#the costumes in this film are what is keeping me going tbh

[frenchkisstheabyss]

⛧ 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙱𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚜 ⛧

⛧ Pairing: poly!slasher!minsung x chubby!fem!reader

⛧ Genre: slasher au/horror/fluff/angst

⛧ Summary: It's Halloween 1996, you've just broken up with your toxic ex, and there's a killer on the loose. When you go to the local video store to find your next distraction, you run into your longtime crushes who have their hearts set on looking after you. But you must be careful. Not everyone's who they appear to be.

⛧ Word Count: 2.1k

⛧ Warnings: brief discussion of murder, implied possessive ex, intro to knife play if you squint, suggestive, psycho Minsung, you probably have a killer fetish, & that's all my loves. It's otherwise quite fluffy tbh.

⛧ A/N: I'm starting this series as my love letter to 90's slasher films aaaand because I just love Minsung. I'm writing this in "tapes" instead of chapters for ✨ ambiance ✨ so I hope the vibes come across. I'm already working on part two so I'll have my knives and fingers crossed you babes enjoy this one.

💀 >>> Go to Tape 2 >>> 💀

A bell dings overhead as you step through the door of Topline Video. A crowd of middle school kids dart by, nearly knocking you over in their excitement to get home with some cheesy slasher flick they definitely shouldn’t be watching. All are in full costume, wearing the kind of plastic masks that smell sorta funny when you put them on. 

The kid dressed as a goblin turns back for a second, peeling up the murky green mask to reveal an apologetic face. “Sorry, lady!” he shouts, taking your gentle smile as a sign of forgiveness and racing to catch up to his friends. “Lady?” you whisper to yourself, the door creaking shut behind you, “Great, now I feel ancient.” 

Lucky for you there’s no time for an existential crisis as you’re swept into the frenzy of the video store. The walls are packed with what must be a thousand VHS tapes. Double sided displays line the aisles with hundreds more. Every one of them is some brand of horror movie with even the most obscure subgenre present. 

Black and orange streamers travel from one end of the ceiling to the next with tiny spiders dangling from them. Giant skeletons lurk in the corners guarding jack o lanterns with flickering eyes. Every year people eat it up but this year is particularly spooky. It sends a shiver down your spine when you recall why. 

“I heard they found another leg” a red haired girl says, casually smacking on a piece of bright pink bubblegum. Beside her a shorter girl files through tapes under a large bloody hand drawn sign reading SERIAL KILLERS.

“I thought they already found both of his legs. A guy can’t have three legs.”

The red haired girl shakes her head, smiling mischievously. “That is not true. I hooked up with him once. You could for sure consider that thing a third leg.” The girls break into a fit of giggles. Dodging their insensitivity, you squeeze yourself into the Monster Movie section. 

“Hey Drac” you sigh, staring up at the Dracula cutout looming over you, “I live in a town of idiots.” “You don’t mean everyone, do you?” a voice answers back with the worst Dracula impersonation you’ve ever heard. Suspicious that it isn’t coming from the cardboard cutout, you peek around to see a familiar face stocking the shelves. 

Your heart immediately begins to flutter, a blanket of warmth encompassing you. Han Jisung. If you flip through the dictionary you’ll find him under D for dreamy. The glow of the setting sun kisses his dark curly hair, making it almost sparkle. And those brown eyes, they’re so…no…keep it together. 

“That’s a terrible Dracula voice” you tease, arms folded across your chest. “I don’t know what you mean. Bleh, bleh, bleh” he carries on, pretending to bare his fangs. Now it’s you who’s giggling and you can’t stand how easily he gets you to.

“You are such a dork, Han.”

Returning to his normal voice he only shrugs, “But that’s why you’re so insanely in love with me isn’t it?”

His words intensify the heat moistening your palms. Fidgeting with the sleeves of your jean jacket, you wrack your brain for some witty response only for nonsense to tumble out. 

“No. What? I…uh…um…early.” 

Popping a copy of Megaverse Massacre 2 onto the shelf, Han raises an eyebrow at you, “Early?”

Your brain finally catches up to your mouth and you spit it out. “Uh, yeah, early. I heard you guys were closing early because of the…” 

“Body hacking psycho killer?” a voice cackles, gripping your shoulders from behind. You let out a blood curdling scream that draws the attention of a few nearby shoppers. Swinging around, your fist ready to dish out a debilitating gut punch, you come face to face with Lee Minho. You haven’t quite decided if he can be filed under “dreamy” or “asshole” yet.

Minho grins, never finding you cuter than when he’s getting on your nerves. “I’m sorry, babe. Didn’t hurt you did I?” he teases, straightening out your clothes with a gentleness you weren’t expecting. The sun’s doing that thing again. The sparkle. The glow. The radiant brown eyes searching yours, threatening to make you fall even deeper into them than you already have.

Han dips between the two of you, separating you before you rip Minho’s head off. “I’m sorry. Really. He was deprived of air in the womb. Being an asshole’s just a side effect.” 

Over Han’s shoulder Minho frowns, “Hey! Rude much?” Digging into his pocket, Han pulls out a lollipop. It’s sugar blown into the shape of a blood drenched kitchen knife. “Are you bribing me with a sugary murder weapon?” you ask, staring at it skeptically. Han flashes you a close lipped smile, his cheeks so fluffy it’d be a crime to deny him.

Snatching the lollipop you waste no time popping the wrapper off and tapping Minho on the head with it. “Hey! What was that for?” he winces, wiping lollipop residue from his head. “Sorry, babe” you grin, sucking on your tool of revenge, “Didn’t hurt you did I?” Han buries his face in his hand but it does nothing to hide the joy he takes in his best friend’s pain. 

This is nice. Laughing with someone. With them. It’s been a while since you felt this light around other people. The recent weight on you hasn’t been of some invisible boogeyman sneaking off with one of your limbs. No, your boogeyman was someone you knew well, or at least thought you did, and he’s haunted you every chance he can.

Speak of the devil…

A bell dings, drawing your attention to the door where a man in a demon mask scans the room for someone. You recognize him immediately. Those boots. Those pants. That flannel shirt you always found totally hideous on him. Your heart sinks, the lollipop in your hand tumbling to the floor.

You see Minho and Han’s hearts sink too. It’s as if they sense that any joy you’d been feeling just went down the drain that instant. Minho whispers something into Han’s ear. You can’t make out what, only the calculated tone of his voice. “Hey!” Han says, perking up again, “We’re having a movie night tonight. You should come.”

As the man in the demon mask spots you, your eyes dart back and forth between the men. “A movie night? Sure that would be…I’d like that.”

Han takes you by the hand, “Wicked. Come on, you can pick a movie from the back.” He leads you towards the backroom just as the man advances towards you. Peeking over your shoulder you spot Minho blocking his way. A quick left turn stops you from seeing what happens next, filling your vision instead with tattered old movie posters.

Passing a few of Han’s coworkers, you wave politely and they smile in return. The back room’s like a dustier, quieter version of the sales floor. The walls are still lined with tapes, only there’s no way these have been watched any time in the past decade. Through the dust you see the spine of a tape titled Camp Counselor Sleepover Murder Party 4.

“That one” you decide, stopping dead in your tracks.

Han stops too, squinting to spot what caught your eye, “A woman of taste I see.” 

Pulling it from the shelf, he blows the dust away and hands it to you. “Only the finest for you.”

You feel that lightness again. It's easy to feel it when he smiles at you like this. Such an unexpected but welcomed sense of safety. “Han, thanks for…” you start but the surprise sensation of his lips pressed to yours makes anything you were about to say feel insignificant.

With one hand still holding yours, his other hand comes to rest on your lower back. Your lips are somehow softer than he’d imagined. Even in the absence of the lingering strawberry flavored lollipop, he knows they’d taste just as sweet. Minho’s gonna kill him when he finds out that he kissed you first but nothing could be more worth it.

“Thank me by not worrying about your ex,” he says, “He won’t bother you anymore. I promise.” 

You want to tell him how much he doesn’t understand. That your ex doesn’t give up that easily. But you decide not to ruin the moment, even if letting yourself believe him feels delusional. “Jisung, we need you up front!” one of his coworkers shouts back. He hesitates, unsure if he should leave you or not.

You kiss him first this time, turning him loose, “Go. I’ll be fine back here. Camp Counselor Sleepover Murder Party 1-3 have gotta be rotting around here somewhere right?” One last kiss and he’s rushing back up front, clueless as to how he’s supposed to focus on anything else now.

Turning back to the shelf you realize how big of a challenge you’re in for. Maybe there’s a feather duster somewhere? Or a respirator mask?

“Give it here. That has to be wrong.” Minho approaches the kitchen counter where you sit, playfully swinging your feet. He reaches for the magazine in your hand but you clutch it tightly to your chest, refusing to fork it over.

“Live with it, Minho. You are Suspicious Boyfriend.” 

“Suspicious boyfriend” Han sings, retrieving a bag of freshly popped popcorn from the microwave, “I think it has a ring to it.”

Hopping down from the counter, you skip your way over to Han extending the magazine and the pen in your hand out to him. “Your turn, Hannie.” You see the skepticism all over his face but don’t give up. All torture must be equal after all.

“I’ll take that” Minho smiles, stealing the popcorn for himself.

“Sure. Why not?” Han surrenders, grabbing the magazine and the pen. You and Minho watch on, far more amused than you should be, as Han skims the pages checking off answers to silly personality questions. Pick a country to travel to. Pick a favorite food. Upstairs or downstairs?

After a minute or two he finishes and slides the magazine back over to you. You can barely contain yourself as you assess his results. Leaning across the counter, you share them with Minho who immediately begins to laugh. 

“What’s so funny? What did I get?” Han asks looking so genuinely concerned that you almost feel bad for telling Minho first. Minho empties the popcorn into a bright orange Halloween bowl, shoveling some into his mouth. “Comic Relief Best Friend” he mumbles. Han frowns, coming to see for himself. You hold the results page up for him. 

Which Horror Character Are You?

You point to his score beneath the headline “Comic Relief Best Friend”.

“Oh, okay. So I’m funny and I die before him. Perfect.”

“Aww, come on. Don’t be like that” you say, poking at his chin, “It’s not like I got the best result either. I’m the Final Girl.” 

“What’s so bad about that?” Minho asks, his words muffled by food, “It means you make it to the sequel.” 

“No, it means that I’m boring. Badass but boring. I wanna be the killer. They have more fun.” 

Han shakes his head, a sympathetic hand resting on your shoulder, “I hate to break it to you but you’re not really killer material.” Minho takes your hand like a doctor prepared to give you some bad news, “Yeah, you just…you don’t have it in you, kid.” 

“Don’t have it in me? I do so!” you protest, your tantrum not doing much to make you less adorable. Minho moves toward the knife rack behind him, carefully selecting the biggest, sleekest one he can find. “Okay, so kill me.” 

There’s a long, tense silence.

“Come on. It’s not that hard. Just…” Minho mimes stabbing himself in the chest, his tongue stuck out sideways. “Give it!” you shout, running to take the knife away. Minho catches you by the wrist, slipping the knife into your hand and raising the tip of the blade an inch away from his throat.

“Do it” he dares, his hand tightening around yours, “Prove us wrong.”

There’s an unnerving excitement in his eyes as he awaits your decision. An excitement that doesn’t seem to want you to back away. No, it wants you to come closer. He wants you to come closer.

“Hannie,” you plead, “Can you talk some sense into him please?” Han joins the two of you, saying nothing at first, simply observing. The way that they watch you is intensely sexual and some part of you, one you hadn’t known existed until now, seems to take pleasure in it. 

Han laughs, bringing his arms around your waist, “Oh but sweetie, we’ve played your game. Don’t you wanna play ours now?”

[castlebyersafterdark]

"The face looks like Noah but the body is like stretch Armstrong Noah." 🤣🤣🤣 Tbh, he looks fine to me. It's just this weird color of his jacket that makes his arms look longer. But yeah, his hair is definitely the most interesting thing on the photo. It looks very different from what we've seen before. I can't help but think about that old rumor that there will be multiple time skips in the season (1987 and 1988)... So maybe it's 1988!Will?

So much mileage from this one weird weird weird grainy photo. I swear, these Stranger Things set photos must not be so not lucrative for these paps this year, they're putting in the work and not making that bank. Otherwise, maybe they could afford better lenses because it has been ridiculously bad quality consistently. Or maybe they're truly zooming from a literal mile away hahaha. That Will photo is strange. I think it's Gaten's double and Noah. But Noah at an odd angle? His face looks the same to me!! Unless it's a very close double! His arms are very bizarre looking in it, the costume is strange.

I kinda hate the jeans, they look way too baggy and odd. Unless my idea is right that they're running around and hiding and borrowing clothes where they can. I miss my Will in his tight light denim, why are they doing this to me specifically?? 🤭 They honestly look like Finn's odd-fitting thrift store dad jeans straight outta '98 he's so fond of I guess. All this fuss from several pixels. Maybe we'll get more angles soon and all this will be moot. It seems these paps parcel the same stuff out over weeks lately. Not much left. Wonder if they've been saving things to spread out once filming is concluded. I know sometimes they sell things to press and the shots don't get published for months, right? Am I making that up? To keep interest instead of source material fatigue. Just pondering in general!

I'm so unsure of a separate time jump now for the bulk of the season. I feel like there might be one once the main plot is resolved, rather than splitting the time up twice post initial plot. I'd love a jump to 1989 because in my opinion, it feels incomplete if we don't have the Party graduate high school. All this and they just end it and go off and then have senior year and we don't see where they end up in life? Maybe it'll pull a really unexpected ending where it's just... normal times and not a life stage ending. I don't know. Is graduation or prom or going away to college or wherever too cliche? I don't mind some cliche, so. Who knows!!

[leonardoeatscarrots]

My take on the Anastasa Broadway musical is uhhh

They only improved one thing, and it was A Rumor in St Petersburg

I think it added SO much more context for the audience and really set the stage for the political tensions going and elaborates more on the Dmitri and Vlad's plan where the original film kinda shoved those things aside.

But the vocals sucked. At least the official recording of them. Like??? Couldn't even be bothered to tell the guy playing Dmitri how to pronounce "Vlad"?? Seriously?? The name of one of THE MAIN SUPPORTING ROLES???

And the rest of the songs sucked. They actually did not need to change that many, or at least not in the way they did.

You know when you have something sorted out nice and orderly and someone ruins it? That's what the musical was like. LIKE NO DON’T TOUCH THAT IT WAS FINE AND MADE SENSE THAT WAY.

I will say Vlad's backstory was a little odd... but I not so much that I was mad at it. I do feel like it was a little clunky and unnecessary, though. It was just an extra detail that didn't feel like much beyond drama.

Don't get me started on Dmitri's new backstory. Shit. Ass, even. Not in the good way. At least it put a clearer distinction that he was NOT Dmitri Pavlovich (something that I've seen other viewers confused, and rightfully concerned about). But if they wanted to make him fucking boring then congrats, they succeeded. I suppose the narrative was interesting, but the whole point of him being a servant in the palace was that he had inside information the whole time. He was a more reliable source who knew a lot about the con he was trying to pull. Not to mention he had HELPED Anastasia. I DUNNO. I JUST THINK IT MIGHT BE THEMATICALLY IMPORTANT.

Now, the way Anastasia remembers him is so generic and vague that it's just stupid?? Why would she remember that?? It's just?? Not important at all??

Oh man don't even get me started on the Rasputin situation. Yeah I know the original movie was innacurate, but I do not think that many people cared. Rasputin being the antagonist in the film was annoying to me, but HE WAS A COMPELLING VILLAIN. (And it seems, at least from the poll that i took a while ago, that is srt of the general consensus from the people who actually know the context.) So when they removed him, it's no wonder the story suffered. Like not only did you take out the fucking BEST villain musical number 5ever, but you just took out the original antagonist. Bro I came to the musical FOR THE MUSIC and it sucked AND they took out the gross Rasputin song. And the new conflict kinda like??? Sucked tbh?? Like they could have done it, but I feel like the story just isn't the same with such a faceless conflict. It was written with the intent of having an antagonist. Why is it so fucking hard to keep it that way.

The costumes were BANGER though. They fucking POPPED OFF on that shit.

[jeannereames]

There is this question/idea that has always kinda fascinated me and I wanted an opinion of a historian on this.

Imagine someone wanted to makes a tv series/movie about a historical person/event/time period/..., and they wanted to make it as historically accurate as possible while still keeping it interesting and captivating enough for modern, non-historian audiances. I feel like getting the costumes, events and characters 99% historically correct can be possible. However one thing might be a lot more difficult: choosing what language(s) to use.

Do you go for

A) The actual historical languages that were used (but nobody speaks anymore today). Which would be both the hardest to implement and to reach modern audiences.

B) The modern versions of the historical languages. Which would be easier and more accessible but still a bit limiting.

C) Just do it in English. Which is the least accurate but might reach the widest audience.

Which one would you recommend and which one would you personally prefer (if these are not the same)?

Several issues face anybody writing historical novels, or making films. I’ve talked about some of these in the following posts:

Writing Historical Fiction (Well): a 5-part series that discusses the challenges and pitfalls of historical fiction. This link takes you to part 1 with subsequent parts linked within.

A shorter post on common ways to approach historicals in film (or narration).

What (I think) needs to be shown about Alexander in an documentary and/or historical film to approach realism. I talk here about some of the attendant issues especially for making a film.

 Now, to your comment about costumes and events 99% accurate…you’d face two very real hurdles:

Funding…that was possibly the #1 problem for the Netflix docudrama. They didn’t have anywhere near the funding they really needed. Just because Netflix funded it, that didn’t make it “big budget.”

Not confusing your audience with a lot of unfamiliar names and seemingly repeating events. It would require judicious “weeding.”

Oliver Stone’s Alexander did quite well, for the most part, on costuming and sets. Yet it failed for two big reasons. First, he couldn’t resist throwing in too much, and a repetitive script, even while skipping material necessary to help an audience understand why the army followed Alexander to the ends of the earth. Second, he didn’t understand the basic mindset of the ancient world, and so imposed a bunch of modern ideas and attitudes. I wrote a fairly in-depth review not long after it came out. It’s still up on my website.

As for languages…

It would be an enormous mistake to try to use ancient Greek, or rather Attic and Doric Greek, Old Persian, Aramaic, Demotic Coptic, Prakrit, eastern Akkadian … etc., etc. That’s what you’re looking at. First, finding somebody able to write a script in all those languages is impossible. No single person reads them all, even among historians. We specialize for a reason. You’d be paying multiple experts to write a script that nobody living could understand—and would take a lot of coaching for the actors even to pronounce properly. Additionally, you’d narrow your audience to those willing to put up with subtitles.

The founding-of-Rome Italian TV series Romulus used Latin. This worked only because it was one language and was marketed originally to an Italian audience. Latin isn’t Italian by a long shot, but it wasn’t wholly unfamiliar in sound. That said, it was more of an “art film” type. I (an ancient historian) quit watching it after the second episode because it was too much work, tbh. (It was also a lot bloodier than I was in the mood for, in the midst of Covid.)

But if you want to see a (good) example of what you’re suggesting, that’s one. Another, similar, is The Fast Runner, which is entirely written and performed in Inuktitut, an Alaskan language (albeit not ancient), and set in the mythical past. Despite its awards, it’s virtually unknown outside indigenous and art-film circles. I did watch all of that one (and liked it), but it was a single movie, not a series.

(Yes, I’m aware of Apocalypto, but I consider that more an example of why you don’t make a film in a language people can’t understand. It’s in Yacatec Mayan, which is actually modern. In that, it’s not unlike the Inuktitut in The Fast Runner, but the latter works better, imo.)

If you want to make a movie that will be watched and understood by non-specialist, non-art-house audiences, you will have to use English (or whatever language of the country it’s being marketed to). And you’ll need to think some about dialogue. How “archaic” do you want to get? Too much authenticity can send viewers into fits of giggles…probably not the approach one is going for. 😊

That’s why, in Dancing with the Lion, I opted to utilize fairly modern dialogue, then pepper it with a bit of Greek here and there. 1) Words easy to figure out. (“Idou!” = “Look!” as in, “Look, I know you think I’m…”.) OR 2) words difficult to render into English without it sounding silly or overly Christianized. (“Oimoi!” = “Woe!” but equivalent to “Damn!” which evokes Christian ideas.) Not every reader liked my choice, mind, but that’s why I made it.

Other writers, such as several in the newly popular “modern takes on Greek myths” employ something more akin to Mary Renault’s slightly archaizing approach. It’s also been used by Judy Tarr and Jo Graham in their historical fantasies. I like that option too, it’s just not mine.

But I wouldn’t get too complicated, or you’ll confuse (and thus lose) your audience.

But coming back to the number one hurdle to film authenticity in costumes, sets, quality actors, and crew … MONEY. To do it especially well, it doesn’t just take a commitment to authenticity, but an enormous budget. Oliver Stone’s Alexander cost 155 million dollars. I expect you could to it for less than that, but everything from good costumes to rentals of multiple sets used once (like a theatre for Philip’s murder), to horses and stunt actors, to quality CGI…to decent (if not A-list) actors, writers, historical consultants (more than just one as none of us can do it ALL)—that costs. You’ve got to be the likes of Stone to get investors to pony up for that. He started talking about making it way back in the early ‘90s, and it took him to the early 2000s to get the money.

Unfortunately, absolute authenticity is expensive in a story as far-flung as Alexander’s. It’s what a lot of the critique of the Netflix show really doesn’t get. There are still issues with it that doesn’t owe to money, but multiple compromises were made due to a lack of funds.

If you wanted to do Alexander, it might make more sense NOT to try to do it all. Do a portion of his life. See how that sells, then investors might be willing to kick in more money. Inevitably, I think showrunners want to do too much at once.

[orpheusilver]

care to elaborate on the miles venom arc?

YES okay so. the thing abt the symbiote is that (like any good corruption arc) it feeds on and amplifies the worst traits of a character, which is pretty straightforward in peters case - his biggest issue is his anger, usually manifesting via retribution (eg. "i missed the part where thats my problem", hunting down uncle bens killer), so his origin story is always the great power/great responsibility thing so he learns to temper that rage. what the symbiote does, practically, is force him to unlearn that foundational character arc and regress to his worst self

since the symbiote really really loves aggression peter parker is literally its dream guy but miles is a little more complex. hes definitely susceptible to that same anger (eg. wanting to "make kingpin pay", the entire sm2 martin li arc) but not as often and nowhere near as hardcore, so the peter playbook wont work as well for him (and also it would be fucking boring. weve seen that shit like 8 times already (not saying symbiote peter is boring i just think modern iterations need to explore new aspects to avoid treading the same ground constantly (sm2 does this very fucking well (also yuri lowenthal is a great va for peter like right up there with josh keaton (i think this many parentheses means im off topic (the adhd demon got me))))))

SO. whats miles' major issue he needs to overcome in his origin story? full disclosure i have not read the comics (but i heard they had some issues with his initial characterization anyway? which is fair enough tbh writing the successor to such an iconic guy is Fucking Hard) so TO ME PERSONALLY!! spider-verse miles is the definitive iteration of the guy and like. we all remember the whats up danger scene, his origin arc is overcoming self-doubt and learning to believe in himself ("its a leap of faith", "youre on your way, just keep going") which, alongside social anxiety (eg. the itsv "everyone knows" scene, sm2 "are you mad at me? it sounds like youre mad at me" dialog), seems to be part of some general anxiety issues. this is pretty well supported by the recent "the spider within" short film (which funnily enough is very fucking reminiscent of some sequences in kravens last hunt, not relevant but kinda cool) which also shows how miles responds by self-isolating, similarly to ps5 miles when peter ignores him

the symbiote can exploit his self-doubt pretty easily, the inherent power boost will do most of the heavy lifting to make him feel like hes not good enough without it - what if he runs out of web at the worst moment? what if hes not strong or fast enough to save someone? what if hes caught mid-costume change because hes so used to the suit changing itself? the more valid the (inital) concerns the better imo

the social anxiety is a tricky one but i think if miles traps himself in a doom loop of self-isolation he might spiral into genuine paranoia, which combined w/ the patented symbiote rage could lead him to lash out at people around him. "everyone secretly hates me so im gonna avoid being around people" -> "i feel alienated from everyone i know so im gonna avoid them even harder" -> "am i 'okay'? why would you care? what are you playing at? fuck off and leave me alone" -> "nobody wants to interact w/ me so everyone who does must have ulterior motives and is therefore a threat to me/my family/my city" -> "im completely isolated but bad things are still happening so people must be conspiring against me w/o my knowledge" -> "literally everyone on earth is out to get me and i need to fight them about it"

from there i think the ideal conclusion is pretty self-evident - miles takes a metaphorical leap of faith (calling back to the lesson learned in his origin arc) by actively choosing to trust someone, reach out and ask for help w/ removing the symbiote and dealing with the contemporary big bad (potentially his local peter variant bc hes got experience w/ symbiote removal and it would tie into the "leap of faith" motif but idk)

so tldr: a miles symbiote arc would be different to peters arcs in some (very interesting) key ways - rather than unbridled aggression he could be characterized by intense anxiety, manifesting as paranoid self-isolation and a sense of dependence on the symbiote suit, and would end the arc by reaching out for help in a symbolic leap of faith

[true--north]

Just a quick question, why don’t you like Broadway pants? In F2 both girls wear it. I’m just wondering what’s the differrnce, personally I don’t like any of them tbh 😅

I'm ok with Anna's Musical costume, it was folk, cute and in place – Kristoff gave it to her to travel the highland. About Elsa's trousers: first, they look weird in my opinion: silk, strangled, combined with a tight corset and a cloak? Seems like a bad taste and more unhistorical than her dress. Second, what they were for? Elsa already had a transformative Ice Dress, a dress of the Witch of the North Mountain, why to make her change again? It leaves the feeling of that sort of simplistic 'faux' feminist reading, like a heroine is only "strong" and "independent" when she gets rid of the skirt and doesn't need a love interest(Side note: Anna needs one but who would call her weak?) This trousers "symbolism" also irks me because The Musical!Elsa was softer, meeker even, than The film!Elsa. She is submissive and resigned and then gets "the power suit" when she is far from it, when she is not powerful and agrees to be imprisoned. In F2, their breeches were normal and comfortable and appropriate for traveling.

(I was analyzing the Musical Elsa and what I don't like in the choices they made for her here:

[gaybd1]

Chris rewatches and liveblogs the awful The Last Airbender movie for the first time since it was released 13 years ago

ok I saw this once when it was in theatres when I was in high school and I never watched it again. I remember being disappointed and uncomfortable originally

I only remember Aang was pronounced differently and Katara was some blonde chick I remember literally nothing else so here we go

oh damn ok right away the bending animation is kind of giving but the weird cursive stylization of the element names in the intro… not a fan bc my bad Chinese reading self can’t read it and I wonder if that’s even like a real style lol I wouldn’t be surprised either way

Also like just KEEP the TV intro instead of plagiarising but a little to the left?? sorry I know I’m nitpicking

Why are Katara and Sokka like MAGA-white that’s SO uncomfy

Sokka is not giving me the correct vibes

Why would Katara go with Sokka to go hunting?? p sure that happened in the cartoon too but ???

Already changing my mind about the costumes and possibly the Sokka vibes

Okay Aangs tattoos fuck actually

Okay yeah the tone of this whole thing is so boring I can’t put my finger on it yet like something is DEFINITELY missing

Okay yeah the costumes suck

ZUKO??? why is his hair so boring why is his scar so tiny

Gran Gran is white too?? but all the other villagers aren’t lololol okayyyyy

First impression of the sets (like the SWT village were good) but actually they suck they make ZERO sense there are just like open windows and no door?? But it’s cold outside???

OH NO what did this film do to Appa I’m so sorry sweetie look how they’ve massacred my boy

IS THAT UNCLE IROH IM AHSJDKLFNFGSJSKD

EEROH again I guess that’s more accurate but WHY

The vibes in this movie are all off lolol how did Nickelodeon endorse this?????

Still not sure why this feels so flat like I really don’t care about anything happening?? Maybe bc the original show is so character driven and this movie hasn’t even let us get to know any of the characters?? I remember thinking the first time I watched this that it moves way too fast so I guess this all could come down to a pacing problem

Gran Gran’s explanation to like send them after Aang makes no sense at all actually

I know they were trying to be like accurate with the costumes (a laugh tbh) but I do think it was a mistake to get rid of the color associations

MOMO OH NO I’m so sorry sweetie

Again with the air temple set, the vibes are right but it doesn’t look quite like anything I ever saw in SEA or in research...

The sequence where he finds out the airbenders are gone is pretty good. Seems they could do more with that than in the show but okay now he’s having some weird vision with a dragon????

Wait Soe-ka? Knock it off w the names I s2g where is the franchise continuity

Are the gonna explain the weird ass dragon vision??

The FN ships are so bad

Zhao is not creepy enough. Asshole enough though.

I KNOW I’m nitpicking but even the food seems wack

Weird that the firebenders seem to be only able to manipulate fire here, not create it

I do wonder about the authenticity of the costumes. I’ve heard they suck but I’d be fooled which begs the question, why not just BE authentic to the cultures they’re supposed to represent

Is it the acting that’s flat here, the writing, or the directing? Whose fault is it??

Interesting choice to have the earthbenders imprisoned within reach of their own element. I kind of like that, showing how defeated their spirits really are

Of course they gave away Katara’s motivational speech

These bending motions CANNOT be based on real martial arts lmfao it seems so clunky

Wild how I just don’t care about any of these characters lol

The writing isn’t ALL bad like I actually like the way different plot elements were connected for the sake of the movie but the execution is just so bad

Princess Yue leads the NWT? Again… a Choice

Wild how they are leaving the best episodes out of this narrative. Like the ones that gave the characters life

LOVE that there’s an African-inspired Earth Kingdom village, I’ve been thinking about this concept a lot actually

Why does the Fire nation look like that?? Why does Ozai look like that??? Why are we introducing Ozai already I don’t like that choice either???

I HATE the Fire Nation aesthetic SO MUCH

Ozai is not evil enough AT ALL

I DO like the creative directions they took w diversity in the Earth Kingdom like in different towns

AGNI KEE I’m

Aww lil Azula is cute

What a weird ass way to fit in Zuko’s backstory. Again, I don’t find myself caring about it at all

Starting to really hate the bending actually. The elements don’t seem to be interacting w the movements of the bender at all

The statue room looks cool

The dragon again wtfff

The Blue Spirit. Cool but it doesn’t hit as hard bc we don’t CARE about Zuko or his past and tbh it probs won’t make any sense to a casual viewer anyway

Also why does his mask need to come with a wig I mean it looks so unserious

Iroh just creeps me out idek why

OH we’re blowing up Zuko’s ship NOW okayyy

Aww some Sokka/Yue vibes but it’s a real shame I don’t give a shit about this version of Sokka

I think one reason I don’t like this version of bending is it takes so much handwavinv before anything even starts happening

Not digging this NWT aesthetic either tbh

Pakku??? Why does he look like cheap knock off Theodin? Why is he like… nice???

Why is Aang trying to talk to this Dragon Spirit and not like… Roku?

Wild how the one thing they left the same from the actual show was how Zuko snuck into the NWT lol

Hate the spirit oasis, actually

Least helpful Dragon Spirit ever

Cool that iroh is the one who can make fire out of nothing (he obviously taught Zuko) but lolol what a random time to do that

Okay the scene between Yue and Sokka before she turned into the moon was nice. Probably the most emotion we’ve seen in the whole movie

More morbid that her body is still there though lol

And no Ocean Spirit to fuck things up??

Drowning someone w waterbending is very dark but actually a great touch

I like this idea of Aang mourning his people and using that to harness his waterbending and then he can beat the FN on his own without a spirit’s help. That’s nice.

Also the music for that scene was nice. The only good soundtrack all movie too

So he’s just scaring them with water?? Lmaoooooo not even like killing anyone they just all ran away?? that’s actually…. A fucking terrible plot point never mind

Sweet he gets another chance to like. Accept his role as avatar and bow back to everyone?

AZULA

Okay yeah that was AWFUL

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: The Dragonborn Comes

("Wait, you're not doing The Greatest Showman Medley?" Nope, sorry!)

The Dragonborn Comes was released on the 5th of February, 2022, and features Omar Cardona! I've never played Skyrim (The videogame this song comes from), but apparently parts of this cover are not actually in the original song, but are in fact taken from a different song in Skyrim, called "Song of the Dragonborn", or "Dovahkiin". Mortius, The Charismatic Voice (Elizabeth Zharoff), and What It Do Dave are all big fans of the game apparently, and did some great reaction videos for this. But if you still want my "visual insight" on the video as well, keep reading!

Eli, Layne and Geoff are all credited with set design, and honestly they all did an amazing job! (Geoff is also credited with the arrangement, the video overall, co-direction, and costuming, good lord my dude).

Oh hey I think this video is in a slightly different aspect ratio to most of Voiceplay's videos?

👉👈

His grey streak of hair looking particularly prominent here (you know I'm a fan), and also shoutout to Rick Underwood and Renette Feren for the makeup in this video!

(Yeah they can all get individual shots for costume/appearance appreciation for this one, they deserve it)

Love the elf ears, and also Cesar's beard looking particularly crisp here! (Makes makeup easier if it's neat I suppose)

May be one of the heaviest/boldest eye makeup looks I've ever seen, dang

(Also note how Eli's beard is looking a bit thicker/fuller here? We're moving away from the videos/covers of 2017-2019 in more ways than one!)

Omar looking almost completely unrecognisable here tbh. Is it the elf ears? The hairstyle? The makeup? Not sure but he looks like 25 at oldest, despite apparently being like ~32 (give or take) when this was filmed? Dude.

(I really do love the makeup design on his face, so very cool)

Layne back in a fur cloak/cape! (After My Mother Told Me)

Also it's not just the lighting - Layne apparently did in fact colour his hair a very vibrant blue for this video!

More outfit appreciation! Apparently what Cesar is wearing is like legit chainmail or something and was fairly heavy. Go big or go home I guess?

Cool smoke-breath (dragonbreath?) effect!

(Shoutout to Eli, as per usual, for lighting and visual effects on this one!)

I can't help myself, don't @ me

Even more outfit appreciation! (Also cool sword, Layne!)

"FUS RO DAH!"

(It's very fun to watch the Skyrim-fan reactors get surprised by this moment 😄)

Genuinely quoting a reaction video here: "take that mallet/hammer and hit me over the head with it!" (mood)

Very cool 👌

I may not play Skyrim, but this cover is in my Voiceplay/Geoff Spotify playlist, and I love singing/conducting along with it - it's actually so fun! And as I am typing this, on the 16th of February, I am eagerly awaiting the release of another videogame song cover from Voiceplay, also featuring Omar Cardona! (The music video drops early morning tomorrow for me.) Don't know anything about that one either, but if it's anything like the quality of this arrangement/production, then it's gonna be amazing regardless! (And I guess I might even make a Voiceplay Visuals for that one too! (UPDATE: I did!))

[falsenote]

couldn't avoid comparing that 1957 italian tv adaptation in my head while watching phaedra yesterday and tbh one thing i found amusing in fedra 1957 how insane phaedra was like not in an usual way required for the role (? i suppose... tbh i know nothing about the original i just read the wiki page while watching the 1957 version to make sure i keep up with the autogenerated subs. these two might be not adapting the same thing but nevermind. not that it matters. i'm just talking to myself) but the 1957 phaedra was almost pyschotic with her long monologues which were delivered as if she was having a seizure or was on the verge of dying i was taken aback.... i mean it's basically just a filmed play so of course the theatricality feels a little much on screen but still. i mean there was no question about it from the first minute that she is insane and obsessive. something i missed from the jules dassin version, this evilness was only more explicitly there in the third act or whatever. and in the 1957 play it was so so so funny watching gian maria be so intimidated and literally scared by her. which leads to another thing i kind of thought was a missed opportunity in phaedra 1962 that miss perkins goes into mommy's boy mode from the first moment... like presumably it works better as a narrative in a film like there's more plot to it that way idk. and it did feel more predatory towards the end but still... like i just find evil predatory women in older films so fascinating not bc they are some intricate sensitive thoughtful portrayal of anything but they are more like a projection of male filmmakers writers blabla insecurities and fears. it just feels a little entertaining every once in a while what can i say. and on that note in the 1957 version phaedra was always going like MY INCESTOUS DESIRES..... and it was just so funny to me for some reason like alright then. i just think they could've said the word in the dassin version it would've added to the hystericality to it all. and i really typed all this out when from the 1957 version mostly i just remember gian maria's thighs bc of the silly stockings. i just have to love these old theater costumes they must've been like sorry we cannot give you pants we blew all our budget on the one scene that was lit properly. and it was a very minimal set to begin with.... well. oh and i just KNEW that they would change the death by a sea monster plot point to a car crash. i kind of didn't notice it until that part but did anthony perkins' american accent came out really hard in that scene... something to ponder upon. anyway my review:

[septembersghost]

I'm feeling embarrassed that I show so much love for Taylor and like all my friends know and I've gotten a lot of them into her too because now idk what to say to them about this situation and it feels. bad. do you feel like you should stop posting or anything?

well, i am not here to invalidate your emotions, sometimes we just feel how we feel and that's okay. people are different, people are flawed, people make choices (people are people and sometimes we change our minds...). and we don't have to like or agree with all of those choices or behavior, or even understand them (or have to like them if we do understand them!). i also feel like some are forgetting that liberal dirtbags unfortunately persist - someone can be quite progressive in their ideals and yet still say/do harmful things because of lack of empathy or foresight or tact or intersectionality, etc, which is i think an issue here regarding mh. though it doesn't in any way excuse it. that said, while you have every right to be upset about association, how much that affects your engagement is entirely up to you. i feel it's important to remember this doesn't change things we know to be true, and on a wider/more fundamental level it doesn't change the artistry or the music. if that's important to you or something you've loved and found comfort in, i don't believe you should give that up or even allow that to be tainted (easier said than done at times, i understand).

so here's a bit of a tangent - obviously i love classic hollywood and old music. the studio system was corrupt and abusive (towards women and poc especially), the music industry is often terrible, and i recognize that, but it doesn't cause me to dismiss the art that was made in those films or the joy the music brings me. there were perhaps decisions and behaviors i don't agree with even from artists i love dearly, and i can parse that some of that is because it was a very different time, some was down to individual circumstances and traumas and experiences, some was just people being imperfect humans. we decide what we can keep and what we can't. (like i won't watch w**dy all*n films, but i enjoy a bunch of hitchcock. granted, he is no longer profiting off of that work, but it's ultimately not about him for me, it's the actors' performances, the stories, the design, the costuming, and so on. i saw a post the other day joking about how nobody today would survive fleetwood mac and i laughed). if i judged the performers i enjoy for every misstep, i wouldn't be able to be a fan of anyone's. i know a lot of actors (gn) and musicians i love simply weren't perfect, so i ask, did they try to do better? did they work to grow, did they ultimately share more kindness and good? humans are fallible, but also beautiful. love and compassion and art live on. separation of art and artist is a necessity at times, but i really like the approach, where possible, of lending understanding to the artist through their art too.

i don't think moral arbitration and judgment based on art an individual enjoys does much for real social change and justice, because where does it end? there are things we should have no tolerance for, and yet even on those topics not everyone agrees where the line is? then you have to ask, is someone intentionally hurting others, actively harming marginalized communities, spreading prejudiced ideology with no compunction, profiting off of that harm or exploitation, and doing more damage? or did they mess up personally because they're human, but still do more net good?

she's not suddenly revealed something monstrous about herself, though it’s disappointing that she’s willing to overlook things he’s done. tbh it seems like she's…going through it or whatever and maybe not thinking too clearly. human. we can dislike a choice without discarding every other true and meaningful thing. you shouldn't be embarrassed by something you love that makes you happy. you should never be embarrassed about sharing that love with others, that's really special and helps it grow. the music is what it always was. the meaning to you is paramount. even if you need to take a bit of space, i would encourage you to not let anything steal your love or your joy.

[mcbitchtits]

and now it’s time for silly songs with larry minnesota cuke, the part of your dash where i keep talking about indiana jones, forever.

current state of the view count:

here be spoilers. i might say i’d stop tagging after we cross the month threshold but tbh the way i keep writing novel-length nonsense it will probably just stay under a cut regardless

i know we got the wilhelm and the milennium falcon/plane engine noise (can’t remember where, on the latter) but i avidly watched the credits last time and ben burtt was not involved in this one. dunno how much of this is lucasfilm restructuring under disney or them handing it over to a mostly fully new team (like new costumers being mostly disconnected from the old ones), but it’s a little sad to see. it’s not like he’s retired. (I mean, maybe he was overbooked or didn’t want to work on it, but still!) (i may be the singular person out here regularly making raiders foley art jokes around the internet, so, you know, forgive me on my frustration with this point.)

what do you think happened to that poor italian pilot after everything? are they long-distance friends now, a la sallah or presumably renaldo, etc? (which, by the way, I can’t remember if I ever speculated about it on here, but I was hoping we’d meet up with one of Young Indy’s FFL friends in Morocco. I was clearly wrong about that.) or do you just go back to your italian pilot life trying not to think about how you went 2200 years into the past? i mean, shit gets weird with pilots. so it’s not like he’d be an odd man out just ranting paranoically about watching out for dangerous cloud formations at altitude. (and when i say “shit gets weird with pilots”, i also mean, like, it’s a personality thing. SO.) (i mean...)

been trying to pay more attention to the score on subsequent viewings because it hits so differently for me. I think, other than Helena’s Theme, that it just uses older cues a lot more? which, arguaby, it’s not like the past sequels haven’t done that, but much like my script complaints it feels like it’s Oops! All References. which I did notice— pretty sure when the bomb drops in the intro, it’s the ants swarming cue from Crystal Skull. (which is kind of an interesting comparison, musically, thematically!)

on the flip side, I was dinking around with Helena’s Theme on the keyboard— I’m fairly but not 100% certain it’s just the Raiders March notes rearranged. which is sweet, and I like that it went someplace different musically, but also it’s interesting to note how that’s such a musical diversion from John Williams’ other work. Star Wars intertwines themes a lot, but so has Indiana Jones; notably with Mutt’s theme in Crystal Skull but iirc also with Henry Sr in Last Crusade? now i’m second guessing myself. ANYWAY. Williams does it a lot, frequently in little ways that are just a bar or two or four, so it’s notable to me that Helena’s doesn’t.

which is fine; it’s a good theme. on the other hand, I feel like that reinforces again my structural complaints with Dial of Destiny, in that things just seem tacked on together in a pile and don’t really mesh; and moreover, that we frequently are given Helena’s Theme when we want to hear the Raiders March. intertwining them as countermelodies or harmonized or whatever would have given us both. and 1) it’s interesting that they chose only to give us Helena and not Indy, musically, and 2) this echoes the structure of not actually actively resolving (or, uh, even really addressing forthrightly) their character arcs/conflict!

on my last viewing i went to see it in this theater that used to be an indie/art theater and got bankrupted by covid and resold, and it was very nice internally but i spent the whole movie wondering what the fuck kind of weird vignetting was going on with the film/lenses. finally made it to the underwater scenes and it was just dark as shit, so I suspect, looking back, it was just that the projector had bulb issues, which is frustrating on its own but even moreso as a purportedly indie/art theater. (also i got a trailer for that theater camp movie this time, which is a hilarious pre-roll choice? lol)

i cannot stop thinking about the whole Science But Also We’re Going To Nod Vaguely To Athena And Put Moons On Shit design premise. i get the moons if you’re trying to make everyone remember that the dial is a celestial body calendar calculator (which it was!) but WHY JUST THE MOON. WHY EVEN BOTHER PUTTING ATHENA IN THERE. if it’s SCIENCE then put THE MOON AND THE STARS AND THE PLANETS. if it��s MYTHOLOGY then PUT IN ARTEMIS AND APOLLO/ETC. AND IF IT’S ABOUT TIME THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME KRONOS AND THE TITANS GOD DAMNIT

/rant

anyway. lazy production design (and/or writing/plot choice if it was them) in my opinion.

BUT NO WHAT’S THIS IT’S MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT THE GRAPHIKOS

I think they melted it... digitally? The fire looks digital, and the melted wax looks digital, and there’s a notable texture difference from the shot of the disc in the melted wax vs. the subsequent shot of Indy pulling the disc out. So I’m very curious to know if it was actually digital or practical. Generally, yes, safer for fire. My preference obviously as a Raiders/etc fan specifically is that it should have been practical to the extent they could have. And of course we can argue maybe the shot difference is just waiting for the wax to cool enough to pick it out the disc safely, but, eh. idk. it didn’t feel tactile, you know? That’s part of what these movies are about.

(I mean, likely, lighting some 151 or whatever on a Wide Candle would probably not burn sufficiently long to melt it? But COME ON, THE POWER OF EDITING, I BELIEVE IN YOU) (also perhaps i will try lighting one of my junk candles on fire later with the power of rum. just for experimental purposes. SCIENCE, YAKNOW)

side note, historically, i want to say a wax tablet like that would have had a wood frame? also, i don’t know what kind of wax they would have made it out of. i could easily go research this, so i guess that’s going on my list next.

So the big thing I keep chewing on is the contrast-not-contrast of Voller and Indy, and what the fuck the plot was actually trying to say. (and, frankly, as I have mentioned, I keep coming up with ????? because I think they didn’t have a good thesis and thus the structure floundered and the point is kind of lost, aside from the broad strokes of what we already “know” about Indy, both the person and the character.) Voller’s Mediterranean look is interesting to be because it seems like a pallette-swap of Indy. Light toned fedora, light toned jacket, slacks and a shoulder bag, all still in natural, earth tones, but not dark browns. To me this is a more interesting contrast than is happening almost anywhere else, because it’s reminiscent of Belloq’s pallette (usually whites and creams, both with pith helmet and later a fedora) and also Panama Hat’s (love those serial flick names). Belloq and Indy are explicitly very close to the same, “rational” archaeologists in pursuit of some academic fame or notoriety, and also a little bit in the realms of questionable ethics. (Until it turns out, of course, that Belloq would sell his soul to the Nazis, and Indy wouldn’t, though let’s not get into the depths of that examination here.) Voller also consistently sees Indy as a comrade-in-arms, the rational scientists whose pure pursuit of truth (and their own goals) is above all else.

And, of course, in the end, we see how that plays out more explicitly, Voller in the plane says “I can’t stay here,” while moments later Indy begs to be allowed to; “let me stay.”

Of course Indy would never be a Nazi so it’s necessary both structurally (and, uh, because otherwise this would be a literal disaster of a movie) for them to be counterpoints. But while this holds in the production design and the general basic structure, again, I think they really lost the plot in the nuances.

Indy is a man of science. Even all the while he’s come to appreciate (in past adventures) the existence of some mysticism. This movie, so much thematically, is about Science (Archimedes and the antikythera) and Indy being a scientist and also Voller being a scientist. It’s also as much about belief; Indy in Science AND ALSO His Marriage, and Voller in Science. But, structurally, it keeps trying to pit Science against everything else; this in part is why the “dial” is the least interesting macguffin we’ve seen so far— it’s not really resonant to the story. (Mostly this failure belongs, as I’ve said, to the lack of character arc that should be underlying everything.)

Indy insists on being a scientist, despite the fact that he’s also willing to write off everything he’s seen as “how hard you believe in it”. Is that not worth examining, as a central thesis of the series?! Why does it get such a cop-out line?! (Again, because I think they didn’t know what they wanted to say, so they waffled on everything, and instead you get a hemming and hawing script without resolution.)

As a scientist, at the very least, I think he would be more intrigued by everything that has happened to him. Scientists love when things yield unexpected results, because that’s something new to explore.

Which, in that same vein, I can’t buy that he wouldn’t think the moon landing or space exploration was interesting. I can’t buy that he’d feel “replaced”— obviously, this is very much an angle on heroism and culture that is used by nazis and other cultural supremacists— but Indy is a guy who wants to learn, to teach, to engage with the world, to go on adventures. (If he’s jealous, show us that?)

And again, again, again, one can certainly argue that this is all specifically not him, not himself, because of the depression of losing Mutt and his marriage; that’s fine, but I think the script does a shit job of establishing that or doing anything with it.

And if Indy feels “replaced” (which, again, this thing they kept telling us in the promo material I don’t think was borne out well in the actual text!), and he’s longing for some lost era of himself (except, again, that he pushes everyone away and continues to claim “this isn’t an adventure”), what the fuck is the actual text of the movie structurally trying to say by bringing him “back” at the end? If he’s not actually a relic of the past (uh, literally and figuratively), and we still need heroes of his type today, why do we not spend more time and finesse with that character arc??????? You cannot posit this as your central thesis and then nearly forget about it until the last five minutes. I mean, you can, I guess. They maybe did. And it sucks all the more for it.

If Voller’s obsession with science is what gets him stuck as a literal and figural relic, and Indy gets to look to the future to continue to be a hero and be needed in the world around him, why do we spend so much time valorizing the antikythera as a scientific object instead of a more mystic one, if Indy needs Belief and Awe and The Power of Friendship and The Power of Punching Nazis and so do we?! Again, and I know I’ve said this a billion times already, but WHY DO HELENA AND INDY NEVER HAVE THAT MOMENT OF RESOLUTION??? Helena needs to realize it too! Indy needs to stop being so cynical and see what he already knows!

I just. urgh. like I said. it’s hard to write about with clarity because I think they lost it themselves. And, more objectively, the script is narratively fighting itself on these themes in part because “making the antikythera scientific and not very mystic” is a reaction to Crystal Skull more than it is a reflection on the rest of the series or letting it stand on its own merits. And, again, I think that not only creates a story that is at odds with itself constantly and messy as a result, but it also does no service to Raiders as a story nor the other entries in the series, nor to Indiana Jones as a concept or a franchise. (And, most notably, it makes a bad “finale” entry!)

I’ll probably have more to say on this later, and, you know, eternally, because every time I sit down to write out what I’m trying to say I end up saying something completely else so I’m just over here piling up disjointed comments on top of disjointed comments.

[castle-dominion]

5x6 the final frontier

I remember this episode, I am a castle fan from firefly & I loved this episode & the audio commentary & everything about it

We all thought that the guy who got shot was shot with a real thing

derrick storm is a graphic novel, I forgot!

supernovacon? Shiny dsjflksdjfjskh shiny pint sized princess leiea <3

apparently the costume design used some of the old stuff, including stuff from the zombie episodes

14 episodes too many? Oh I was going to watch battlestar galactica that joss whedon show?

JE: Give me Blade Runner - a bleak, dystopian future with sexy replicants. Right? *he & castle bump fists* JE: How about you, Beckett? What do you—?... *stops at her annoyed expression*

RC: Perlmutter, good to see you. SP: Ah, if only the feeling were mutual. a tiny hole? like a bullet hole? SP: No clue

Not all nebula 9 fans will be on that site also ryan pretty af as usual so no need for a pic ig she is so obviously a fan, she could just say "oh plenty of fandoms have websites, I'm sure there is one for neb9"

lol her face when he walks in KR: Oh, I tried to talk to him, but he said he needed a minute to “Muse upon the fragile nature of human life.”

& may fortune guide her journey? really? also that booty tho I love how castle has the chance to meet someone even more egotistical than him

Never meet your heroes

Aww webisodes, that's cute af! I'm a big fan of fanfiction you're allowed to like a show even if it is bad who is this man!? also she went by k-becks? your WHAT NOW? Henry Barnett: You should've seen her as Lieutenant Chloe. Oh, wait. You can! fracking, I heard that mostly in battlestar galactica

RC: Look at my life. (whisper) My dreams come true.

KB: Perlmutter. SP: Detective Beckett. RC: Perlmutter. SP: And non-detective Castle.

that is a hell of a burn SP: Well, as much as it pains me, Mr. Castle is… [marginally or largely] correct.

KB: How is it possible that she's killed by a laser? RC: Easy. Someone shot her with a laser gun. Or maybe she was already dead when she was killed by the laser gun, or she was drugged, I'm sure you would have to sit there for at least a halfminute to burn through that much flesh

KB: Nice one coming from the guy with a life-size Boba Fett in his bathroom. a WHAT

"blasphemous" lmao

KB: posessing a... RC: Laser blaster! KB: ....... laser blaster

this scene with ryan showing the pic on his phone was filmed at 4am bc they screwed up the schedule JE: First of all, ma'am, I must ask you, uh…how are you keeping those leaves on there like that? NEBULA NINE EVE: Why don't you pull on one and find out? JE: *staring at her (eyes)*

Maybe you can't translate well but you can say yes or no... right?

*writes her number on her boob leaf* *esposito looks more uncomfortable than pleased tbh* *she took his pen* (probably glued on)

"obvi" teenager english lol

Castle shut up lol

also I'm still stuck on the fact that they just pulled castle away from his signing

ew weird bug thingy what

Becks u can say "according to my intel" u literally said it launched your career tho?

Nikki heat type pose

Drunk? in the middle of the day? two lieutenant chloes lmao I don't like espt's shirt.

oh my god!!! ALEXIS??? Dressed like what castle? she is not dressed at all apparently the cast was all weirded out bc they kind of movie-raised her since she was a teen you know what good for her she is allowed to do what she wants ig...

Yo cops they paid good money for this!

RC: Then you wouldn't mind relinquishing your weapon. good word gabriel winters is so annoying *shoots it* *it works, & works way too well & tbh they should have been wearing eye protection* mUZZLE CONTROL "Zap" said the lady

As you wish <3 NO SHE IS NOT A FULL GROWN WOMAN, SHE IS A VERY YOUNG WOMAN, plus, you two wanted it in the privacy of your own home!

"what kind of idiot does that" *looks at him* how bad can it be? "burning" desire XP

ryan pretty he so pretty always love his outfits, i love how he has a vest but no tie

KR: This is like the Halloween from hell. JE: Oh, yeah, this is probably too lowbrow for you, huh? You're probably into that boring-ass intellectual kind of sci-fi, like Gattaca ((loved that one)) or 2001. The monolith-- what the hell was that? KR: Don't ask me. No, no, swords and sorcery, that's more my thing, like, uh, Lord of the Rings. ((Ooh ryan is a fantasy guy)) [Esposito looks Ryan over. not gay at all] JE: Yeah, I could probably see you as an elf. Or a hobbit. ((bro you are not much taller!)) KR: HOLD ON THAT WAS THE LONE RANGER Esposito is a fan? he could use the excuse that he did some research for the case ryan doesn't make fun of YOU!

*authorized personnel only door in portal* "that means me!" oH NO ARE THOSE LASERS EVIL?

love donnely. apparently his shirt caused a ton of fighting on set & yet it is capable of great damage? Why did you make it harmful then? You could have made it so it feels warm when you get shot, maybe even hot, but this thing is deadly!

What kind of protection? Probably goggles Hm, license plates Castle, bringing the convo back to needing protection

*cut to castle still being concerned & feeling his face* *beckett talking abt the symbolism* ofc he'd be concerned abt his hair

alexis XD.

S name! esposito seems like he may have a nice outfit but I can't tell

*The elevator opens in front of them with a ding and Castle is there, looking anxious* RC: Hey. Tell me, you guys, do you think my hair is thinning?

*espt looking at his head with a grimace* *castle flinches* he's just playing with him Also why did castle not go wit hthem> isn't he supposed to be shadowin gbeckett?

surprised they are not doing a b plot parallel here

I really want to go to a masquerade ball doing a movie or reboot WITH YOU or what?

sort of? Ah masks

lots of money holy crap idrk if I like ryan's outfit today. It is nice & all but... yk I don't much like those stripes & smth is awkward abt it

yk what valid but her voice is so small

lol castle pretending to be capt max ew, still a crime scene it WAS a stupid show but it was still enjoyable! alexis leaving home! Oh feminism. Good for her.

What was that buzz sound tho?

I like beckett's jacket I also like how max has never NOT worn his outfit

"I need you to resist a little less" "overacting much?"

Ah the mark of cain

They could have just got like,, a handheld uv flishlight

Why didn't he want to show his left hand? was he afraid he had smth else on his hand? phone numbers? bodily fluids?

Except wouldn't he have gotten The Talk about protection "I'm captain max!" He's so proud of that hole in the wall lol there just so happens to be a UV thing there? & then there were detectives behind the door? dang she is insane WOAH HE JUST DID THAT is ther a functional stun setting tho? the two egomaniacs I love it

*tries telekenesis* bribery lol Ooh a nebula nine marathon aw come on as long as it is light hearted youo should totally make fun

*castle trying to close the elevator doors faster*

Fun music, sexy legs, then THAT face & he falls off the bed KB, with a bloody creaver mouth & mask: You want to make out, Castle? Rawr.

So wait if there was a ship is it real?

I was a firefly fan so I mostly only got the firefly references but there were a lot of other scifi members on the crew or smth so they made a bunch of references to their stuff too.

I highly suggest watching the audio commentary. Super fun.

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Viewers Pick My Outfits 2!

Date video was published: 12/21/2020 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 432

The sequel to the first VPMO back in 2017! He did say at the end of that one that he might do it again...it just took three years.

Phil originally asked for clothes suggestions for this video at the end of November, so there was a lot of time for anticipation of when he was going to post it. He teased posting this video on Instagram with a picture of a pile of some of the clothes and Dan teased his presence too.

0:00 - what a start. also, the first time we saw the “living flat” furniture fully in the “filming flat” ...getting closer and closer to the new house announcement

0:08 - Phil really does gesture with his whole body when he’s doing a standing-up video

0:12 - Dan voice! and great editing choice there by Phil with that old calendar picture 😂

0:16 - annnnnd Phil already not looking at the camera

0:28 - Phil went with “pajamas” but Dan’s just letting everyone know he’s just wearing pants. Phil reacts to that too

0:36 - he had let people know that he would be picking a couple outfits this time, but Dan would still choose most

0:53 - Dan already coming in with the compliments

1:18 - obsessed with Dan saying “I’m gonna make you blur that” as if Phil wasn’t constantly shirtless in his early YouTube videos. I really would love to have seen Dan’s facial expression reaction to that

1:40 - love the editing here! and the shared jacket! Phil really did steal it, didn’t he

2:07 - the NASA Vans Dan got him for his birthday in 2019

2:20 - nervous-Phil hands

2:33 - the choice of that ripped jeans photo specifically...that Dan took, captioned, and posted

2:49 - awwww, young Phil 🥺

3:04 - them making gay jokes together in videos...is so much

3:10 - constantly living for Dan’s commentary

3:24 - tbh I think Phil looks really good in that leather jacket

3:22 - Dan does not like it when things make Phil look not like “Phil”

3:47 - “my hips don’t lie, Dan” 😂

4:23 - Phil immediately laughing at himself. this grew on him though! he still wears that striped t-shirt at least, and he worse the whole top for his plants calendar. (also, bonus Dan in it from the Stereo era)

4:33 - Dan with the modeling advice just makes me thing of the “work that rock” moment. also Mr English language degree not knowing what “aloof” is is hilarious. And Dan hyena laugh!

4:42 - his glasses had broken back in November...had he just not been wearing them?

5:06 - sweater paws 🥺

5:30 - Phil tongue thing! Dan is hyping things up

5:33 - the frog sounds in editing are just the cherry on top 😂

5:46 - crocks and socks! I wonder if Phil started wearing the crocks around the house. he ended up keeping a lot of this stuff (maybe because charity shops were closed?) but it did give us bonus Dan wearing this too

6:08 - “my dignity” king of comedy

6:31 - love Phil picking the heeled boots for himself!

6:42 - those pants just look horrendously uncomfortable

6:55 - Dan with the little “careful”

7:08 - zooming right in on his own ass in editing

7:14 - Dan can’t not compliment something about every outfit

7:26 - sometimes I forget Phil is as tall as he is, but then you see just how much leg he has

7:42 - “cheap version” indeed

7:48 - very faint Dan reflection

7:50 - leaving this ass bit in too, lol

8:06 - lots of blurring in this video. that Dan keeps requiring! 😂 

8:25 - it really does look like a clown outfit

8:48 - and more posing advice from Dan

8:58 - I enjoy that Phil zooms in on the empty door when Dan’s talking to him but he’s not visible

9:07 - Dan struggling for breath because he’s laughing too much. at least he didn’t put his shoes back on like he did with the cheese costume in the first VPMO 😂

9:14 - Dan clearly did not look closely at this at all before he picked it. “pump me hard” I can’t

9:26 - arms. 👀 and lots of leg 👀

9:32 - a bit too late to pull it down...

9:36 - not helping! 😳

9:52 - he’s still not over the brown sweater thing he talked about in Exposing My Browsing History!

9:55 - “and there’s the ass again” thanks for pointing that out Dan

10:16 - I don’t think it’s bad! and he ends up wearing the jacket in a later video. he tweeted about round glasses back in 2019

10:26 - I love both of them just saying whatever pops in their head and then responding to the other

10:38 - inventing an AU...of course Dan would

11:04 - also wore that turtleneck later!

11:08 - I love that Phil thinks he looks good! he should! 😊

11:44 - “nice to know that after all these years, he’s still fucking weird” 😭

11:48 - you can tell Dan just KNEW this would look good on Phil when he handed it to him. “look at you now” 🥺 Phil looks so confident in it too

12:04 - Phil in both blue and black...the ultimate combo

12:14 - Dan is so thrilled with absolutely everything Phil puts on. Dan knew Phil would like this sweater too when he picked it out! also...it having moons on it and the potential “moon” pet name thing 🥺

12:25 - Phil just making Dan laugh here

12:36 - Dan has a story for every “character”

13:13 - amazing. also, WHY did he have the skirt tucked up to make it even shorter? what a choice

13:28 - the contrast of “nightmare, ask who?!” followed by “bro, pull up your fishnets” 😂😂 this makes me laugh every time I watch it

13:33 - Dan is not holding it together at all and how could you

13:55 - “oooo...I don’t know about any of this” the roleplay is for later I guess 😳

14:05 - I love that THAT is the line Phil will not cross on camera 

14:17 - why DO the ears actually work on Phil somehow

15:02 - “the Phil dress? is this a thing?” ...it is; the Phil dress was seen previously in Clicking on RISKY links people send me!

15:20 - somehow he’s not wrong...it should be more disturbing than it is

15:37 - I feel like that’s very true. so much growth for Phil too over the years, not just Dan!

15:41 - a lot of leg in this video. Phil used “fighting bears” as a reason for bruises several times over the years, including this tweet from 2017

15:54 - ah, mems of THE PHOTO BOOTH CHALLENGE 🥺 also he’s pulling it up and making it dangerously short there

16:12 - I feel like there were a lot more actually good things than in the first VPMO!

16:39 - just now realizing how short that actually is 👀

16:46 - “you will get through this video” kind of comedy Phil immediately ready with that 😂

17:05 - the “meow” bit at the end!

Love this video. Love everything about it. One I still rewatch fairly regularly. I still can’t believe we got a pco, quiff-Phil one. Also, how appropriate that this is the video that sparked Dan’s return of sorts and the joint content of 2022. When Phil talked about them still working together occasionally in the future in Draw My Life: Part 2, he drew a scene from the VPMO video.

[shinwhoohoo]

MEHHHH. I have three things to complain about and they all boil down to styling!!

1. Let’s start of with GC bc it’s his day. Why why why do they insist on this juvenile styling? The white sailor outfit is the worst imo. At least the other white cropped jacket with black trim/fringe and the black version had some type of form even though they still aren’t my favorites. The navy sailor outfit is eh. And the white one underneath (?) is just looking like a frumpy costume from someone’s talent show idk that feels mean and I’m sorry but just, ugh.

I told you before that I realized GC photographs well and can look very model-like in shoots so I had high hopes for his looks today… down the drain that went!

2. Ok so I agree that CNU looks better in these last two events but also—is it just the same white shirt and tie for these two events? Is WM low on funds? Why couldn’t he just wear perhaps that blue shirt from one of the fairly recent vlives?? And ffs, did anyone else see the brown beige khaki suit jacket?? I’m sorry if he owns that (bc sometimes I feel like he does wear baggy things), but ugh. That jacket is just plain ill-fitting on him. Like a suit jacket an old dad wears to some function. I know his build is looking better recently based on other photos/events but that jacket he wore on top of the shirt and tie just makes me so mad—it’s not doing him any favor. Wear it on a non-event CNU!! Someone get him/WM a tailor please!!

3. And I wasn’t going to bring this up but I’m on a roll with their outfits/styling. Tbh I wasn’t a fan of the latest flower fest photos with sandeul bc the florals/greenery look fake af and the whole thing is just too soft/cheesy for my taste and I was thinking, it’s fine it’s just not to my taste but maybe others like it and it’s not the most terrible thing I’ve seen recently done to these three. But now it’s like, they’ve just botched the visual direction for all three and it looks like this more “youthful” direction for all three has been in the works for a while since sandeuls was likely pre-filmed/pre-shot many months ago before he went on duty.

So WM. Wtf. I get that bc of everything that has happened internally and with the world, maybe b1a4 is low on funds and WM doesn’t have the finances either to devote a lot of it to their first group that’s had stuff happen, but this is just so sad to see at the end of the day!! Meanwhile jy mc from the same night is looking well… good for him, looks like he made the right move for his career but now I’m just even more sad for the others! Who do we email is right Britt!! :/

UGH ok so let’s vent together lol 😂 😂

1. Completely agree, the white and black cropped jacket sets were perfectly fine on their own-- the sailor (and honestly, I find the navy school boy fit just as bad as the sailor outfit personally lol) were just so child like, and yeah ok he’s the youngest of the group but at what cost are they going to keep playing that up?? Give us back model Gongchan, for sure. Give me back this Gongchan. He is so so gorgeous, he literally benefits the most with simple, neutral clean fits. Or, if he’s going to go with more of a bold color, bright reds or blues. But keep the fit more sleek. I mean, if I were to say anything positive....? about the sailor boy look is that I do appreciate a good Gongchan leg moment, but trust me it was not worth it to see him dressed like that lmaoo 🥲

2. So when you are saying the beige jacket I’m assuming you are referring to this look and not this.  The former I also completely agree, it literally looked like the exact same tie/shirt/pants that he wore for the Tomato Festival concert lol, and also agree with that jacket thrown on top did absolutely nothing. The latter look though, I did like. Simple, clean, his hair was actually styled much better than we’ve been seeing it (as in-- actually OFF his forehead!!! yay!!!) so I’m not mad at that look, at least lol. 

3. Ok so here’s the thing: again, I do ultimately agree with what you’re saying. The flower setting does look pretty cheap, and I’m also not one to go for that whole youthful flower-boy vibe (especially when we are talking about men who are between 29-31 years old 😩) but one thing I will say, and granted this is my opinion lol, but I do think of the three, Sandeul does pull off the ‘youthful’ look the best. That’s not to say I prefer it at all-- it’s in fact a terrific day the few times we do see Sandeul styled more maturely, with his glorious eyebrows free from hiding underneath the fluffy boy hair. But unlike what we’ve been seeing recently with CNU (and even Gongchan), WM always styled Sandeul like a 12 year old lol. Like ok that’s a slight exaggeration but really not by much. 

I really don’t know what’s going on!!! It has been frustrating, especially since their stage outfits for Origine were so nice-- has it been the acquisition? And new people now being involved in their artistic direction? Are they really just trying to appeal that badly to a younger audience? Idk, but Jinyoung has been looking great, and honestly he’s been looking really good for a while lol (since he’s come back from his public service, honestly... 👀 which I even ranted about a few weeks ago ..whew)

[jjheejz]

About Internet Water Army in the case

This is an ongoing update about the case from start to development. List of all related posts can be found on this blog's pinned post (link provided at bottom of each post as well).

19 August 2021 update: Added the scale of his success for reference, before bonus below

18 August 2021 update: Added timeline of events, orange title in post, found out the official English term for Immoral Media = Internet Water Army)

Major updates since first draft: Added bonus, added disclaimer, certain info details

Originally posted on 16 August 2021

[The purpose of this post is to provide a perspective as to why the Media is raised/blamed regarding the issue. Especially for international fans, as all the encounters happened on Weibo. Also, those who were on weibo, do read through if you will. So although it's lengthy, do try to read all, at least if not the last two parts].

The Media referred by most, is not the common perception of the Entertainment Industry (celebrities, directors, shows, channels, staff etc), but the dark side of the Entertainment industry: Antis, toxic fans, toxic marketing accounts. They are called Internet Water Army💧.

Toxic Marketing Accounts is one of the things they do, these accounts on Weibo has millions of followers, each of their post likes are in the hundred thousands (buyable) to give credibility to passer-bys. Some use similar names to Official accounts, some use similar logos. Their posts are usually subjective or aims to steer view points of a certain celebrity/movie/show. Before the latest update of this post (18.08.21), I just group them all together and term them as Immoral Media*.

*Below is my original post using my original term because at point of first draft, I did not know the official term (so have changed/added the term from Immoral Media to Internet Water Army in content below but retain the content based off first draft).

If you have chased before celebrities, or just simply passed by an article about certain celebrities, recall how some title that caught your attentions were like. Clickbaits is one of the many things they do. If GZ is your first and you do not have Weibo, then this read(link) is good enough.

Just as the term Immoral Media (Internet Water Army), it’s immoral and unethical, but they exists because they are paid to do so. Who pays them? Entertainment Companies, and maybe other Organisations

Normal Media/Marketing vs Immoral Media/Toxic Marketing/Internet Water Army

When a show or movie comes out, the normal Marketing department will generate outreach and buzz so that people know a show is airing soon/know the show exists etc. Official announcements are not enough, because there isn’t much context (limited content to put up as well) so having some other Marketing accounts do the buzz in a planned period to gain awareness through posts, some articles about the casts, the plot summary, the production details etc is normal. This is Marketing, bigger companies will probably have stronger Marketing departments (aka influence) and can hire more Marketing accounts to generate buzz. Celebrities (aka casts) themselves, are also Marketing point.

Then we have the Internet Water Army/Immoral Media, these are what they mainly do:

Create Fanfiction-rumors: Creating rumors about celebrities to shift audience perception of them. [eg. XX was seen with XX leaving a hotel, XX was drunk on Event Y and did ZZZ to AA, XX is dating BB and has been in a relationship for N years etc]

Honing their brain degrading skills: Come up with titled clickbait headings/ trending topics with negative written contents. For articles, exceptionally out of heading content related to the celebrity. [Refer to Baidu, it’s a winner of these, feel free to Google Translate]

Regressing their common sense and understanding skills: Take everything a celebrity does completely out of context in a negative way and create a topic out of it [eg. XX said AA is a ---, “XX raised his finger, a sign of ---?”, XX pushed BB aggressively on Variety Show Y - A competition variety show, XX is in beef with CC because XX was caught giving CC the eye]

Using their fingers to stir shit and bathe each other in it: Escalate all smallest form of possible tension created by fans/themselves into a huge thing by acting as the fandom's fans/lurk in fandom chat groups, and voicing their disguised opinion to spread tension/exaggerate severity of the issue [eg. XX fans mocked AA - in groupchats: tbh I've never liked AA before, AA just gives off a vibe that I dont like and now this? It just disgusts me even more > Yea, i feel this way too. AA has problems / XX Lurkers expressing views on XX about NN, slowly to NNMHFXW - XX did NNMHGT - I cannot accept NNmHfHw, I'm leaving = multiply by 1000++]

Epitome of a self-deteriorate: Creating something out of nothing and react to that something negatively to gain massive attention/reaction [eg. “XX raised his hand on show Y” - dk what XX fans are thinking, are they literally blind? XX fans are tasteless just like XX hahaha / “XX did community service” - they are acting / “XX breathed” - From the start, i thought XX was NN, but I am so ZZZ that XX breathed. Goodbye fandom, i’m leaving. Those who still want to stay I urge you to rethink your life choices] - if I may add, Xiao Zhan’s fanfiction case as well. 

Metaphor - Ability to use bare hands to collect paychecks from the urinal/toilet bowl where their boss/client peed in: Doing all of the above.

Apologies for any term offense, but not apologetic of the term context. This is what they do for a living. Any normal human being who do not like anything, will generally not be interested at anything about it in the first place, so to have some antis/toxic fans knowing certain things and inside jokes/references in their posts questions their goal.

On involved in Internet Water Army/Immoral Media 💧

Fans on weibo during these few months witnessed many of the above on GZ. From rumored girlfriend (spammed with articles) to mean and nasty comments on trending topics, to bouts of insults and fake emotional cryouts by certain fan accounts that GZ's office has to release a number of Lawyer’s letter to them. 

Aside from WOH there were also a few other BL adaptation films that were actually released this year but they did not reach exponential success like WOH. BL adaptations are so highly followed by because this is the key to wealth. Literally. Successful BLs like The Untamed and  Dao Mu Bi Ji saw the amount of wealth fans are willing to spend on the celebrity as compared to say BG or idols (younger fan groups). This is why when WOH shot up exponentially, Immoral Media start to sweat.

Major anticipated adaptations were supposed to air this year eg. Hao Yi Xing(HYX), Sha Po Lang(SPL) etc but was severely held back due to the stricter change in BL adaptations submitting their scripts for approval regulations (WOH manage to submit earlier before the change). Because of this, most final films were rejected and they have to keep re-editing, by then WOH was already months into reaping tonnes of major brand endorsements, shows/movie casting, variety show appearances etc, something that is seen as too successful in the Immoral Media’s eyes, because they have to create buzz for other celebrities, some are specific celebrity oriented and thus circulate rumors about having endorsement opportunities shifted from celebrity X to GZ (think fanfiction-rumors and shit stirrer) causes tension in celebrity fandoms. - A real event just in July:

The Untamed’s cp fandom is called BJYX which had always been in the Top 1 of Cps for 2 years dropped for awhile to Top 2, over taken by LLD. Both of them had a war and hated each fandom, one fandom is somehow not allowed to like the other fandom even casually after everything broke out because it started out with some BJYX toxics photoshopped GZ on of portraits .

Also another case of which he wore the same costume as WYB did in a previous photoshoot and it became a useless comparison of who wore better, who looks better, degrading the other. (Finger stirring shit).

Now apply all of the above things the Internet Water Army do and we have them earning money, while both fandom reacts and hate each other.

In LLD, our own fans started suspecting each other on who is a spy from BJYX and what not.

The first few months of Internet Water Army saw LLDs mostly mocking them because the average age is 30-40s, they know and see through all of their intentions so nothing was big. They were trumpeting and LLDs didn’t even care, what with all the doing tedious stats was not even important to them.

Over time, as the issues they create became more and more serious LLDs did start to care, reporting Toxic Marketing accounts/toxic fans became a daily task, go vote for GZ at certain polls etc, solo fans, and LLD fans also split apart. Solo fans think cp fans use GZ to furnish their fantasies, and cp fans thinks they are the ones furnishing their dreaming-girls fantasy with (aka my boyfriend).

There was also a period where LLD had a habit of continuously mentioning “we are in the 30-40s so we can see through everything about the media, we are all fans for the first time, we are good at spending money (because of purchase power compared to other fandoms)” it was prevalent for so long it felt odd, ‘chasing celebrities the first time’ in particular sounds more vulnerable as a weakness than a strength / sth to be proud of.

Gradually, more secretive/insider confirmed ‘sweets’ were flying around. Fans advised each other to not circulate, and the mindset of “if you know, you know, dont tell.” (This is a problematic mentality, of which fans will still be curious to know and search for it themselves, but this secretive hook is unhealthy. Over the long term, it becomes hard for existing fans to know a lot of things properly to judge for themselves, especially those who knew and publicly reacted, but blasting those who ask and telling those who know to keep quiet, this did not help some to understand why on certain things, even so for international fans, dont know and dont understand, causing misunderstandings. Yes, certain information should not be shared, so why should you react about it publicly in the first place? - Internet Water Army effect)

The last few months (for example the July fan war) created a tonne of seriousness and anger. A period even broke out with a tonne of ‘insider confirmed sweets’ (which is LLD’s daily dose of happiness), it was hard to tell what was real and what was fake. Trending topics became negative and everyone warned each other not to enter because it will give the trends ‘views’ and trend statistics, in reality entering there is to enter an exhibition by the self-deteriorates, collecting the fandom's traffic data (it's a sure lose for fans each time they enter the topic). Everyone even starts thinking that the trend’s popularity was caused by each other (it's true but it can be bought daily and not caused by fans). There was a raise in the number of fans who were getting emotional because they want to protect but Internet Water Army kept coming and got worse, because fans, tbh, not just GZ fans, every other celebrity’s fans are always fighting with an Army, getting played and plotted in that Army's calendar.

Even so, despite all of these, LLD is actually a fandom Internet Water Army may find the hardest to break because they understand GZ so much, they could tell what are fake news regarding GZ, because among everything above, there are still plenty of logical fans to stop many fans from drifting too far and debunking them. Why? 30-40s are grown up adults.

Why 13.8.21 and the Japan issue is plotted?

First of all, in the political climate of China, there are many political dates in a month that is NO-Entertainment news. Because it’s the honoring of certain important political events. It’s like Remembrance Day, thus the sensitivity is higher. On these days, there are usually no news and even the Internet Water Army zip their pants. This year also marks the 100th year of the Chinese Communist Party(link)

Secondly, he had no work schedule on 13 August 2021. A great full day to focus on any other news (because if he had schedules, everyone will turn their attention to his events, what trumpeting outside is just bird chirps). 

Thirdly, when the news broke out, especially about the shrine, the reception was actually quite serious within the fandom so the scale of this might be big but to what extent in reality?

Lastly, 15.8.21 marks the 76th anniversary of the announcement of surrender of Japanese in World War 2(link). Also a day of NO-Entertainment news. 

Timeline of events:

13.8.21 - [His rest day, Eve of Chinese Valentine's Day, Japan News broke out] His rest day, no schedules = increased attention about him online. Lowered guard among fans because they are getting ready for tomorrow's Chinese Valentine's sweets = Caught off guard = Huge break out of fans' reactions

14.8.21 - [Chinese Valentine's Day, Eve of the 75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender] Keep a wishful and happy demenaor to not destroy the mood, suppressed thoughts about ZZH's Japan news

15.8.21 - [75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender, Official announcement of ZZH's boycott and all China social media account ban] NO-Entertainment news day, Solemn day, not allowed to voice anything so the fandom can only wait for tomorrow to start voicing out/debunking but before they can wait out, the boycott and social media ban happened, every official accounts about him was gone overnight, fans had no time to react

17.8.21 - [All official fandom accounts related to ZZH and JunZhe were locked/removed]

Forced to be silent since the day his matter broke out, over the course of official news release with everything taken down in a day because of the Japan correspondence, his accounts banned overnight across the Chinese media and the overnight cancellation, fans could not speak anything about it. Overnight cancellation like this scale happened for the first time in China, leaving no time to react by the fandom, by the time they can, they are silenced.

When the period of events occured within a set of special dates, it’s not coincidence.

Conclusion

Because he was too successful and had many actually honorable past things, and a hard to influence fandom, Internet Water Army view him as a huge threat enough to want to destroy him, because it’s hard to defeat. With a chance they have, they will hold it till the end, bringing up this issue to the Government during this period also shows a sign of how scared they were of him and perhaps his fandom to plot something like this.

Updated on 19 August: Here's a screenshot of assumed calculation on the scale of GZ success for reference while chatting with a fellow fan, assuming GJ also has 27 brands, and there are 1000 brands. Rationale of numbers used: Only big brands can hire big celebrities.

Bonus

Mentioned in the first post, will mention again in case. After the news broke out within 2 days, there was a drop on his weibo followers from 18.9mil to 18.7mil. 200k+ drops, if the politics was such a big national issue, there should at least be a huge drop, even at least a million right? Because weibo is a China-Chinese majority right? Nope, we get a puny 200k drop.

What's funny? The self-deteroriates:

Translation: "Are his fans bought? Why didnt he drop fans? Those people got brainwashed to this point?" / "I've never entered his weibo and today i feel like having a look yet it showed I've followed him. All his fans were bought right? It disgusts me, i immediately unfollowed. This kind of process is worse than WYF..." / "i dropped fans because of him...no...I just reposted 2 posts and I've dropped 4 fans?"

Isn't the tone and regressing brain cells, all too familiar and same?

//

Added above, will remind again to read this link. It has an even more in-depth knowledge on who are paying them.

So what should we do? Link here

Related posts 🛏️:

[oktobearfest]

disclaimer that i'll be posting spoilers under the read more.

so to preface i don't think this show is awful or the worst live action adaptation of an anime to exist. netflix cowboy bebop, death note and dragon ball evolution are WAY worse than netflix one piece. however i do find it to be slightly above mediocre and im surprised to see people touting this as the greatest adaptation ever created. it does a lot of things right but at the same time makes changes that are so baffling to me.

my biggest complaints are with characterization, writing and the way this show looks visually. out of the main straw hats, sanji got it the best. he acts the way the character should and his actor is great. luffy is fine too though i wish he was more rude and impulsive like he is in the manga. usopp does fucking NOTHING. its insane how little he does, even in the episode focused on his introduction. im sorry usopp fans but he was done very dirty here. zoro was stoic and acted like he hated being there. it was as if being with luffy annoyed the fuck out of him when thats not the case at all. out of all of them, zoro is the most ride or die for luffy and his dream to be the pirate king.

now with nami......jesus christ. she was done so badly that it gives me a migraine. her and arlong park were so bad that i was kind of shocked that oda was involved in this project. like why the everloving fuck was nami's relationships with nojiko and genzo removed? why does nami not stand up to arlong when that is a pivotal moment in arlong park and for her character growth due to one of her core character traits is being a manipulate coward? why was time taken away from developing the characters in arlong park to focus on a dumb as shit garp and koby plot line?????????? side note but the garp and koby scenes were stupid and added very little.

if this is how the straw hats are treated i am scared to death as to how they'll handle drum island and chopper.

as for the writing, it's cringe in a lot of parts and the ""humor"", if you can call it that sucks. reminds me of a bad MCU film. one piece is a comedy so im so surprised that this show is very unfunny. i also think the script writers need to do more "show, not tell". the characters keep telling you how other characters are but they show none of that. it comes across as lazy to me.

i mentioned this in earlier posts but i cannot stand how dark this show looks. there are SO many scenes that are so dark you cannot see what is going on at all. so many nighttime scenes that are just. darker than a black hole. i really think its because they want to hide the imperfect CGI, which tbh didn't look that bad to me. ive seen live action disney remakes that look worse. when scenes aren't dark as hell, they have that "mexico yellow" filter put over the footage or the color scheme is some shade of grey. i do NOT understand the people saying how this show has so much color and i'm like, where is it? can you show me where the color is? i will say that the sets look awesome, especially the going merry. i love me some practical effects. a lot of the costumes looked great too though certain ones like the military uniforms look like they're about to go to their nearest anime convention. thats an issue with all anime adaptations so that's not a knock on one piece specifically.

overall i think if you're a one piece fan and you're curious, i would check this out. don't expect anything amazing and you'll think it's fine for what it is. its a rushed version of the east blue saga. i would love to hear what people who have never read the manga/seen the anime before think about this show. i've been seeing a lot of discourse about how it's unfair to review this show as an adaptation and im like, why? its being promoted as an adaptation and is using the one piece name to advertise itself. i will 100% criticize it as an adaptation of one of the best manga ever created. if anyone has seen it without knowing a single thing about OP, i'd love to hear your thoughts.

if this gets a season 2, i would be interested to see how they do it. i will scream, cry and throw up if chopper is made of shitty CGI :')

i finished the netflix one piece live action adaptation and oh man...will collect my thoughts and post them here soon-ish