#there's a lot hanging on a song

[elderwisp]

ℑ 𝔰𝔢𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔩 𝔦𝔫 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔢𝔶𝔢𝔰 𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔨𝔦𝔰𝔰 𝔪𝔢 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔪𝔢 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔫𝔬 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔢 𝔗𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲'𝔯𝔢 𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔪𝔢

[gods-perfect-idiots]

was overcome with the urge to draw "wade tenderly caressing logan's face while he's Feeling Big Angsty Stuff" and then the parallel urge to do a follow-up of "logan kissing wade's hand/holding onto him for dear life"

(anyway hope you like it - I have been looking at this for too long and so of course I hate it now 🫠 art is hard guys lol)

some details below the cut because I am happy with some small aspects - still really enjoying the painting part of doing Wade's scars for example (thanks again @woof-verine for that inspo it is just baked into my psyche now, and also for being a forever enjoyer of pointy ears Logan - sorry couldn't quite get the fangs in this time but they are there trust me!!)

ps. was listening to She Calls Me Back by Noah Kahan for this one. idk it just hits for me in my poolverine-addled state lol

[prolibytherium]

I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?

Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate

-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)

-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.

-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.

Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.

-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.

But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')

In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.

All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.

-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?

-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.

I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.

WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.

And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.

Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.

[the-punforgiven]

I am the sweatiest tryhard in the fucking world in Warframe but not in the actual gameplay or the combat or whatever I just spend hours on end sitting around in my orbiter like

[valinoar]

He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.

[aflawedfashion]

The more David Tennant doctors who exist, the more strongly I believe that a virtual Matt Smith doctor can end up in the library with virtual River

[ruvviks]

we have dead gods buried in our backyard // our untouched piece of heaven the wildfires didn't burn

taglist (opt in/out): @shellibisshe, @florbelles, @ncytiri, @hibernationsuit, @stars-of-the-heart, @vvanessaives, @katsigian, @radioactiveshitstorm, @estevnys, @adelaidedrubman, @celticwoman, @rindemption, @carlosoliveiraa, @noirapocalypto, @dickytwister, @killerspinal, @euryalex, @ri-a-rose, @velocitic, @thedeadthree

[eclecticopposition]

kalrin 30, rajole 22, ohnyxx 44

some pulls this time. enjoy

(Kalrin and Rajole are our fantrolls, Ohnyxx belongs to @aurochsent. among other things)

Kalrin #30: Dam, Damn

I'll have all my demons stuck behind a dam Damn! On the other side is all I am Man! I hope the sticks are strong, the structure's sound Sounds Like in one instance I could go way down, down down Way down down down (Haha)

Rajole #22: ooh la la (feat. santa fe klan)

my pockets are plumper this season, i love to cuff em i ain't afraid of nothin but nothingness, ain't it something? warmongers are dumpin', they'll point and click at your pumpkin (look out) your suffering is scrumptious, they'll put your kids in the oven

Ohnyxx #44: Eat You

I'm gonna eat you You're my desire I'm gonna sharpen all my teeth and build a fire I'm gonna eat you Cook and defeat you I'm gonna breathe you in my lungs and make you mine

[paraesol]

A butterfly caught in a spider’s web

🕸 Ko-Fi | Commissions 🕸

[i3utterflyeffect]

What if him remembering the hollowheads in reverse order leads to him wondering if maybe the others would be better off without him there? He would remember how ava 4 went and wonder if sc ever really felt safe with him or if that was just an act so they could all stay on the pc.

AW. YEAH... when they show up again he starts crying because of it.............. he's just so happy to see them again, not to mention that they're happy to see him as well-- that they were even LOOKING for him in the first place--

[milfygerard]

living in the inbetween hell where I dont hate or love ttpd enough to agree with anyone on the dash so im just sort of flinching whenever I see a post about it from any side

[lalaballa]

Silverscreen

Two-faced Johnny, hotel lobby I won't go up without you Plated boots, lipstick rouge Jack on the edge of champagne fruits Misdemeanor, gossip cleaner Overacting table reader Ego driver, loose-lip liar Driving my head ill [••••]

Surface tension, I won't mention Liar, liar, liar, ha Dancing finger, constant linger Driving my head ill

Coup de grace

Running the circles through, right back to you Finding at the finish line, nothing new The let-down that sticks like glue Slipping through my fingers gripping onto what is left of you

Waiting for lessons learned, taking turns The loudest of them all, left to be unheard My story lacks in the facts That it's so absurd So come on, coupe de grace

Shavambacu

Ghost eyes sleep beside my baby doll

All night when I'm in bed with you

Sunrise never sets on baby doll

Her ghost tears, some call it rain

Well I'm crying for just one name

I can't stand to see another day

I'm not in L.A. to have my way with you

My little darling shavambacu, oh honey I love you

Killing the joke

Interstellar, dressed in leather, drinking bitter boy You know the plan but you never knew the ploy But I, I live a lonely life Since you been gone I left the TV on Let the milk go sour, let the bills pile up But I, I know I'm a funny guy

[interview with Coup de Main, 25 Sept. 2018]

[judicent]

Yeah, I did fill 4 sketchbooks in 4 months so far this year. Huh? Am I gonna post even an ounce of it? Well, you see, I am allergic to my phone, so you will have to come CATCH ME

[avatardoggo]

sooo i gave FG his birthday present 😭🫣🥹

[kumakuma-circus]

everyday i want them to remake p4 more than the last.

[audliminal]

So having just seen wicked, my main takeaway is what the fuck do you mean 'part 1'. The stage play runs about two hours and 15 minutes which isn't far off from the length of the movie and frankly, a lot of the scenes would be better if they were trimmed down.