kicking around in some form of development for a while now (there was a time when it was reported that they were trying to get Tim Burton to give it the stop-motion treatment) and I'm a little apprehensive that it ended up with Illumination Studios. Still, a new animated Addams Family film is a must see.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance This sounds pretty special, and in any case it is exciting to get an ambitious new puppet project from the Henson Company delivered right to my Netflix queue this year.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood & The Irishman A new Tarantino film would be on this list no matter what, so those photos they released a while back were most exciting to just get a look at what he's going for aesthetically. And of course I'm intrigued and excited to hear that Netflix is throwing money at Scorsese to make a crime film starting De Niro, Pacino, Keitel, and Joe Pesci.

The French Dispatch Not sure if this one will actually hit this year or end up seeking out some awards-friendly release next year, but it's a Wes Anderson film about journalism with a predictably great cast. Exciting whenever it comes out.

Knives Out Rian Johnson writing and directing another mystery film with this cast? Let's do this now.

Little Women Lady Bird was sooo good that I'd be pretty into whatever movie Greta Gerwig made next, so the incredible cast she's assembled for this follow up is just icing.

The Righteous Gemstones When Jody Hill and Danny McBride make another HBO show, I'm going to watch it. Make it about a family of televangelists and make John Goodman the patriarch, and I can't wait to watch it.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters Volume 2 The first volume was a surprise highlight of 2017 and it was a bummer to see this follow up slide further and further back on release calendars. Hoping it finally arrives this year, but the original was so wonderful that I'm ready to wait as long as it takes.

Missing Link There are other animated movies I'll be really excited for by the time they come out this year (Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 will surely be huge events) but I'm probably most excited that Laika is back with a new feature.

Star Trek It looks like, as an attempt to get people like me to actually keep up their CBS All Access subscription outside of the two months they're offering new episodes of Star Trek Discovery (and I am pretty psyched for this second season!) they are planning on keeping us in new Star Trek as often as possible. An animated Trek comedy! A new series about Picard! More of those very cool Short Treks! I'm pretty into seeing what they have in store this year.

Looney Tunes Cartoons After years and years of grousing about Warner Bros' treatment of the Looney Tunes characters (even when they have something that kinda works, like Wabbit or New Looney Tunes, it has felt like they're on the C-list; and no, Space Jam 2 does not make me feel better), I'm intrigued by this series and am anxious to see some footage to see what they're cooking up.

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels I loved the original series, I'm a sucker for stories set in America in the 30s, and  I like the cast they're lining up, so I'm definitely into this.

Amazing Stories I don't even know if or when I'll get to see this (we already have so many streaming services and if I'm adding another one this year, it'll be Disney+), but I love the idea of a new Amazing Stories and if Spielberg directs an episode or two it'll make this a must watch somehow.

[recentanimenews]

The Brilliance of Mob Psycho 100's Season Premiere

Hey all, and welcome back to Why It Works. If you’ve been following this column for a while, you’re probably aware that I’ve been eagerly anticipating the premiere of Mob Psycho 100’s second season. And now that the show has finally debuted, I’m thrilled to say that not only is it as strong as ever, but this premiere probably counts among the best episodes the show has ever released. From its wildly creative visuals to its endearing characters and fundamentally compassionate soul, Mob Psycho II's premiere demonstrates this show at its absolute best, and offers a terrific starting platform for any number of new adventures. But don’t take my word for it… wait. I mean, do take my word for it, but wait until I’ve explained how this premiere embodied all of the things that make Mob Psycho so great. Mob Psycho II’s premiere was essentially an all-in-one demonstration of this show’s many formidable strengths, so let’s take a deep dive into the best qualities of this terrific episode!

First off, Mob Psycho’s vivid art style was just as appealing and inventive here as ever. If you just saw character stills from Mob Psycho, you might assume the show’s somewhat minimalist character designs mean it’s a generally conservative visual production. In practice, these loose designs actually allow the show to embrace all manner of visual invention, from wildly diverse reaction faces to entirely different visual genres. But even when Mob Psycho isn’t diverging into totally different visual concepts, its fundamental art design is genuinely beautiful, with its loose character merging gracefully with detailed and richly colored backgrounds. Couple all that with Yuzuru Tachikawa’s dynamic direction, and you end up with a production that feels visually dazzling at nearly all times.

Those visual strengths certainly come in handy when it comes to Mob’s fight scenes. While this first episode was more dedicated to Mob’s continuing adventures at school, it still opened with a terrific fight against a menacing evil spirit. Mob’s fight scenes combine restless, spinning camera work with perpetually morphing character art to arrive at sequences where it feels like the very world is dissolving, perfect for its illustration of espers shattering the earth with their powerful blows. Often splitting the difference between over-the-top action and grim horror, Mob’s fights are as brutal as they are inventive, and I can’t wait to get to some of the battles hinted at by its thrilling opening song.

  It’s not all serious battles in Mob Psycho, though. This episode also took plenty of time to reacquaint us with its wide cast, offering welcome reminders of Mob’s endearing characters and comic charm. The appeal of Mob’s characters might best be exemplified through the Body Improvement Club, a group of oversized bros who initially seem destined to force Mob out of his own club. But instead of looking down on the scrawny Mob, they embrace him as a fellow pursuer of bodily excellence, and now he happily goes jogging every day with his new friends. Here in Mob Psycho II’s premiere, those body improvement bros have not been forgotten - in fact, they proudly support him when he runs for student council president, and happily give him time off from their club to pursue a new relationship. In Mob Psycho, characters might not surprise you with their secretly evil intentions, but with their genuine, fundamental decency.

That fact ties closely into Mob Psycho’s last, and perhaps greatest strength: its profoundly empathetic, humanist perspective. Over the course of this premiere, Mob finds himself kinda-sorta dating a girl named Emi, only to be ultimately burned by the experience. But even though Emi accuses Mob of brutally cruel things like not even really possessing a personality, Mob doesn’t blame her for this. Instead, he accepts her words while still maintaining a spirit of personal kindness, and ultimately gives Emi the personal validation that none of her friends were willing to offer. This revelation doesn’t lead to any sort of romantic turn; it’s just one person being kind to another, and that kindness going on to inspire more acts in turn.

  For all these reasons and more, I’m ecstatic to see Mob Psycho returning in such fine, inspiring form. Few shows possess the incredible aesthetic strengths of Mob, and fewer still combine that with writing so funny, thoughtful, and compassionate as this. Mob Psycho has some of the best fight scenes in modern anime, while consistently affirming that it is simple kindness, not physical or psychic strength, which makes a person great. I’m eager to see how Mob continues to grow over this season, and hope you’ll join me on the journey. And please let me know all your own favorite Mob-isms in the comments!

-----

Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now, and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[mst3kproject]

1003: Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders – Part II

So much for the magic-book-and-toasted-cat part of the movie.  On to the bit everybody remembers best – the satanic cymbal monkey.

This half of the movie is actually parts of a film called The Devil's Gift, made twelve years earlier by the same director. The movie the kid is watching at the beginning of Merlin's Shop is the opening of The Devil's Gift, in which the demonically possessed toy kills a fortune teller by burning her house down. There is a similar monkey in Merlin's shop, but it is stolen and re-sold, and ends up being given to a kid named Michael.  While Merlin tries to track the monkey down, it begins methodically killing every living creature in Michael's house, starting with plants, then insects, then the dog.  Michael's father, David, consults a psychic who tells him to get rid of the monkey.  He tries repeatedly to do so, but it just keeps coming back, and nearly murders the entire family before Merlin finally shows up to claim it.

The Devil's Gift segment is much more memorable than the Book of Magic one. Both the pacing and the acting are far better, although since the Book story was glacial and stilted, often giving the impression that it was just filling time, that's not hard.  The Devil's Gift was shot on real film to be released to theatres, and its sets and props look like places and objects, not sets and props.  As a whole it just feels more polished and authentic than the silliness of the Book of Magic, but since the two are intended to be parts of one universe, that's kind of a problem in itself.  The attempt to blend them never works. Because Merlin is a retroactive addition, he can never interact with any of the main characters.

The original ending of The Devil's Gift had the monkey killing the entire family by blowing their house up with a gas leak.  It also had a couple of extra subplots; the monkey gave David nightmares, the psychic came to the house and tried to do an exorcism, and the babysitter became possessed by the monkey (foreshadowed by the shot in which she creepily fondles it!) and tried to drown Michael in the bathtub.  I actually think the story is much better for the loss of the last of those.  One of the creepiest things about the monkey is how it manipulates events subtly, making it seem that this could all just be a freaky coincidence.  The best example is the incident in which Michael is almost hit by a car, only to be saved at the last moment when David prevents the cymbals from coming together.  To have the monkey work directly through a person is much less insidious.

All this outright scary stuff makes for a very odd juxtaposition with the lighthearted sequences involving Merlin and Zurella, and here it's even more pronounced than it was in the Book of Magic.  It's made worse by the obvious difference in time between the Merlin parts and the main action.  Although the director did try to match the costumes of the bit players in the Merlin sequences to the time period of The Devil's Gift (check on the 80's Dad Glasses on the consignment shop guy), the ten years' difference is still very obvious.  There's also the difference in urgency between Merlin's quest, which he undertakes at walking pace and only because his wife nags him into it, and the psychic shouting get it out of your house MY GOD DAVID.

And of course, The Devil's Gift totally lacks the element of cartoonish whimsy that was present in even the most distressing parts of the book storyline.  As I discussed last week, the horrifying results of Jonathan's experiments with sorcery are often treated as jokes.  Even the book itself, with the dragon coiled around a giant jewel on the cover, looks like something off a Magic: The Gathering card.  The Devil's Gift, on the other hand, has a very down-to-earth aesthetic, mostly lacking in anything visually fantastical.  The effect is heightened by the early 80's palette of autumnal colours.  Even the monkey itself is a totally ordinary object made of ordinary materials.

Which is not to say it isn't one goddamn creepy little son of a bitch.  There's something about the monkey's staring red eyes and bared teeth that is really, really menacing.  The mouth looks nothing like a smile, and the eyes suggest that it is watching your every move.  This actually seems to be a fairly common gut reaction to this type of toy.  If you do a google image search for 'cymbal monkey', one of the suggested sub-searches is the word creepy.  Stephen King wrote a short story called The Monkey in 1980, which probably inspired The Devil's Gift – indeed, King accused director Kenneth Berton of plagiarism.  The story also inspired episodes of Supernatural and The X-Files, a similar monkey was one of Lotso Bear's minions in Toy Story 3, and there are freaky cymbal monkeys in Fallout 4... which I like to speculate are there because somebody on the game's design team was a MSTie. While the other objects in Merlin's shop, the gnomes and crystal balls and wishing stones, look cute and whimsical, the monkey looks evil.

The sequence in The Devil's Gift that best matches the world of Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders is actually the one that isn't presented as part of it.  In the opening sequence of Merlin's Shop, the little boy is watching a movie in which a fortune teller is trying to contact a ghost name Thomas.  The rest of The Devil's Gift is given to us as the story told by the grandfather after the power has gone out, and all the two appear to have in common is the toy monkey.  The fortune teller looks like somebody Merlin might get along with, what with her silly outfit, her collection of woo-woo paraphernalia, and her ouija board.  In a way, using her in this opening instead of in the body of the story actually kind of works, since she'd probably jar with the rest of the Devil's Gift material in the same way the Merlin's Shop parts do.

The constrast between The Devil's Gift and Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders also brings up the idea of coincidence.  The monkey works through coincidence – the fire that leads to the death of Sparkle the dog while she happens to be locked in the garage, the series of events that nearly ends in Michael being run over by a car, the storm and earthquake, and the monkey improbably returning after David buries it.  All these events feel like they're being directed by the evil spirit... but at the same time, they could just be coincidences.  What about Merlin's search?

Nowadays if you wanted to locate a stolen toy it probably wouldn't be hard – look up possessed cymbal monkey on Craigslist. There's probably a whole subsection for haunted or cursed objects. In the early 90's Merlin has a rather more difficult job, in which he has to actually go out and wander around, asking people if they've seen this monkey, and he gives the impression he's got no idea where to start.  You'd think he'd look specifically at places like second hand shops and such, or at least would have some kind of tracking spell that might lead him to lost and stolen merchandise, but he seems to just wander the streets, meeting up with the people who've encountered the monkey purely by accident.

This would make sense if the sequence in which Merlin and Zurella argue, flirt, and argue again had bothered to set something up to explain it. Maybe Morgana, who gave Merlin the monkey in the first place, would ensure it found its way back to him.  But that time is spent instead on pointless comic relief, and so the coincidences where Merlin meets the toy sellers are just that – coincidences.  As a result they actually manage to seem less plausible than a demonically possessed cymbal monkey!  If anything's a sign that you need a rewrite, that's it.

I haven't seen The Devil's Gift in its entirety, but from what I've read about it, I suspect that the parts that made it into Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders represent the 'good bits'. The part where David has nightmares sounds pretty cliché, and I've already talked about my problem with the idea of the monkey possessing the babysitter.  The psychic's enlarged role also seems unnecessary, as indeed does her having any role in this story at all. David could come to suspect that the monkey is sentient and evil without her help.  The things that were removed from the earlier film make the story leaner and quite a bit creeper, and if you took them out of Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders they'd probably make for an effective horror film in themselves. The fact that it's still pretty creepy, even in the form presented, speaks eloquently to what it could have been.

I was dreading watching this movie again – so now that I have (twice!), was it really that bad?  I feel like it was less icky and uncomfortable than I remembered it being, but that might be because the nastier plot points didn't come as a surprise this time.  Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders is still definitely not something I'd choose to watch, however, except maybe to show it to friends and see them react to the nasty parts.  It may not have been the ordeal I feared, but I'm glad it's over with, and I don't plan to ever revisit it.

[sparkliin-moved]

name: plant nickname: plant, fubar, muskrat, tea, perro de rico age: 19 faceclaim: greg from o.t.g.w but i plan on also having it be a.udrey II from little shop of horrors pronouns: he / him they / them height:  5′7″ - 5′8″ birthday: July 6th aesthetic: idk?? lmao last song you listened to: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

favourite muse(s) you’ve written: A.oyama Y.uga, Greg o.t.g.w

what inspired you to take on your current muse (that you are posting this on): Honestly, at first it was just his personality.. I tend to hover towards comedic relief characters, but when he began getting development and he turned into a surprisingly complex character I just loved him even more.. So when I saw nobody roleplayed him in the community I thought it my duty to introduce this wonderful sparkly fuck into it.

what are your favorite aspects of your current muse: There are so many things I love about Y.uga I could make a fifty ft list.. But for the sake of keeping it RELATIVELY short, I’ll just highlight a few things. First of all, his complexity and breaking of stereotypes. You think the only thing he’s going to be is comedic relief and a complete joke to the series when you first get into the story, but that’s not the case. Turns out he’s harboring extremely bottled emotions and thoughts. It’s almost as if he acts narcissistic to hide the fact he’s incredibly self conscious? I don’t know this for a fact but for fucks sakes he expressed that his dream was to be equal with everyone, possibly referring to the fact that he has some kind of self-doubt when it comes to himself, his quirk, or both. Also just, yes, he’s cowardly okay, but goddamn if there was a villain attack I’d probably be the first one to hide my sorry ass so that I don’t DIE? That’s the equivalent of like a lot of people with potentially lethal weapons attacking your school. He’s a teenager, like 15 years old, how can you blame him for hiding in instances like that? It’s realistic. ANYWAYS, despite the fact that he hid, he tossed aside his fears in the bootcamp arc in order to help his friends! Fuck yeah dude that shits legit I can’t wait for it to be animated -wipes tear- I’m so proud of him okay there’s nothing braver than casting aside your fears to do the right thing. H.orikoshi didn’t just make him a side character meant solely for comedic relief, he made it so that he APPEARED that way, on the outside, but he’s hiding some seriously deep shit on the inside accompanied by some intriguing backstory tHAT HE’S HOLDING OUT ON ME THIS VERY MOMENT. -drops mic and walks away-

what’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing:  Wow well when it comes to this blog in particular, it’s honestly the community! I’ve only like once ever been in a community as nice as this. this community is one of the purest, entertaining, kind, and overall stress-free one’s I’ve ever been a part of and because of that I don’t want to leave--

favorite types of threads: tbh like any kinds. I love angst, I love fluff, I love A.oyama being an annoying piece of shit, I love slice of life, and when it comes to A.oyama in particular, I just love having him interact with as many different characters as possible, simply because he lacks it in the story.

biggest struggle in regards to your current muse: Sometimes his emotions, because he hides them so well behind a poker face, and well his expressions too. I have to be really subtle about his expressions so he doesn’t show too much emotion, but not subtle to the point where you can’t tell he’s feeling, for example, hesitant, or uncomfortable, or upset, etc.. Just putting his thoughts in isn’t really enough, because you can’t really picture how he appears, but if you look closely especially in the tv show, despite his constant smiling, you can detect like little hints of how he’s truly feeling in a situation, you can see when he’s surpised, content, angry, annoyed, and so on! (I’m way too invested jfc)

tagged by: @ofiignition (bless u i love this omg <3 ) tagging: @delawaresmash , @infamypervert (im so curious lmao), @tapestrung , @handrot , @@strcnght , @erasershouta , anyone else who wants to do this cause honestly im so intrigued

[caveartfair]

The Nightmarish Works of H.R. Giger, the Artist behind “Alien”

H.R. Giger, Necronom IV, 1976. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Chances are, H.R. Giger has given you a nightmare. The Swiss-born painter was responsible for creating one of the most iconic monsters in the history of the human imagination: the xenomorph, the unrelenting alien species that oozes at the center of the Alien film franchise.

If you don’t know the xenomorph by name, you know it by sight: the black, eggplant-shaped head; the dripping stalactite teeth; the sleek, spiky body that can appear strangely human; the weaponized tail. The xenomorph is like Francisco Goya’s Saturn from Saturn Devouring His Son come to life, but as an alien from the furthest, most despairing reaches of space.

Hans Ruedi Giger is best known for shaping Alien’s visual direction, which turns 40 this month. His unique vision continues to inspire, even five years after his death—as proved by the North Bergen High School students whose production of Alien: The Play went viral in March. But Giger’s work as a visual artist extends beyond the sci-fi franchise, combining horror and the grotesque and tapping into our unending fascination of the things that frighten us the most.

H.R. Giger, Alien III, Side View II, 1978. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Saturn Devouring One of His Sons. (From the series of Black Paintings.), 1819-1823. Francisco de Goya Museo Nacional del Prado

Giger’s art practice was molded from an early fascination of “skulls and mummies and things like that,” as he said in 2009, as well as his own childhood fears. Born in 1940 in Chur, Switzerland, he began sketching and drawing as a boy in order to channel his fright from recurring nightmares and strange dreams. “He repeatedly spoke about that,” said Andreas Hirsch, who curated the 2011 show “H.R. Giger Träume und Visionen” (translated as H.R Giger Dreams and Vision) at the Kunst Haus Wien in Vienna and became friends with the artist. According to Hirsch, the Giger family home in Chur fueled his anxieties. “[He] recalled open windows that went to dark alleys, the cellars of that old building that sparked fears in him very early on,” he said. “Those fears were matched with an early fascination that those things had for him.”

Giger also cited growing up in Switzerland during World War II, in close proximity to Nazi Germany, as the source for some of the darkness in his work. As he said to Vice in 2011: “I could feel the atmosphere when my parents were afraid. The lamps were always a bluish dark so the planes would not bomb us.” As Giger came of age during the Cold War, the threats of atomic warfare loomed. “He reacted to it by creating visions that sort of transformed those fears—but not to a happy ending, but in an artistic way that he could handle,” Hirsch said.

H.R. Giger, Cthulhu (Genius) III, 1967. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

H.R. Giger, Atomic Children, 1968. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Despite protestations from his father, who wanted him to follow his own career path as a pharmacist, Giger studied architecture and industrial design at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. Upon graduating in the mid-1960s, he set out on a career as an interior designer, but soon decided to pursue visual art full time. He moved first from ink drawings and oil paintings to eventually using an airbrush to create his work.

By the early 1970s, word of Giger’s had talent spread. “He started with exhibitions at galleries or at bars or social spaces,” Hirsch said. “But he quickly somehow developed beyond the confines of the art world.” The artist, who described his style as “biomechanical,” popularized the biomechanical art aesthetic. Notably, his work was featured on the album cover for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1973 record, Brain Salad Surgery, which is widely regarded as a landmark in progressive rock.

H.R. Giger, ELP II (Brain Salad Surgery), 1973. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Giger even managed to gain the attention of one of the 20th century’s most important artists: Salvador Dalí. Dalí, who Giger cited as an influence, was introduced to his work through a mutual friend, the American painter Robert Venosa. It was Dalí who showed Giger’s work to the Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky when the latter was hoping to cast the famed Surrealist in his ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel Dune (1965). Jodorowsky enlisted Giger to help with concept art for Dune, but when the project stalled, Giger’s foray into the world of film temporarily came to a halt.

Then, in 1977, Giger published the Necronomicon, the first major collection of his drawings, considered today to be his second-most influential output next to Alien. The title, a reference to a fictional book of magic from the world of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, sets the tone for images that are still startling today: strange mechanical gremlins perch on towering lead pillars; skeletal alien beings look out on mist-covered wastelands; and mutilated, fleshy bodies are hooked up to hulking machinery. All of the drawings are balanced between ghostly white tones—the color of moonlight on concrete—and dark hues that, at times, border on a deep shade of abyss.

H.R. Giger, Li I, 1974. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Director Ridley Scott encountered the Necronomicon when he saw a copy laying on a desk at the offices of 20th Century Fox, just after he signed on to Alien. “I took one look at it,” Scott told Starlog, a monthly science-fiction magazine, in 1979, “and I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. I was convinced I’d have to have him on the film.”

The basis for the xenomorph came from two lithographs in the Necronomicon that featured a dark, metallic-looking being with the oblong head that would come to characterize the monster. “They were quite specific to what I envisioned for the film, particularly in the unique manner in which they conveyed both horror and beauty,” Scott wrote in the introduction for the book H.R. Giger’s Film Design (1996). The xenomorph became a cultural icon, appearing in eight films as part of both the core Alien franchise and spin-offs, as well as video games, short films, and countless other pop culture references.

H.R. Giger, Necronom V, 1976. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

By many accounts, Giger’s experience working on Alien was a positive one, but his new level of fame made it harder for him to choose which projects would be worth his time and talent as an artist. He continued his work in film, contributing designs to Poltergeist II (1986), Species (1995), and Batman Forever (1995), but he often created work for films that went unused or for projects that never got off the ground. So Giger found new ways to pursue and put his work out into the world.

H.R. Giger, Species No. 56, 1994. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

H.R. Giger, Sketch for Poltergeist II, Cavern, Reverend B, 1985. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

H.R. Giger, Sketch for Batman Forever, Batmobile No. 6, 1994. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

H.R. Giger, Sketch for Dune, 1976. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

One of these ways was through his Giger Bars—venues in Chur and Gruyere, Switzerland, that feel like stepping into the artist’s world (a third bar in Tokyo and a “Giger Room” in New York’s now-closed Limelight club no longer exist). For the bar in Gruyere, part of the renovated medieval chateau that houses the H.R. Giger Museum, the artist incorporated his own designs of spine-like alien skeletons into the stonework. At the tables and counters, Giger placed his Harkonnen Chairs—black, aluminum thrones originally designed for Jodorowsky’s lost Dune film back in the 1970s.

Giger Bar. Photo by Andy Davies. Courtesy of the H.R. Giger Museum.

“He did not stop creating art—he just turned his attention or his scope of his art to environments, to larger contexts,” Hirsch said. “I think that is one of the closing cycles of the young interior designer finding his way in the art world and the later, mature artist, creating the spaces for his creatures to inhabit.”

It seems fitting that Giger’s pursuit of art was in part driven by the dreams and nightmares he had has a child, finding that his terrors resonated with the wider world. “He addressed his personal fears but also collective fears,” Hirsch said. What’s compelling he added, is how Giger’s art allows us to come to terms with that darkness—as frightened or as hopeless as his creations may make us feel, we are still drawn back for more. There was nothing more terrifying than the image of the xenomorph’s wet jaws opening, revealing its inner mouth to a shaking Ellen Ripley. Today, teenagers in New Jersey act out the scene in homemade costumes for their school play, and Sigourney Weaver shows up for the encore. Sometimes recurring nightmares can be good for us.

from Artsy News

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Mob Psycho 100 II 9 - 11 | My Roommate is a Cat 9 - 11 | Spec Ops Asuka 9 - 11 | Shield Hero 9 - 10 | Morose Mononokean 10 | Double Decker! EX 2 | Price of Smiles 10 - 11

Mob Psycho II 9

So…uh…is this the first time we’ve had lyrics for the OP???

For some reason, “you little s***” is a hilarious nickname…in my head.

Is it just me, or did the style of Teruki’s eyes change when he got that stack of hair off his head?

My Roommate is a Cat 9

Please don’t let that random voice be the do-oh no. I was right *sigh* As much as I think dogs are fine and cute and all, this is a show about a cat, so naturally I feel diametrically opposed to dogs when watching.

Long ago, the writer and his cat lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Signing attacked! …Yeah. I couldn’t resist the Avatar pun…of course.

Aw…Kawase is a good guy, even if he’s a bit obnoxious to poor Haru.

As someone who’s currently volunteering at a charity store, I forget to say “thanks” all the time. It eats me up, it really does…

That post-credits sequence was funny, but only because I could read the “dying message” (it’s katakana ha <-> kanji hachi -> number 8).

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 9

Oh hey, a cheerleader stamp (sticker...?) from the Cheerleader vs Megaton Shark movie!

Wait, whaaaaaaaaat?! I thought Asuka was Tamara’s older sister (metaphorically), but…she’s nottttttttttttttt??? Also, why doesn’t Tamara get creeped out by the fact her stuffed toy could be a Disas in disguise?

Why is everyone so…for lack of a better term…gay for Asuka?! Even Tabira…

Ouch for Tabira. I’m just laughing because it’s like seeing SekaTsuyo or Bikini Warriors being torn up in front of my face – I’m thanking whoever made this for that image alone!

Cenobite. Basically…it’s another horror reference.

The Osprey stands out so much…CGI..it’s so garish…

Garish CGI strikes again, this time in the form of a 4WD!

Shield Hero 9

Naofumi’s such a dad…haha.

It’s a Filo-and-fish! Hahaha! (Update: I’m aware there are some of you who might never have heard of a Fillet-o-fish and so…there you go. It’s a McDonald’s meal name. It makes me hungry just thinking about it, to be honest though.)

Why does Motoyasu even care so much for underage girls? Sure, they have their rights too, but…is he a lolicon???

They talk about “white privilege”…so maybe there’s “hero privilege” as well…hmm…

Motoyasu’s “treasure-protection shields” versus Filo = 0 to 2, Filo’s victory! Hahaha!

Morose Mononokean 10

The idea of Rippou being amused by “a mundane world plank”…amuses me. So does the idea of Abeno and Ashiya walking around as a shingami and witch, respectively…Come to think of it, Ashiya’s always the one who dresses like a woman if the need arises, huh?

I feel sorry for Zenko, to be honest…I mean, she’s wearing what’s meant to be Abeno’s outfit! She’s going to trip, y’know? Where are the OH and S concerns (OH and S = occupational healh and safety, though...yeah, I make that mistake a lot)???

Come to think of it, I wasn’t tracking where Abeno’s book went. So he left it in the Mononokean…I see.

Poor Fuzzy! He got taken by Komon!!!

Smol Itsuki…I swear I’ve seen a similar character in a manga before – and somehow I know it’s a manga, but I don’t remember which one…

Double Decker! EX 2

Couldn’t you just ask “Milla” (even if he’s not a Police Academy graduate)? Pretend Valery is Kirill or something, maybe.

I can’t believe they’re still making jokes about Doug’s laundry…

I feel kind of bad at snickering at this crossdressing thing – you know how the LGBTIQ+ community feels about this stuff, don’t you?

Travis’s pick-up lines are too cheesy for this earth…*shakes head with grin on face*

There’s a police bird mascot on the dashboard of the Seven-O car.

When I realised what Mr Goldman was doing to Kirill (potential sekuhara and disguise reveal, if you know what I mean)…my face went all funny…

I don’t think I’ve seen a Kirill and Valery eyecatch before…hmm.

The fact there were two men making out in the change rooms…I wonder if that was played for humour? If so, that’s nasty to the LGBTIQ+ people, y’know?

“Max, that’s mine. Take good care of it.” – Your…what, Deana? Your target???

The next-ep preview had me laughing! Travis, don’t give yourself away!!! But now I get why Kirill was in a wedding dress.

Price of Smiles 10

Y’know, Lily, you shouldn’t wish for a kid to be confined to their house forever. Kids grow up and then need to make a living…at least, that’s what I’ve learnt.

I honestly (almost…?) thought we’d only see casualties on Yuki’s side…guess I was wrong.

Shield Hero 10

Notably, a lot of Western-inspired fantasy works such as this use “runes” based on stylised English…including the map that appears in this ep.

This knight that’s doing all the talking…his name is Ake, according to the interface.

My Roommate is a Cat 10

The irony of that dog bag of Haru’s (the human girl’s).

Cats and Dreams (Neko to Yume) = a parody of Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams).

All these thoughts Subaru has of his mother make me want to hug mine…

“50 inches”, my butt! (The newspaper says there’ll be 50 centimetres of snow...)

I expected Okami to be at the supermarket (Nana, not her brother)…but instead, Hiroto showed up. What a small world it is in this anime…(well, it is all set in the same neighbourhood, with the exception of that signing, so it should be. At least, I guess so.)

F*** it, Hiroto. I thought you were annoying in the past, but you’re nice too! What’s up with this show??? Why do I feel everything Subaru feels??? (Uh…past me, maybe, that’s the point of this show…?)

The cat show is also relatable in how I peel apples…and that would probably carry over to other fruit and veg too…

If there’s one thing I can annoy this show about, it’s how to transition between human and cat perspectives. Aside from that, it’s A-OK!

Morose Mononokean 11

Wait, these birds have one foot (each) and ear wings??? Wuh???

Oh, now that Abeno mentions it, Chungo has a crescent, but one of the other bros has a heart on his belly. Another one has a circular pattern with a round dent where the head is (like a partial moon, with the smaller edge inverted).

One of the “birds” has two dents in his belly pattern (like the one I described just before, but this time with a W shape).

Hmm…in much the same way the police act as a representative of the state, the reason there needs to be a master of the Mononokean is to represent it…and maybe the Legislator. Is that right, people?

Come to think of it…”chun” roughly means “tweet”, hence “Chunichi”, “Chunji” etc.

The name of this episode is Kii (literally, “return to residence” as far as I understand it…I may have misinterpreted that second kanji though).

Is Komon a “she”? It’s hard to tell, really.

Mob Psycho 100 10

“Prime Minister Yabe”, eh?

I think I saw “ONE” written on one of the buildings.

I sort of saw the comparison between Sho and his dad coming as soon as I saw Ritsu and Sho hanging out together.

I found my old first season predictions from summer 2016 and now I just remembr Dimple as a “green cloud”, LOL.

Well…sorry to break it to you guys, but someone’s post was called “Dimple makes the Body Improvement Club PLUS ULTRA” so I sort of know where this is going…

Hmm…this “muscles with psychic power =/= muscles with training” thing reminds me of the tomatoes from s2 ep 1.

Mob Psycho 100 11

(Mob says something along the lines of “you need to rely on others to help you survive.”) - Welp, Mob, that’s a consumerist post-Fordist society for ya.

“…don’t use your psychic powers against others.” Don’t think I’ve corrected any subs in a while.

…and randomly, Reigen.

Post-credits scene. Keep watching!

I just realised these “courses” mentiond in the next-ep previews are related to the Japanese side of things – BDs, DVDs, events and manga.

Egao no Daika 11

Almost done with the season, eh?

Couldn’t Huey have been shown giving the money, rather than keeping it a secre until the rest of the group did it…?

Please say that’s an armistice, Yu-oh no.

I feel like revealing Izana’s death to his family now…is a bit late.

That’s Stella’s fish bowl! Great Scott! (Okay…that was a terrible pun. Y’see, Scott was the one who believed Stella was Layla’s daughter…and he was right.)

Oh…end of credits segment. Keep watching.

Notably, the ep 12 title (”The Price of Smiles”) is written in kanji + hiragana, instead of the katakana of the show title.

Spec Ops Asuka 11

“I don’t want to run.” – Well, with Nozo-chan leaning on her like that, Sayako definitely won’t be running…in more ways than one.

Ken can mean “dog” in certain contexts, y’know. So Kenjou seems like a good name for a dog boi...spirit…thing?

My Roommate is a Cat 11

I’m going to miss this show when it’s gone…

I feel like a better episode title translation would be “Overlapping Feelings”.

Hmm…I never thought he (Subaru) was wearing a tonne of blue because he liked it. I just thought it was a good aesthetic choice on the part of the mangaka…welp, at least there’s a reason for it now.

Rabbiteye blueberries. I’d never heard of them before, to be honest. (Isn’t blue meant to be rare in nature???)

I could tell from the silhouette it was Kawase…

I know that feel…haven’t you seen the meme that goes…oh, I’ll go find it. Then you’ll understand what I mean.

^…This one.

LOL, that image of Haru on Kawase’s computer.

This show makes me wanna hug my parents…Update: Hey, I said that a few episodes ago. That makes me feel really stupid.

[firestorm26621]

Top 10 of 2018

Disclaimer: The following are not what I think are the “best” movies of the year, at least not in the objective sense of the word. I’m not even entirely sure how one can judge “best” in an objective manner, or by what criteria that could be measured.  Competence in composition and construction, acting, design, music; these are all only parts of what makes a film connect with an audience, and some truly great films have few of these in any great quantities, while there are a good number of movies that are practically perfect films by these gauges which had very little impact on me personally.

So, setting all that aside, what follows are my top 10 films of 2018 only in the sense that they are films I personally enjoyed the most; be that by conjuring the biggest emotional reaction, making the biggest intellectual impact, or simply inspiring the greatest sense of wonderment and appreciative awe in me.  These sorts of things are not easily measurable and certainly aren’t objective, but I know what I like, and it’s these.

#10 – Free Solo

This one was a late and odd addition for me, being the most recently watched on this list (having seen it in January).  Documentaries, by and large, are always interesting to me, but I rarely walk away thinking they are great movies, as they usually have fascinating subjects but little in the way of actual narrative.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor, another great doc, is an example of this, as it is a fantastic look at a subject, but has very little narrative through-line.  

Free Solo, while it starts this way as a film that investigates a free solo climber (being a style of mountain climbing done without any ropes, and which often kills its practitioners), begins to focus in as it centers itself around one specific potential climb, a massive vertical mountainside in Yosemite that has a very high likelihood of killing him in the attempt.  

So, the film suddenly gains a very solid narrative, and begins exploring the questions surrounding it.  Is his new girlfriend really comfortable with his death-defying lifestyle?  Is the camera crew complicit is something morally questionable by filming this dangerous scenario?  Is this guy really ok, mentally speaking?  All of these come to a head in a breathtakingly beautiful yet terribly suspenseful climbing sequence that had me genuinely worried for a human life.

#9 – Isle of Dogs

I’ve always been fairly hit or miss on Wes Anderson, with much of his previous work heavy on deadpan twee sensibilities and light on actual deeper meaning.  Which is partially why 2014′s Grand Budapest Hotel knocked my socks off so hard; it had his pastel sense of style, but it was used to tell a story that hooked me with themes that spoke to me, and it was incredibly narratively satisfying.  

And while Isle of Dogs doesn’t quite hit those heights, it definitely feels like Wes Anderson is moving as a filmmaker into a place I can really dig into, where he engages the broader world and tackles heavier themes, like tribalism and alienation in this film.  Yes, the film is funny, with all its voice actors giving hilarious deadpan line deliveries, and yes, the animation is both stunning and impressive, with the film somehow looking both intentionally rough around the edges and meticulously crafted at the same time.

But beyond how impressive the look and how charming the style, it’s the story that really lands it here.  It uses these tools to tell a clever, touching, almost sci-fi story about our connections and the strength of relationships and full of what I read as strong allegories to our current political climate.  It manages to be both cute and deep, and connected with me on both of those levels.  

#8 – Searching

Yet another surprise, as I was expecting nothing out of this gimmicky looks thriller about a man whose daughter goes missing and his investigation to find her, all told through the screen of the computer he uses to do so.  This isn’t a new gimmick, with a handful of bad horror movies using it previously, but Searching is by a huge margin the best film to use it yet.  It starts with an immediately impacting, tragic montage, charting the evolution of a family as it progresses through a tragedy, all told through emails, computer calendars, YouTube clips, and various other computer programs.  As it progresses, it continues to use its premise to great effect; we see text messages begin to be typed, then deleted, then retyped.  It essentially uses these as character building tools, showing us as much about these characters as their actual words and action.

And then the mystery starts.  The film becomes something of a techno-thriller detective story, with John Cho giving a fantastically evolving performance (especially considering most of the performances involve primarily staring into various webcams).  The film presents the investigation with plenty of twists and turns as Cho’s character comes to learn more and more of his daughter's life, and as it does so, it builds to some surprisingly powerful emotional beats surrounding how this family has dealt with tragedy.  And sure, it may cheat a bit in its final moments, expanding its scope a bit beyond what could reasonably be found on a computer screen, but by then you’re fully bought in anyway, fully engrossed in a story that delivers far more than what was expected.

#7 – Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I love this series.  While the first two films waffled on what kind of films they wanted to be, starting with the third entry and onward they locked in; they were to be bombastic spy thrillers with action set pieces centered around Tom Cruise’ specific brand of almost manically enthusiastic daredevil stunt work.  And here, at the sixth entry, that focus has continued to be honed and adjusted.  Fallout is an entry that is defined by its set pieces; a “how did they shoot that?” one-take jump out of an airplane, a “ why did Cruise do that?” climb up a rope to a flying helicopter, a stunningly choreographed bathroom fight scene, and my personal favorite, a motorcycle chase through Paris that makes it very clear Cruise himself is putting his life on the line for these shots.

What’s crazy to me is that this isn’t even my favorite in the series; 2015′s Rogue Nation has a better story and Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust has a far better supporting role in that one than any here (and weirdly enough, Nation was only an honorable mention in 2015, but that’s because it was a much stronger year for movies I loved).  Yet, while Fallout may not tell a better story, it is likely more memorable, as it presents a non-stop cavalcade of incredible action sequences and stunt work that are as thrilling as they are visually impressive.

#6 – Creed II

I had extremely high hopes for this one.  Creed was one of my favorite movies of 2015 (a strange commonality between this and Mission Impossible above), and was personally my favorite in the Rocky franchise (though whether the Rockys and the Creeds are the same franchise could be debated).  My excitement was tempered upon learning that Ryan Coogler wouldn’t be returning to the directors chair, and to be fair, some of that absence is evident, mostly in the boxing sequences that don’t have quite the same technical proficiency shown in the first film.  But beyond that minor quibble, this film is a more than worthy successor to the first.  

It has the same thematic depth; it has evolved its focus from choosing a family and letting that affect your personal identity to a focus on dedicating yourself to that family and the conflict between it and personal ambition or desire.   It has the same inspirational intensity; featuring a fight that inspires fear in Rocky and a prideful vengeance in Creed, before in the classic format of these films, the characters have to rebuild themselves to rise up.  And it has the same chemistry; all three leads are still fantastic, with more focus this time being given to Adonis and Bianca as they navigate building their own family alongside the inherently dangerous nature of Adonis’s profession.   All this ties together into a fantastic follow-up that builds upon the first film and continues this wonderfully dramatic saga.  

#5 – Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

This was by far my biggest surprise of the year.  I expected nothing of this film, in fact, due to a clip of the film being shown as a stinger on Venom, I was fairly certain the movie wasn’t going to be very good.  It looked to be a slapstick cartoon comedy of a superhero film, and I wasn’t terribly excited for it.  Happily, however, I was very wrong.  So wrong, in fact, that I believe I can comfortably say this is my favorite Spider-Man film.  The film is stylish in a way few animated features have managed; the animation alone is impressive with its blend of modern cg and traditional hand drawn comic book accents, but it’s also got a soundtrack that is wholly rocking and tuned in to the story and character they are backing up.

The film is also hilarious; not only does the mentor/student relationship between Miles & Peter feature charming odd couple banter, the additions of the other spider-people make up a “motley crew” comedy style helped along by some excellent voice work (and special marks for the spot-on casting of Nic Cage as a noir-detective and John Mulaney as a talking pig).  Most shocking to me, however, was just how powerful the story was when it got into gear; the unusual animation style ends up working in tandem with the themes and narratives arcs the story is telling, and while yes, this is in fact another superhero origin story, Miles Morales coming into his own turned out to be one of the best coming of age stories I’ve seen in a long time.

#4 – A Quiet Place

I do love a good monster movie. Not only for the creativity in design choices and aesthetic that can be brought to make some fascinating creatures, but also in the themes, as in almost all the best monster flicks, the monster themselves are stand-ins for some other idea, something that scares us in a more abstract way.  In this case, that theme is very solidly established in the first few minutes: parenthood, and more specifically, the fear and stress of a parent trying to keep their child safe in a very dangerous world.

The first step in exploring this theme is a really solid chunk of world building; presenting a decidedly post-apocalyptic landscape where few humans remain, and those who do must live in silence to avoid detection by the otherwise blind creatures that destroyed the world.  To stack the deck even further, the film presents additional complications; a pregnant wife unclear how she’s going to give birth to a screaming baby without bringing danger, a deaf daughter who cannot hear when the creatures are about, and a father so focused on protecting his family that he shuts them out emotionally.

All this is built up over the first half of the film, and then starts a climax that last almost the full last half as the family has to face all these issues at once.  It’s fantastically tense, riveting horror even it’s rarely outright scary, and firmly establishes itself as one of the more inventive, well told monster stories out there.

#3 – Avengers: Infinity War

It’s difficult to gauge exactly why I love this movie.  Is it sheer comic-book fanboy glee that a story as iconic and beloved as Infinity War was actually adapted for the big screen?  Is it the appreciation of the massive feat that this film represents, bringing together over 20 superheroes from across 18 films together into one story?  Is it the fun of seeing all these superheroes actually interact with each other? Or hell, is it just a really entertaining summer blockbuster?  The answer is obviously some combination of all of these, but I’m still months later having some trouble actually processing it all.

To be clear, it is a great superhero movie; despite one odd sequence aboard a space station with an odd performance choice from Peter Dinklage, the rest of the film is a propulsive journey that cleverly combines and separates its many heroes on to various paths that still interact and matter to each other narratively.  It features action sequence to match, filled with more jaw dropping moments and impressive fight scenes than I can easily count.  

The biggest question I still have is whether this a great movie on its own, taken out of the context of the 18 films that came before it.  And while I don’t think it would be as enjoyable outside of that context, and I’m not even sure it could exist without it, I do still think the answer is yes, and that mostly comes down to its villain.  Thanos is, on his own, a great character, and so much of the movie revolves around his ideology, his plan, and his motivations that it can be and has been argued that Infinity War is actually his movie, thematically speaking.  He is the character with the most traditional arc, down to an ending that shockingly belongs to him as well.  And  while the full story may not yet be concluded, it will be tough to top this achievement of a superhero movie.

#2 – Bad Times at the El Royale

This is definitely a personal pick that I doubt will end up on anyone else’s top 10 this year, but I really did love this movie.  Landing somewhere between Hitchcock and Tarantino, it’s a fantastic thriller that consistently surprises throughout.  To start with, it has a fantastic cast, and they are all absolutely bringing their A-game.  It features Jeff Bridges as a priest suffering from memory issues, Jon Hamm as a sleazy fast-talking salesman, Dakota Johnson as a catty and standoffish hippy, Chris Hemsworth as a maniacal cult leader, and standout newcomer (to me at least) Cynthia Erivo as a subdued but ambitious soul singer.  All of these are rich, deep characters, helped along by dialogue that is witty and engrossing, sounding very Tarantino-esque. And that dialogue often plays around with the fact that all of these characters, across the board, have secrets.

Which brings us to the story, which is where the Hitchcock comparison comes in.  The story at first appears to be a bottle movie, taking place almost entirely within the titular hotel The El Royale.  However, at some point the story begins to shift, both showing us backstories in flashbacks and shifting whose point of view we see the events of the story from.  It leads to a twisty plot that keeps us on edge throughout, sometimes unsure of just where it’s going, but it always pays out for the attention and patience it requires.  And it’s all backed up by an amazing period perfect soundtrack full of soul music that really helps accentuate the narrative.

It all adds up to one of my favorite mystery thrillers in a long, long time.  It’s a genre that is done very often, and more often than not quite badly, so seeing one that is not only an engrossing mystery but relentlessly entertaining counts for a whole lot, to the point where it was almost my favorite movie of the year.

#1 – Annihilation

I am a sucker for a good hard science fiction movie, and it’s a genre that has had an amazing few years.  Ex Machina, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 have been some amazing entries, and Annihilation is now another.  These films are great because they are not only about deep, intellectual topics, they explore them in intriguing ways that are equally deep; they are movies that are best served by revisiting multiple times and by discussing them and reading about them afterward, worthy of further reflection and study.  That said, to be a great movie, it also has to be entertaining, and all of these do that in spades as well.

Narratively, Annihilation is about a mysterious dome of energy that is causing odd biological phenomena, and the squad of ladies who go in to investigate it, despite the fact that no one else who has gone in has every come out, including our main characters husband.  Thematically, however, it’s about self destruction, of the natural and biological variety as well as that within the human condition, and its cyclical relationship with creation.  The film constantly presents imagery of rampant creation, including plants and animals blending, a landscape that bleeds into time and the thoughts and memories of those in it, and the most terrifying creature of the year in the rotting bear monster that seems to absorb the last moments of those it kills.  It contrasts against that backdrop its characters, who are all in some way, both voluntarily and involuntarily, self-destructing, and asks what the reactions to each might be.

And while I have a distinct interpretation of what its ultimate message is, I have read and watched many other interpretations that are just as valid and just as interesting.  It’s the kind of film that is far more than its face value, whose intellectual nooks can be found the more you think about it, and I have found myself thinking about it quite a bit since seeing it for the first time.  And for that, I am very grateful, not only for it expanding my conceptions, but for being a touchstone of a philosophical topic I never would have given much thought to.  And for all that, it is my favorite movie of the year.

Runners-Up:

Eighth Grade - A nice sister piece to Boyhood, it’s a more focused, comedic, and stylized counterpart that brilliantly gets inside the head of a girl in a near constant struggle with navigating her emotional state, her social skills, and her world shifting under her.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - An anthology film that breaks the western down into component pieces to tell masterfully constructed, beautiful, brutal, tragic, and often bizarre tales that bring as much melancholy as delight.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? - A heartfelt, impacting, poignant, powerful look at the life long mission of Fred Rogers to spread love and acceptance, and the obstacles and internal motivations that drove it.

[thatlexplays]

Dance for Nerds: Why I do it.

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that I’m a little weird as a person. I’m quirky, kinda sarcastic and obnoxious, and I make more pop culture references than I probably should (and I’m honestly not entirely sure how many people get my jokes) But when it comes to my craft as a choreographer and performer, I’m the weird guy who doesn’t get exclusively get inspired by the works of other choreographers before me. Why? Because I’m nerd of my senior class. When I got to college, I was a broadway nerd (I’m less of that now), and as the years went on, I became a gaming journalist and a hardcore nerd (I mean I made a post about choreography coming from Dungeons and Dragons...that’s peak nerd right there). 

The major change in my life came with my roles at Zelda Universe. I started as a guide writer and in a turn of events that I did not expect, I ended up becoming the Media Director and an attendee to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3, the big event for the Gaming Industry). Going to E3 as a member of the press drastically altered how I compose myself because it forced me to step up to the plate and make myself seem professional. It was very weird the first year I went to E3 (2015), but by E3 2016, I felt comfortable calling myself a gaming journalist. As an artist, it also is incredibly interesting to talk to the developers of the games themselves and ask them what their process was and some of the reasoning behind their choices. My recent favorite is getting the chance to play Outlast II, a sequel to 2013′s surprise horror hit. During the demo, there was a particular jumpscare that got me so hard it actually made me scream in the middle of the show floor. When talking to the devs, they told me that that specific jumpscare is triggered by how fast your turn the camera, and NOT by touching a door, which allows the tension to continue to build up until you unwittingly set it off. That is genius. 

Sadly, I’ve also gotten a lot of shit for being a dancer that plays video games. I’ve been told by a handful of family members (as well as a few faculty members at school) that I am not prioritizing myself and should be taking more inspiration from dance. Which is unfortunate because I feel like we don’t look at video games complexly. I’ve gotten so much crap for this that I’ve become really good at explaining why being a dancer who plays video games is valid. And because I am currently sitting on a flight for three hours: I figured it would interesting to write about it.

First of all, there’s the obvious answers of storyline, art-style, and music. There are plenty of video games that do an incredible job at creating a plot arc that is gripping and engaging. For me, some of the memorable games that do this incredibly well are The Last of Us, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, most of the Legend of Zelda titles, and most recently, The Last Guardian (which I still have to finish, but what I’ve played I’ve enjoyed). These are games that have a great score, and have story-lines that make me connect to the characters and find things to use as inspiration. 

Then you have those games that also force you to make specific decisions that do have impact. Telltale is prastically know for this in their titles, but the one that’s had a lasting impact on me was Undertale. Undertale’s art-style mimiced that of Nintendo’s Mother/Earthbound series, and had an incredible, multi-faceted story that wasn’t afraid of being fun and kid-friendly one minute and then actively trying to fuck with your mind the next (there are even some movments near the end where the game takes a page out of Eternal Darkness and Arkham Asylum and crashes on purpose, just for good measure). The game also boasts a fabulous score, and it was one of the very few games (if not the only game) that I found a personal connection with. But what set the game apart from other RPG-style games was the primary mechanic of either sparing every enemy you meet or killing anything that crosses your path. The Pacifist and Genocide runs give two entirely different experiences and completely alter how NPCs view your character. Genocide goes one step further as well and activates a permanent flag in the game’s files upon completion, which alters the outcomes of future True Pacifist and Genocide Runs unless you go into the game’s files and delete the flag yourself (which is not as easy to do for the Steam version). This moral choice has so many different implications and is a very brilliant way of showing that every action has a consequence, which in dance, is an important rule. 

But those aren’t the reasons why I play video games. There is one reason that outshines them all, and it can be consended into a quote by Robert Frost.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on" -Robert Frost

 If the countless hours of YouTube, Film, and Video game have taught me anything in the 22 years I’ve been on this Earth, it’s taught me that pretty much everything related to media shares a common aesthetic: life in motion. Whether it’s in the depths of outer space in Star Trek, a Deathclaw in Fallout 4, the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, or just two people chatting in a Starbucks, the act of existing in the world naturally evokes movement. Life doesn’t stop. Ever.

In video games, this is amplified depending on the game. Every character and enemy model has to have a specific way of traversing through space. Sometimes that’s as easy as using a reference (like spiders are common in games but they all move like actual spiders...also...fuck spiders). But in the cases of original enemies, somebody has to create a model and then think “Ok...so how would this character traverse through space?” Once you have that, then there are the specific and subtle nuances that all the characters should possess like Idle animations. That is all movement. 

Case in point: look at the idle animation for Team Skull Grunts in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Now this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in a Pokémon game. Easily. It’s so dumb that it’s absolutely hysterical. However, as dumb as it is, when I think of Team Skull now, I immediately start doing these arm gestures. I now associate Team Skull with that movement. As ridiculous as it is, it’s still movement.

Mankind is currently living in an era in which technology is evolving at a rapid pace. There is so much media in our lives we are pretty much drowning in it. As a result, everything can connect to movement, regardless of sentience or whether or not we can actually see it.

As a citizen living in a country where everything is about to drastically change come January 20th, the arts now have an important role to serve our society and create meaningful work. If we look complextly at the video game industry, we come to realize how much goes into it and how much you can use as a jumping-off point for anything. 

And that is something I intend to do--I am interested in deconstructing current media and technology down to a series of movement principles to create work (either performed live or produced as films) that not only references the culture, but also comments on it as a way of showing the complexity of modern existence through technical and natural movement. I’m also interested in utilizing technology like Twitch to create work that puts control into the hand of the audience. 

Maybe I’ll figure out a way to make this work...or maybe I wont. But it’s worth a shot.