#the cast is very good fwiw

[ebentually]

still think everything everywhere all at once was not very good. decent surreal family drama that turns into a 90 minute geico commercial with an ending slapped on that grasps at basic emotional manipulation to trick the audience into Feeling Something. baby yoda plushie ass movie

[larsnicklas]

another funny thing about m.arner discourse is that one side thinks everyone hates him because they themselves feel that way (false) and the other side thinks that only weird old men hate him and everyone else thinks he’s a darling bc he’s their precious hockey blorbo (also false) and it’s just me eating popcorn as these two sides duke it out on my twt timeline

[thelordofshrimp]

having so much self-control right now (did not start a fight over someone else's garbage take)

[darkprincecait]

think we should influence more Tumblr denizens into reading Water Margin tbqh

[paingoes]

Rubies

Communication

authors note: kitty uses the word ‘nonverbal’ here in a way that isnt really medically accurate. thats kind of a whole discussion im not gonna get into now but tl;dr delta has selective mutism and autism but he isnt “nonverbal” per se.

(Content: living weapon whumpee, discussion of past captivity, past abuse, discussion of war, (internalized) abuse apologism, dehumanization, emotional whump)

================

katkittykat: hiiiiii :3c

nodiving: hey

He glanced over the top of his laptop screen, across the room where Kitty was curled up on the armchair. She flashed her teeth at him when she smiled. Her nails clicked against the keys when she typed.

katkittykat: this is so smart lowk idk why i didnt think of it sooner

nodiving: yeah

nodiving: i’ve seriously been drafting forum arguments in my head this entire time

nodiving: all of them probably think they won just cause i termed

nodiving: would it be weird if i just pick them back up like nothing happened

katkittykat: ya u might have to let those go tbh

nodiving: :/

It was very hard to type with the cast on. It took him much longer to write than it normally would. Luckily, she didn’t interrupt until she heard the typing stop.

katkittykat: so like whats the deal w u

katkittykat: are u not talking cause ur scared to?

nodiving: no

nodiving: yeah

nodiving: its not that im scared necessarily its just that its very very unnatural for me 

nodiving: it still feels rude and overfamiliar to me even if i know you dont see it that way

nodiving: this is a lot easier thank you

katkittykat: you dont have to talk if it’s uncomfortable !!!

katkittykat: its cool if ur nonverbal we can just keep texting like dis

nodiving: i think i do want to though

nodiving: its just hard

nodiving: please dont like…stop talking to me

nodiving: im trying

katkittykat: u will have to deal w us talking to u FUREVER !!!! >:3c

nodiving: <3

katkittykat: aaaaaaaah <33333

He hesitated a long time before typing the next message.

nodiving: do you think i should have stayed

katkittykat: what???? D:

nodiving: on a purely strategic level it seems like this was not the most optimal outcome

katkittykat: urghhhh 

katkittykat: well on a ~purely strategic level~ im not the best person to ask tbh

katkittykat: like im ngl galatea was NOT prepared for sudden reunification and thats why levon is so pissed at us X)

katkittykat: but it would have been hard no matter what and if the war had gone on we wouldve had to fight along 2 different fronts which is also noooooot good

katkittykat: and if we had to do that. we would have had to fight you! which would have been v v v not good  X(

katkittykat: so idk if there was really a better outcome? and even if there was like

katkittykat: its not ur problem

katkittykat: ur not just a chess piece to be moved around

nodiving: i kind of am though

nodiving: theres obviously been a huge fallout because of this and it feels wrong to write all of it off just because of. my rights or whatever.

nodiving: i feel like i kind of jumped the gun leaving when i did

katkittykat: aw jeez :(

katkittykat: i was curious abt that tbh i assumed there was some final straw for u but i didnt wanna pry obvs

katkittykat: seems like it was bad ?

nodiving: i dont know 

nodiving: i was more scared by the escalation it represented than anything that actually happened so i feel like i may have overreacted a little bit

nodiving: its hard to explain

katkittykat: ur ok! u can talk abt it when ur ready

katkittykat: but fwiw i really doubt you overreacted

nodiving: thank you

katkittykat: if anythin u seem to be kinda? downplaying it????

nodiving: it really wasnt that bad

nodiving: i could have gone longer

katkittykat: idk delta it kinda seems that bad

katkittykat: i think u got used to it

katkittykat: but that doesnt mean it wasnt bad

He gave her a nervous glance from across the room, his hands stilling on the keyboard. He reluctantly began to type again.

nodiving: did you say i didnt have to talk about it

katkittykat: yes!!!! mb

katkittykat: do u wanna play league omg we actually have time now

nodiving: yessssss

===========

nodiving: hi

sunspot: Hi Delta!!!! :)

sunspot: How are you !!!!

nodiving: im ok

nodiving: im sorry i was such a dick to you before 

nodiving: i was looking at the old messages again i feel really bad

sunspot: No you’re totally good! We were being really pushy i get why you were upset

sunspot: We were just worried for you honestly even when we didnt know you that well

sunspot: It was scary when you would just disappear for weeks at a time like that

sunspot: We just wanted to make sure you were safe

sunspot: Still do!

nodiving: thank you 

nodiving: i was scared too

nodiving: can i ask you something

sunspot: Yes please!!!! Yes I thought youd never ask!!!!

nodiving: is levon going to kill me

sunspot: Oh no

sunspot: He explicitly promised me not to

sunspot: Delta please do not tell me you have been worrying about that this entire time

nodiving: it stood out as a distinct possibility 

sunspot: Didnt he promise he wouldnt hurt you?

nodiving: yes

nodiving: you understand why i may be a bit hesitant to take him at his word

sunspot: Yes I guess thats our bad 

sunspot: But i really don’t think he wants that for you

sunspot: Do you think he’d wait for you to heal just to kill you at the end?

nodiving: not sure

sunspot: That was rhetorical! The answer was no.

nodiving: then what

sunspot: a good question

sunspot: I wish I had an answer for you and I really cant apologize enough for putting you in this situation but I'm afraid it could get very messy for a little while

nodiving: messy how

sunspot: In the broadest possible terms

sunspot: They dont really know what to do with you

sunspot: So that is something we are all going to have to figure that out together

=============

LEVON: Kitty.

LEVON: How are you, my sweet?

KITTY: omg hiiiiiii

KITTY: im rlly good actually things r rlly good!

LEVON: Any progress?

KITTY: ya i think so :)

KITTY: hes opening up a little hes still like. v v shy in person? but not as scared i dont think 

KITTY: hes very polite

LEVON: Poor thing.

LEVON: Does he have sensory issues? I hear that’s a big thing with psychics.

KITTY: ummm yeah hes v twitchy. i think he gets his signals crossed a lot but idk if hes aware of it? he just gets all hackle-y at literally nothing sometimes

LEVON: Interesting.

KITTY: how are things back there

LEVON: Well, it’s a shitshow. You’ll find out soon.

KITTY: eek

KITTY: um can i tell u smth

LEVON: Of course.

KITTY: i dont think hes ready yet 

LEVON: You have the rest of the month.

KITTY: no even then i just dont think hes gonna be ready

KITTY: he needs more time

LEVON: I feel like I’ve been more than generous in letting you keep an unsupervised superweapon(!) in your house for two months without disturbance 

LEVON: I’m not saying I’m going to put him through the ringer or anything but he does need to come back to base.

LEVON: You’re coming with him, so I don’t see what the issue is.

KITTY: will we b able to see him then :?

LEVON: Sure.

KITTY: can he room w me :3c

LEVON: Nope.

KITTY: why D:

LEVON: Security reasons. 

KITTY: levon :(

LEVON: This isn’t coming from me.

KITTY: but ur the boss!!!!

LEVON: Yes, but this isn’t an absolute monarchy. I’m still obligated to follow protocol and I’m obligated to listen to other members of the council.

LEVON: Who I should add, are a LOT less okay with this than I am. 

KITTY: ok i get all that but listen like

KITTY: i dont think u understand how fragile he is rn

LEVON: I think you may actually be underestimating him.

KITTY: uh wat do u mean by that

LEVON: He’s held his own within Empire for nineteen years. That’s not for the weak. He can handle a little strain.

KITTY: lol is that what u call it

KITTY: a little strain?

LEVON: Relatively speaking, yes. I’ll do what I can to make it painless for him. Personally, I think he’s innocent.

KITTY: he IS innocent

LEVON: Can you prove it?

KITTY: ITS SUPPOSED TO BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!!

LEVON: That file you sent me. You made it, didn’t you? You’ve seen what’s on there? The casualty count?

KITTY: but thats not his fault!

LEVON: And I agree with you. But that’s what we’re going to have to establish. 

KITTY: but i dont want him to :(((

LEVON: What you want is not necessarily the basis upon which the courts operate.

==========

katkittykat: doing ok????

nodiving: yeah

nodiving: in my room

katkittykat: what do u do in there

nodiving: kinda just been sleeping a lot

nodiving: im really tired all the time i dont know why

nodiving: i didnt use to be

katkittykat: ur sleep debt is probably insaneeeeeee that why

nodiving: yeah

nodiving: im sorry that im like this btw

katkittykat: u dont need to apologize for resting bby theres nothing 2 b sorry for

nodiving: not just that i mean everything

nodiving: i know im not normal 

katkittykat: u rlly rllllly dont need to worry abt that around us i promise we r all freak bitches

katkittykat: i like talking to u tho and i think its ok if u dont realylly feel “normal” right now u dont need to b

katkittykat: u can just b urself and if u dont know who that is rn thats fine too becuz u have the rest of ur life to figure it out

katkittykat: i will still want to hang out w you anyway <3

It took a long time for him to respond. She thought he may have fallen asleep again.

nodiving: why are you being so nice to me

Her turn to hesitate. That was more of an Apollo question — he could explain it ad nauseam. She didn’t know what answer she could possibly give him, if he even really wanted one. 

There was so little she knew about Delta. Each glimpse she got of what his life had been like painted a worse picture of it. They always said he’s been through a lot when anyone asked; it was a convenient euphemism for a whole array of issues. He tried so hard to play his cards close it to his chest. It felt like a betrayal then, the way the signs slipped through. 

nodiving: you dont have to be

She frowned as she slowly tapped at the keyboard.

katkittykat: i wanna be tho

katkittykat: cause i like u

katkittykat: <3

Another moment of silence. She braced herself. There was no way she could try and unpack all of that herself. She hoped she would not have to. She would do it wrong.

nodiving: <3

…………

tags:

@catnykit @snakebites-and-ink @vivulapom @scoundrelwithboba @whatwhump

@pumpkin-spice-whump @deluxewhump @fuckass1000 @fuckcapitalismasshole @defire

@micechomper @writereleaserepeat @aloafofbreadwithanxiety

[frances-baby-houseman]

I am obsessed with all the Jonathan Haidt think pieces (and his original article), and at the same time, we bought Alice (age 8.5) a gizmo watch phone this week. We have not been thrilled with our aftercare program this year (a rotating cast of teachers has left it pretty much in shambles) and she wants to take the bus home from school. Most of the time one of us will be at home, but occasionally no one will be here. We want her to have a way to let us know she made it home and also let us know if she decides to go play with a nearby friend, and since we don't have a house phone, this was the best option.

But I am VERY WARY of the tracking feature. We are considering turning it off. I want her to know we trust her, I want her to learn to trust herself, and I think of all the fun I had when I was growing up where my parents didn't know where I was. Would it be easier to just always know where she is? In some ways, sure. But just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

The way gizmo works is you need the app to text her, but if oyu have the app, you can also track her. So we haven't shared the app with anyone else, bc if I'm wary of tracking her, I definitely don't want anyone else to be able to do it, too. So Adam and I are the only ones who can text her, and that's fine. The phone aspect I'm good with, bc there just aren't house phones and pay phones, but that's really it.

This is one of my most strongly held parenting beliefs. My dad and stepmom have find my friends turned on with my sister in college, which I feel is just a huge violation. Adam and I cannot see each other's locations either, fwiw. I just... I just don't want to live in that world.

If you are into using locations that's cool! I am not. If you have questions about the gizmo or our rules around it (we have many!) I am happy to go into it more.

lalalal thank you for coming to my TECH talk.

[blondelucretia]

personally i’m thrilled about the spartacus announcement. just going by deknight’s very politics-heavy twitter presence i’m guessing it will be something of a trump-era allegory, with ashur cast as the increasingly unhinged narcissistic rapist with delusions of grandeur. plus this sounds like a return to the ludus & the upstairs/downstairs vibe of Blood and Sand & Gods of the Arena, which i am SO down for! and! because we’re in AU territory pretty much any characters could return! and there will undoubtedly be a new ensemble of characters to love (& love to hate)!

look, i’d also love to see nagron again, but this is the bonkers sex & violence show, surely a fluffy goat farm kind of thing was never in the cards yeah? leave them alone & let them have their happy ending, i say! also fwiw:

so like… all good things as far as i’m concerned. i can’t wait.

[bisluthq]

That doesn’t explain why people like Jenny Slate have unfollowed Justin though? I can see that being the explanation for the drama with Blake, but isn’t the whole cast ignoring him/unfollowing him?

well maybe because they think Ryan/Blake’s strategy is better and Ryan’s edits were good and as we’ve said Ryan has major Hollywood capital so idk about siding with a rando over Ryan? Especially for someone like Jenny who’s more comedy like idk why you’d want to annoy Ryan Reynolds in her situation?

I just looked at Justin’s insta and he’s REALLY pushing the DV angle and seems really measured about it. Like his whole thing is this is a movie about a fucked up situation and he feels like he needed to make sure it kept a female perspective/gaze and he says it’s important for men to ask themselves why other men commit DV/harm women (even if they themselves feel they aren’t problematic). He really seems to be promoting a very different movie to the one Ryan was promoting in his clip with the Atlas character’s actor. Maybe Jenny wants to be promoting Ryan’s version of the movie, not Justin’s downer version. Fwiw like obviously wbk this story is about DV but I can see someone signing on to a BookTok fave adaptation without thinking it’s gonna be a downer of a movie so again maybe people just think Ryan’s right lol. And again, my guess would be that commercially he 100% is. People are 100000% likelier to go watch a hot movie about hot people than they are some mid meditation on like patriarchal violence. (The movie does not have great reviews lol and tbf neither does the source material so there’s only so much you can do in terms of meditating on patriarchal violence when that’s your storyline and the finished product reflects that storyline like maybe pushing “everyone’s super hot” is really the better way forward).

also again I don’t know about that anon saying Ryan wants an Oscar nom for Blake (I really fucking can’t believe that he does) but looking at Justin’s page it kinda seems like he might be expecting that type of thing? Like he’s promoting something SUPER serious lmao. It’s very possible the rest of the cast is just like “broski you’re delulu af let’s listen to what Ryan Reynolds has to say and follow those instructions on how to make this a big hit” 💀💀

[mizkit]

new blog post: Picoreview: The Blue Beetle

new blog post on https://mizkit.com/picoreview-the-blue-beetle/

Picoreview: The Blue Beetle

Picoreview: The Blue Beetle – Ted and I both really, really liked Blue Beetle & if you’re doing movies in cinemas these days and like superhero films a tall, we think you should see it ASAP bc here, at least, it’s only got 9 showings a day in the largest cineplex (as opposed to Barbie opening with 36 & Oppenheimer with like 16) & it feels like the studio’s way of making sure it fails, at least partially so they can justify having not released Batgirl, another superhero movie with a brown lead.

I was basically always gonna like this movie, fwiw. Unless the trailers were totally lying to me about it, I was gonna like it, and they weren’t. So I was an easy target for this one.

Ted, who *loves* the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, was a much, *much* harder sell. He went in very, *very* skeptical, and came away very pleased with it. So I actually think they did a really good job, and it’s a wonderful family story and there is not a single badly-cast actor in the bunch. We really liked it.

[wellofdean]

Imagine actually loving Supernatural in the year of our lord 2023. The Winchesters is so homophobic with all Jojo's exaggerated prancing, and you can't erase racism with fake woke casting. Get a life you idjit.

Gosh. Ok.

I mean, I'm over here minding my business and enjoying something, and you seem to be pretty exercised over it in a way that seems very unnecessary to me. Also, I very much disagree with you.

Jojo is glorious and I want a hundred more magnificent, ridiculously beautiful gender non-conforming queer people like him to be on my TV. I have so many friends with that kind of soul and I love them, so fuck you for thinking that exuberant, open queerness is somehow homophobic. The fact that it makes you uncomfortable for some godforsaken reason has nothing to do with anyone else. And, no one can erase racism, but it's a legitimately good effort not to propagate it when your characters of colour are backed by cultural awareness and when you include their cultures in the story.

I'm not going to answer anymore dumb asks, so don't bother replying. I will just delete it. It's boring. FWIW, I think you might be the one who needs to get a life.

[transmanleonardo]

the live action is coming out soon!! so theyre blasting the marketing :) it looks pretty promising fwiw the casting is wildly good. this specific marketing choice is very funny though LMAO

Oh that makes a lot of sense!! Even if it seems a bit random to me haha

I was never into One Piece but if it's possible to watch without any prior knowledge I could give it a try sometime. There are a few live action movies I've been meaning to watch, so what's one more on that list really

[bookshelfdreams]

#im very neutral on hamilton and enver engaged with the fandom but fwiw i think its also worth to acknowledge what the play is#on a real life level as well#which is a story told by a brown man of color that specifically#tries to tell americas very white history with POC actors and musical elements at the forefront#is it a good idea? is it well executed? idk - tho i lean toward it being more flawed than not#BUT - even setting aside metatextual flaws. hamilton was a POC written play that stars a largely POC cast on broadway which is INFAMOUSLY#racially imbalanced. so its a flawed story that actively elevates the voices of REAL LIFE brown and black actors in a setting that theyve#historically been shut out from#this does NOT exempt it from criticism BUTTT white people shitting on a POC written play that materially benefits real life POC people.....#that shit reeks of performative activism.#the discussion of the extent to which hamilton is flawed and whether the good outweighs the bad is a very real and reasonable debate.#and its entirely possible to draw the conclusion that hamilton was ultimately harmful even if the intent behind it was probably good.#just like its possible to argue that the metatextual flaws in the narrative are outweighed by the way the show has#helped bring marginalized voices into a space theyve historically been excluded from.#But as far as hamilton goes-its an important conversation to have but i do encourage white people engaging in the convo to prioritize#listen to and elevate the voices of nonwhite (esp black and indigenous) individuals

via @e-vasong - I hope you don't mind me pulling up your tags, but you make very good points. It's important to keep in mind that marginalized voices are always going to be criticized much more harshly than those who belong to the majority - I'm not gonna be the judge of how well Hamilton itself is done but I also feel a lot of the vitriol towards it is unwarranted, or at least exaggerated

Hey I like a lot of the takes you have regarding the pirate show so I wanted to ask for your opinion on smth that's been bothering me for a while:

I have a deep seated dislike for Hamilton. Twinkifying the fucking founding fathers, romanticizing slave abusers and overall villainizing the wrong people while others (Hamilton at the front naturally) gets sung at. Speaking of singing - I really hate it. Shipping (i want to repeat) the founding fathers, the blatant white washing bla bla bla. Anyway those are all known problems and better people have said it smarter before and that isn't really my point

It's the fact that a friend of mine recently brought up that Ofmd pretty much is the same and I shouldn't scream so loud in my glass house. Inaccurate historically speaking, the blatant ignoring of the slave owning that the real Stede and Edward did and so on and so forth. Minus the singing perhaps if we ignore Frenchies and Izzys

So. Does it make me a hypocrite to like ofmd so much but despise the mere mention of Hamilton? It's a thing I'm really stressed about lately and that kind of ruined my joy about finally getting season 2. I would love to hear your opinion. or that of your followers for that matter.

Thank you 😊

oh thank YOU because I do feel that this is an interesting thing to examine and we do not talk about it enough.

I have never seen Hamilton, or listened to the songs (except some snippets). I have never been involved in the fandom. I really, really can't speak to what the musical itself did wrong and right. But I will say this: There was a reason it got as popular and received the critical acclaim that it did. I can't speak to how it addresses the systemic injustice baked into the USA from the very beginning, and I do have a suspicion that it glosses over a lot of uncomfortable truths. But I also feel it is important that we divorce the source material from the fandom it spawns because ultimately, Miranda isn't responsible for Hatsune Miku Binder Jefferson, or the whole hivliving debacle.

Just as David Jenkins isn't responsible for the handwaving of slavery in fanworks, or the great Izzy Hands Debate, or whitewashing in fanart, or shitty, racist headcanons of the characters of colour, or whatever deranged scandal is yet to come to light. This is true for all fandoms; criticizing fandom dynamics is a very different conversation from criticizing the canon.

Let's focus on the canon here, though, because defending the fandom is pointless, and not something I want to do. Curate your experience.

The first thing to say is: If you like ofmd but don't like Hamilton, that's not hypocritical at all, that's first and foremost a matter of taste. Things are good when we like them and bad when we don't. We don't have to find objective reasons for it.

If the fact that the historical Stede Bonnet was a slaveowner, and the historical Blackbeard also participated in the slave trade, are dealbreakers for someone, that's valid. People have every right to be uncomfortable with that. The conversation could end at this point, if we want it to (I don't because I love to hear myself talk).

If we look at the historical figures a little closer the first stark difference is the cultural context in which they exist. The founding fathers seem to be extremely mythologized in the american consciousness but also, are understood to be real historical people. The founding myth is fundamental to the way in which the USA perceives itself (that is, as a beacon of freedom and democracy), and it's pretty hard to reconcile that with the bloodshed and human misery it was founded on. It's uncomfortable; and it's not just an American problem. Every western nation/former colonial power has quite literal corpses in their closets they'd rather not talk about (just so you don't think I'm getting on a high horse about the famed Erinnerungskultur here; go ask a german person about Lothar von Trotha and what he did to the Nama and Herero to receive a blank stare). The difference is, that the founding fathers are too prominent and too important to just not talk about, so instead, they are sanitized to a degree that can be straight up historical revisionism.

That's not Miranda's fault. Nor is it the fault of any one particular piece of historical fiction, biography, documentary, or what have you. But it is the context in which Hamilton exists and, from what I understand, a culture to which it contributes. Especially since it's based on a biography of the real Alexander Hamilton, and (again, to my understanding) claims to tell a more or less accurate story.

Pirates, on the other hand, are perceived completely differently. They are mythologized, but not for ideological reasons, not as state-building propaganda. Pirates are more like folk heroes; cultural icons (near) completely divorced from whatever historical figure once lived. They are "real" in the sense that they are based on real people, but engaging with them, from the start, has a layer of removal from reality that engaging with figures like the founding fathers hasn't. Blackbeard is from a saga. George Washington is from history.

ofmd, specifically, makes clear at every turn that what we are told is a fictional story that has very little to do with any real events. It's openly anachronistic, it has absurd internal logic. Life-threatening injuries are walked off. There's actual magic. Dinghies are treated like spawn points in a video game. Everything, from the costumes to the vernacular to the story beats, tells the audience that none of this is real.

You wouldn't accuse, idk, A Knight's Tale, or Mel Brooks's Men In Tights of whitewashing history. I feel like ofmd plays in a similar league; it's a comedy very vaguely based on history, and it makes sure the audience knows we are not about to be told anything true. If you watch ofmd, you know this isn't about the real, historical Stede Bonnet or Edward Teach.

So. Let's examine the actual story, yes? The story that is told here is anticolonialist, antiracist, and challenges oppressive power structures as much as is possible for a production like this. It addresses these things and condemns them, both explicitly and in its underlying message. (I'm not gonna explain all of this, enough ink has been spilled about it by people smarter than me)

I do not know what Hamilton is about at its core. I know Our Flag Means Death is about authenticity in the face of the whole world telling you there's something wrong with you. It's about resisting dehumanization and reclaiming your personhood. It's about love, in a radical, system-destroying way, about breaking the cycle of abuse, about healing, and finding joy.

Yes, the real historical figures it's based on were all horrible people. Again, if that's a dealbreaker, that's fine. I'm not trying to convince anyone who is deeply uncomfortable with that fact; it's perfectly understandable.

However, for me, personally, the story as a whole is so far removed from reality, and so firm in its message, that I feel this is forgivable.

(Oh, and a lat aside, I also feel like likening ofmd to Hamilton seldom seems to come from a place of genuine criticism. Often it seems to be more along the lines of "Hamilton is cringe, and if I say ofmd=Hamilton ppl will be too embarrassed to defend it" which yk. feels kinda disingenuous to me.)

[bisluthq]

Kinds of Kindness has an ensemble cast. In a normal film, the leads are using in bold, and everyone else is listed in small print. The fact that all the actors are listed in bold tells us that film scenes of each actor are roughly going to be the same amount of time, more or less, but everyone is getting a good amount of screen time. I don’t think Joe even cares. He is listed in bold like everyone else. The Oscars added an ensemble cast category to their awards. I think we will see the entire cast next year at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and at any other big awards show. The movie is a hit with the critics it seems. Very early prediction, I know.

it’s not all the actors lol it’s… as you say an ensemble cast and all the people listed in the trailer are prominent characters. Hunter fwiw is only in one of the stories but she’s still one of the leads so it’s obviously a pivotal role. Joe’s in all three. This film - like all Yorgos films - is obviously gonna go through an awards season. Idk that it’s gonna do well because we don’t know what it’ll be competing with but like lol sorry Swifties y’all will be seeing a lot of Joe thirty flirty and thriving this year just from this let alone from Hamlet 😂

[duran-duran-less-official]

Oh I just realised Disney uploaded the entire first episode of Hamster and Gretel to Youtube, beating the Disney+ premiere by (checks notes) 4 days.

Uncharacteristic of Disney but I'm not complaining.

That was good! Maybe a little rushed from trying to cram in all the narrative beats AND effective introductions to all the characters, but it all worked, and FWIW I thought it was very funny too.

Sometimes it comes across like Dan Povenmire is trying to prove that he hasn't lost a step since the cancellation of Milo Murphy's Law and the COVID-19 pandemic, by trotting out all the signature Dan Povenmire tropes that we all know and love. I instantly identified the Jeremy character before she'd even spoken. This is not at all a criticism, just an observation about how the pilot gets into the swing of things. It's all pretty familiar even with a completely different cast of characters.

Rough character dynamics for people who like Phineas and Ferb: Gretel is Phineas. Hamster is Ferb. Kevin is Candace. Hiromi seems to be Jeremy. Fred is Vanessa. And yes, Hamster can talk... but only once an episode.

The theme song is easily the weakest of the 3 shows Dan Povenmire has run, but that's a very very very high bar to measure up to. They can't ALL be generation-defining classics or underappreciated gems. Not just anyone can be Bowling for Soup or Weird Al Yankovic. It's growing on me, is what I'm saying. If Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day is a 10 then this is a solid 7.

The knockoff Benny Hill theme from Milo Murphy's Law makes a triumphant return.

[re-x]

Since you're roasting the actors on main now (bold, brave, but a lot of correct takes), public ranking of the NHIE cast as performers, please. Not your feelings on them as people; completely performance-based.

Contrary to a popular fandom credo, it is distinctly untrue that “all of the cast members are amazing actors!!!!” That’s not how it works. That’s not how the world works. So, thank you for your question, and fwiw here’s what I think:

1. Jaren Lewison

In my view, nothing short of one of the most talented actors of his generation. A 21 year-old actor who has been working on his craft diligently over the past 15 or so years. His extensive skillset includes things many 40 or 50 year-old actors would be envious of. Admittedly, his NHIE tenure had a bit of a shaky beginning (I think he did okay in the pilot episode, relatively speaking, but it paled in comparison to what we were to see from him later on), he has truly shined in his role as Ben Gross. He appears to have high career aspirations for himself (good for him), and I believe that with a little bit of luck, he’ll go very far in his career.

I had previously written my assessment of his acting skills HERE, if you’d like to read more.

2. Poorna Jaganathan

Very skilled and mature performer, a joy to watch on screen.

3. Megan Suri

Good performer. A great addition to the show. I believe she could do a lot more if given the chance.

4. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

A talented amateur with an obvious lack of formal training. She can deliver big scenes reasonably well, but has a (as of now) limited bag of tricks that she ends up coming back to and reusing. While this is probably okay for most people in the audience, all it does to the more seasoned members of the audience it to reveal her lack of experience. As a performer, she has yet to show the capacity to probe deeper than the “minimum requirements”, or that she sees the importance of character work in small and seemingly unimportant moments (her background work ranges from uninteresting at best to nonexistent at worse). Rookie mistake. But like I said, I consider her an amateur.

5. Darren Barnet/Richa Moorjani (tie)

Two distinctly average and, dare I say, unremarkable and uninteresting performers. Not much to say other than that “Meh”. They can paint in broad and primary colors, but not much else.

6. Ramona Young

Had really meaty stuff to pull off all the way back in season 1, but failed. Seems to have stopped trying lately.

7. Lee Rodriguez

No comment.

[fideidefenswhore]

not quite literally… but, there were some odd things going on with mary’s arc in general, it’s particularly glaring by s4. i agree it wasn’t the creators’ intent but probably was the result due to myriad factors (the writing, jrm’s emotional intensity in his scenes , the actors having way too small an age gap to realistically be a father-daughter relationship). some were small and possibly coincidental (her gowns became severely lowcut by s3-s4 in comparison to s2 and were so during all these … intense emotional scenes with jrm); others were really fucking weird and glaring (namely, mary’s dialogue to stepmothers 4 & 5 sounds more like a rival sultana in magnificent century than his daughter … mind, they explain the first as mary admitting howard was right, it came from jealousy bcus mary was unmarried herself, and the second as mary’s hatred of parr’s ‘heresy’, and if you really search for continuity, maybe the overall suggestion is mary hates anyone that could conceivably blight or threaten her potential future as queen of england— again, this arc was very inconsistent, bcus she’s earlier shown as adoring jane seymour— but—it was still weird…)

…. aaaand the ‘innocence test’ with francis bryan, which was obviously creepy as hell… fwiw, the tudors was plagued by a lot of weir-isms (this was alison weir’s peak), and i’d venture this is where they got this story, as it unfolds almost exactly as it does in weir’s children of henry viii. there is a historical source for it , but not exactly a contemporary one (jane dormer, who was not alive in 1536); and one of catholic hagiography, at that (so… vested interest in casting mary i as a saint, and henry viii as an irredeemable villain, not to mention no naming of the source, casts this story into question).

but, his scenes with his sister in s1 had a creepy vibe, as well. possibly the intent was to use these sort of scenes to illustrate the controlling nature of the patriarchy; that even -- or even, especially-- family was not allowed any exception to these rules of male superiority, men expecting obedience from, and 'owning' and guarding and trading on the virginity, of their sisters, daughters, etc. hell, the pilot episode was the duke of buckingham's violent reaction against his own daughter when she slept with charles brandon, so maybe there's something there...

i hope the experience was overall a positive one for sarah bolger bcus the press during this was pretty rude and forward to her in interviews considering her age at the time; and the bitterness in some of her answers made me wonder if she’d ever been uncomfortable with the writing or just on set (i’ll find it later to link if i manage, but distinctly recall some creep asking her if she was comfortable with the nudity in the show + whether she had a crush on jrm and her answer being smth to the effect of: well, good thing im not playing his daughter or they WOULD probably make me play henry’s mistress!!)

when watching the tudors, am i the only one who got the feeling that henry wanted to fuck mary? the creators probably didn’t mean to make it seem that way but henry was so creepy and the way he looked at mary sometimes turned my stomach