#they are going to have the most epic romance movie ending ever just watch

[soobnny]

dating him | yang jeongin

❝ why’d you come into my life so late? ❞

chan | lee know | changbin | hyunjin | han | felix | seungmin | JEONGIN

guys this one’s a secret romantic

even the boys are shocked when he tells them he has a gf now so casually

like WDYM ?!!??

anon said this but picture the boys eating at a restaurant

and the boys r like the food here is crazy good like how’d u find this place

and he goes idk my gf recommended it

and then there’s silence

before all hell breaks loose

bc wdym … wdym u have a gf and u didn’t tell us ????????????

dramatic faces of betrayal from hyunjin and han i can imagine bc their baby didn’t tell him

i think seungmin would know just bc they’re dorm mates and i think jeongin trusts to ask him advice without BOOKING him to the boys

he seems nonchalant on the outside, just a silly boy

but he’s the sweetest

i think he’d treat love so gently ☹️☹️

he’s always wanted to explore romance, always wanted to find it

he couldn’t ever admit it out loud bc he knows he’d get teased

he was the boys’ baby after all

and since he was the boys’ baby, by association, you were now their baby too

u two are the couple they adore

they act like they’re ur parents

chan dad mode activated

anyways he’s kind of emotional and sensitive

so i think the both of u navigate through love for the first time together

it’s a lot of ups and downs

BUT …. it’s led to him realizing just how much he loves you

i totally believe you’d go on either the most goofy dates or very expensive dates

no in between

he’d be the type to treat you and have staycations at 5-star hotels

you’d just cuddle and watch movies and eat room service

YES I SAID CUDDLE

even the boys were shocked when they saw it for the first time

bc ?!!!???? their baby ?!!!?? physical touch ?!!?

jeongin never minds when it’s with u

but it’s also something he’s had to learn

he’s very appreciative of ur patience

anyways back to ur dates

i can imagine u guys just buying a bunch of strawberry cakes and doing a taste testing

like u’d record it and everything

u can’t post it bc he kisses u like 928373 times in that video

there’s a makeout session like once

oh, and dinner dates

and very competitive rock paper and scissors over who pays for the food

except when he loses, he’d cheat and say he’d go to the bathroom but he’s actually paying for it

so keep ur eyes on that boy

i think he’d also be the type to really enjoy clothes shopping with you

you’d just put on a fashion show for each other

he’d end up buying a few things he rly liked on you

he’s got good fashion sense

might sneak in a matching item or two

maybe some shoes so it’s more subtle

jeongin also loves playing tourist in ur own city

the two of u would just walk around

visit some tourist spots

take pictures even

it’s just rly funny and rly cute

it feels a lot like being a kid again with him

u guys even buy useless toys for kids and bring them back to the dorm

😭😭😭😭

this includes like those little charms for kids

u two end up making craft bracelets and necklaces

and even tho they look ridiculous, u wear them in public

this is ur own version of promise rings

anywahs minho ends up taking some of the toys u’d bought for his cats

when the boys come home, u two are usually just cooped up in jeongin’s room

bc he wants his privacy!!!!!!!!

but when he lets it slip, and u two fall asleep on the couch, expect lots of pictures taken

i’m sorry

the boys are also emotional

they’d wake u up so u guys can have dinner together

he’d get so blushy and embarrassed and threaten his hyungs ofc

han jisung: when will it be my turn ???

they just want love from innie too

UGHHGHG kicking each other’s foot under the table while eating

he loves annoying u

but u love annoying him equally

when u aren’t over at the dorms

he’d be the type to text you random links on youtube at 3am

those charlie bit my finger type beat

gorilla destroys crocodile epic video

jeongin also gives me the “sends u things” vibe

u’d suddenly receive flowers without warning

or get those “did you eat?” texts and if u say no, yeah, best believe he’s already delivering food to u

hmmmmm u’d probably be his plus one in fancy events

but u guys end up ditching those to eat at fast food chains

yes … in ur very fancy dress and his rly sexy suit …. out in a fast food restaurant

u guys get weird looks but

jeongin doesn’t mind 🙁

as long as he’s happy with u

AWWWWWWWW

u guys also attend or volunteer for charity events together

i think he’s rly found his match

treat each other well !!!!!

congrats on finding love

note. credits to user @.luvknow for the layout of this post! let me know what you think! please discuss these with me i’m crazy

[hello-nichya-here]

Some Peter Pan 2003 edits, enjoy.

(Nichya, do you agree with me by thinking this movie is the few examples of a live action Disney remake being as good if not better than the original?)

I agree and there's a very good reason why that is the case: it wasn't made by Disney, but by Universal, who wanted to be more loyal to the original story - and like Jason Isaac's himself said, that was the thing that made this movie so different from most adaptations of it.

I'm gonna be real, I used to hate basically every version of Peter Pan, mainly because of the Disney cartoon being my introduction to the story. I just never understood why Wendy liked him, or why he liked her, or how Neverland was in anyway special/different from any generic "Magic place", or why I should care if any of these characters leave it behind or stay. And keep in mind, this was coming from a child that was all about the Disney formulas. Peter Pan, as a concept, just REALLY felt hollow to little me.

... And then I watched this movie.

Let me tell you, 6-year-old Nichya was OBSESSED with this movie (and with Jason Isaac as Hook). 24-year-old Nichya too, even more so actually, because EVERYTHING ABOUT IT is perfect - including the thing that aged "poorly", aka the special effects.

Neverland doesn't really look real and that's good. The dated effects, the epic music and the very colorful lighting make it look like a place that could only exist in dreams, so when Wendy and her brothers are in awe of it, I totally get it. Today's tendency of films in which every scene look super dark and/dull makes me appreciate it even more.

The lighting also does wonders for the storytelling, showing Peter's magical connection with Neverland as it changes based on his emotional state, or in moments like Wendy seeing Hook for the first time, with the extra focus on his eyes - you can practically hear the book quote of Wendy being fascinated instead of frightened.

Speaking of the book, the fact that this adaptation had the guts to go with THE thing that could end making it far too corny and silly, aka the "kiss" Wendy has on her lips and that shows she's starting to grow up and become interested in romance is SUCH an important plot-point and key aspect of her character arc, and is delightful to see an adaptation that goes "We already have a magical land, fairies, mermaids, and a boy that stays a kid forever. How is the 'kiss' going to make it less realistic? It's fantasy already!"

And I love, love, love how they make sure we know who Wendy is outside of romance (a storyteller that wants adventure, a child that is both really mature and responsible, but also activelly trying to escape that role, someone who is very motherly but has a ton of anxiety about the prospect of eventually being the adult in charge) - but without ever downplaying how much her romance with Peter means to her.

He was the boy that was giving her everything she was looking for at the moment: friendship, adventure, excitement, and, more importantly, a way to escape any responsibility she didn't want - forever. He really is the hero she had been waiting for, and that, as a consequence, makes her realize that growing up and eventually having a family is not that scary after all, as long as she finds the right person, someone who understands her and that she trusts.

Obviously, she doesn't want to get married and have a ton of kids NOW, but she wants the promise that this will happen - when they're ready for it, when they're older. But Peter Pan is no ordinary boy. It's not just that he's too immature to fully embrace his feelings for Wendy right now, and could truly allow himself to love her later. He is NEVER going to reach that point, he's far too afraid to allow himself the chance to even try. And that breaks Wendy's heart.

And it breaks Peter's heart too, because he WANTS to be loved, and he already cares for Wendy in a way he never cared about anyone else. But because of who he is, she, and everyone else, will inevitably leave him. Because ALL children grow up. He is the only one who was blessed, and cursed, to be the exception.

He'll never be a husband and father. He will never be someone's child or sibling. He's the true lost boy, out of reach forever. He is truly free from everything and everyone, but the price is the knowledge that, sooner or later, he will find himself completely alone time and time again. And Wendy, the girl he loves, will one day either forget him or grow old and die - after having lived a full life with someone else, because Peter couldn't, and wouldn't, grow old with her.

He's doomed to be lonely forever... just like Hook. But unlike Hook, when he is immature and selfish (like when he closes the window at Wendy's house in the hopes that she'll believe her parents stopped waiting for her and her siblings), he does it out of pure desperation, because he's a child that genuinely doesn't know any better.

Hook however, is coming from a place of malice. When he "pursues" Wendy, he does out of jealousy that Peter managed to find true love, while he will never have that. He does it to steal that from him, to hurt him, to make him endure the pain of knowing that, of all people that could have replaced him in Wendy's heart, he was the one who did it.

And, of course, while he never really does anything to Wendy, the constant implication that, at any second, he might, looms large. Their dynamic is inherently predatory, with Hook exploiting the fact that Wendy is mature enough to want a romantic connection, but is still too naive to understand all the implications behind it, and, more importantly, that no adult that wants to be with her like that could possibly be someone she's safe with it.

He is an intriguing, tragic figure like Peter and thus can "seduce" her rather easily too (the fact that Jason Isaacs is really fucking hot doesn't hurt either), but he is doing it through constant manipulation, reminding her that she can never have the boy she actually wants and exploiting her childish need to have some form of petty revenge against him for it, by "befriending" the person he hates the most in the whole world.

But there's another thing that brings her closer to Hook: the fact that, despite being the complete opposite of her father, he still LOOKS like him, is the real adult authority figure around, and he is offering her advice and comfort when she experiences her first heartbreak. He represents both her adolescent impulse to rebel, to proove she's grown already, and her childlike instinct to just run to the arms of her parent and let him call the shots because she's afraid of making mistakes and wants someone who can tell her what to do, how she's supposed to act.

There is a recurring theme through the movie of Wendy's mostly innocent fantasies being read through an adult lenses (see the teacher's concern and offense at the drawing of Peter above her in bed - because he's FLYING, not touching her in anyway). Much like when she was the "mother" of the Lost Boys, when she is by Hook's side, Wendy is a child playing pretend. But the threat Hook poses is very real and his intentions are downright evil. Because Wendy ran away from the flawed, but well-meaning adults she could trust, she walked right into the trap of a very dangerous man that is taking advantage of her need for a protector, a mentor.

And that's why the kiss scene is the perfect climax for the movie, as it concludes three character arcs at once. It shows us Wendy choosing true love, however fleeting, instead of Hook's lies, and indulging in one last childhood fantasy before growing up. It gives Peter the only form of closure he could ever have, knowing that even if he can't be with Wendy, he will always be "the one" for her and won't ever be forgotten, just like he won't ever forget her, because they mean too much to each other. And Hook is forced to accept that, because he can't connect with anyone without manipulation, which could never last, his life truly is void in a way even Peter's never would be.

So yeah, it's a great movie with serious guts, and everyone else can just quit trying to make a new adaptation, reboot, sequel, prequel or whatever because they're never getting anywhere near this level of quality.

[optimisticaudience]

My Top 10 Unhinged Movie Recommendations

This isn't top 10 favorite movies. This is my top 10 movies to recommend when I want to make sure that person NEVER asks me for recs again. When I want to go nuclear in my weird shit(TM) this is what I go with, in ascending order. 10. Freaks by Todd Browning

I love showing this to people. Folks are like "oh hey is this a horror movie?" and then I show it to them. It's not a horror movie, unless Normies are the horror. I love sitting in a room where people slowly realize this isn't a horror moive, but a well done domestic drama. It's just a drama where the cast doesn't look like hollywood stars. It's a god damn masterpiece about a man who is forsaking this family to find mainstream acceptance and how his family fights to save him despite everything. 10/10 Masterpiece. Some folks question whether or not it is exploitative that Todd Browning made this movie. I've made sure the guy is dead so no matter what he's not going to make money either way.

9. The very beginning and very end of Streets of Fire.

Patrick Willems was right about this. Watch the first bit and then skip to the end to get a dramatic epic of rock music, motorcycles, and Wilhem Defoe fighting in a sledgehammer duel. Beautiful movie. Then people request to see the full movie, the fools. I show the full movie because they know not what they do. Then they don't like it. I told them this at the beginning. There are no sledgehammer fights in the middle of the movie. Why watch this if it's not a musical number or hammer time?

8. The Dark Crystal's bootleg director's cut

Cowards watch movies in languages they understand. Sometimes they use subtitles to pretend they are open to new experiences. Watch a god damn movie in a fictional language that no one speaks, you plebians. No subtitles, no explanations. Just watch the movie and have a great experience seeing the puppets portray the story using body language. Expand your horizons. It wasn't made on drugs, it just was made with more courage than you or I will ever have. Get fucking weird before you die.

7. Harry Potter and the Deadly Weapons

The last one was a bootleg reconstructing a lost film. This bootleg creates a new movie. Harry Potter with GUNS. It starts with an old guy shooting out all the lights in a street, and keeps on going from there. You want to see true cinema? Watch Emma Watson shoot Neville Longbottom in the face.

6. Lo

Romance is dead. There was a romance here. But it got killed and dragged to hell. This man is trying to summon love from hell. All he summons is ham and also overly dramatic soundtrack. Most of the movie is two actors sitting in the dark being assholes to each other. They actually have amazing chemistry. The Demon, Lo, is amazing and my scrungly blorbo or whatever the fuck people say. It's also a musical.

5. The Man From Earth

This is actually just a good movie. It's like what if a movie was also a bunch of smug people's podcast. However, they all are used to being smug and podcasting as most of them are from Star Trek. Beautiful and wonderful performances about a bunch of nerds arguing about a caveman Buddhist Jesus. It's a palate cleanser for what else is in store.

4. Existenz

People like to talk about Cronenberg and how shocking Videodrome is or something like that. Thing is people don't talk about this weird shit as much. David Cronenberg is a gamer and he made the ultimate gamer movie: where the scary stuff is physical contact and metaphors for sex. Watch people graft new orfices on to shove gaming consoles into them. What if the matrix had a gun that shoots teeth? Yeah it doesn't have the gunfingerpenis from other cronengerg movies. However it does have a game controller made of asymmetrical nipples.

3. Lair of the White Worm

Scottish Snake Vampires. That's actually pretty cool and sounds great. Hugh Grant and the Doctor from Doctor Who have a bromance. Why is it on here? Because the director was too horny. Random nudity is the most tame and normal part of this movie. I am not against the human body being used in art. I also think people shouldn't be ashamed of their bodies.

Except this director. He ends the movie with Hugh Grant lifting up Peter Capaldi's kilt and Capaldi bites him. Want to make movie night uncomfortable for everyone? Show this. Porn is less horny.

2. Wizards

This movie has so many great bits. The thing is you know about the great bits because no one wants to watch the whole thing. Imagine a movie with all the issues of Lair of the White Worm, while also made by a man who is by volume 80% cocaine, 10% rivalry with R. Crumb, and 10% mommy issues. Then have Mark Hamil show up for like five minutes. Then turn it into a commentary on fascist propaganda. It's the greatest artistic achievement in making movies that will make no one happy at movie night.

Possession (uncut version)

This is the nuclear option. If i don't want people to talk to me ever again, I'll show them this movie. You want to see a film made by the most Divorced man ever? Sure let's watch this. Elon Musk wishes he was this movie, but he, like everyone who sees this film, is a coward. The fucked up film that was banned in the UK for decades tells us the truly greatest fear of men: A version of the man who is a better husband than they are, especially if it's a living pile of raw viscera that is better at satisfying their spouse in bed.

No one i've shown this movie to has talked to me afterwards. I use it like pest control folks used DDT back in the day. Ironically, the movie has the same effect on Condor eggs. One day, however, i will show this to someone and they will like it. In that case, I will have three options:

-The person will be my new best friend.

-The person will be a cinderella-glass-slipper true love fit for me.

-This person will kill me in the next 24 hours.

All three of these will be true. The person who fits this will inherit my social media accounts, and be cursed with them until they complete this cycle again with someone else.

Anyways thank you for liking and subscribing to my Ted Talk.

[nobibiname]

Ever wondered why the Elucien arguments pulling out Sarah’s 2016 interview and Facebook comment (yeah that one after ACOMAF came out) are SO annoying? 🙄

Ok so I ended up in a TikTok comment section today (yes I know that was my first mistake) and it occurred to me, we are once again not on the same page about some fundamental ideas on writing. The OP argued Sarah hasn’t changed her mind on the next books &elucien and that she said so in an interview after ACOSF.

Ok, but there’s a huge GLARING problem with that.

Basically, a writer makes promises in the text. I’m paraphrasing Sanderson here (I watch his lectures for fun, even tho I don’t write cuz I’m a dork) so he was talking about the first chapter and prologue of a book, or movie… but if you’re writing a multi-book epic, then you’re probably going to make promises about plots and characters of your future books, right?

So what are these promises? Basically what kind of book it is, plot&trope hints, the tone, goals, journeys and obstacles.

Ok back to SJM: why is the argument that “she said Elucien and hasn’t changed her mind infuriating? Because she made different promises in the books. And that is what Elriels mean when we say “set up”.

I mean just from the amount of interactions, Elriel have more than Elucien.. not to mention the warmth, positivity and thoughtfulness she put into their interactions over seriously 4 books. The promises are crystal clear: there is a romance that started as friendship==plot, but she has a bond w/someone else==obstacle, and Rhys forbade it in a moment resulting in her thinking he rejected her, but he didn’t == twist.

These promises need to be addressed, resolved, fulfilled. Is there something even CLOSE to this kind of story promise existing for Elucien?

I have seriously seen people claim that Elucien are both “friends to lovers” AND “enemies to lovers”…. These cannot both be true, like come on… you’re not even sure what kind of story they promise to be? You’re not sure what kinds of promises Sarah made about Elucien?

Why are you not sure? Because it’s not in the text. My personal view is that Elucien is neither… if they happen it’s kind of worse than either trope, they’re certainly not friends, they are at best indifferent to each other and at worst resentful. Mmmm … delicious “indifferent to lovers” 🫠

On a serious note, I don’t “hate” Elucien, but SJM hasn’t made a single promise in the text that I can quote in here that would make me excited about them. He gave her gifts that she didn’t throw away…. ?? Really?… she made a half step toward him… once… no, just no! And that’s how I feel, regardless if “Lulu deserves love”… sure he does, then write a love interest that brings out flirty firey fox boy from book1 and I’m on board 🫡 ….and don’t try to convince me after 4 books of a tepid nothing that all along it was Elain. Because. I. Don’t. Buy. It.

And my last point (I swear!) why did I get my panties all up in a twist… basically this: a writer makes promises IN THE TEXT, and if what you are saying in interviews directly CONTRADICTS your actual text, then you kinda have a problem. … at that point either you’re a bad writer, or you can’t blindly trust an interview from 7 years ago, it’s outdated!

The great GRRM himself said how often his “gardening style” of writing led to character arcs and romantic pairings changing… so why don’t we start treating Sarah as an adult author, and trust the text, and not an old interview?

It also comes down to trust. You don’t wanna be left feeling like “hmmm this doesn’t feel real, I don’t buy it” it takes you out of the text, and it happens when an author messes up promise-delivery . When an author foreshadows well, and sets up the story with their promises, still manages to surprise us while keeping the promises… well I trust THAT PERSON to tell me the most satisfying story.

[absolutebl]

Hi!!! I love your blog so much, especially your weekly summaries-- they are just so helpful! I was wondering if you know of any Bls with the military/policemen/fire fighters? I know military service is mandatory in thailand and south korea so I was wondering if there were any Bls that have one the main characters in the military (or police, firefighters etc.) Thanks so so much!

Hi!!! Thank you!

BL BADGE BUNNIES ACTIVATED!

Sure thing. There are a few, not many. Countries with conscription policies (e.g. Korea & Thailand) usually have a defacto ban on realistic/non-positive representation of military service in their media. In other words, BL by its nature (gay in military) stays away from this setting.

BLs in uniform (featuring military/policemen/fire fighter romances)

A Tale of Thousand Stars Thai 2021 YouTube (ranger) - With great casting and cinematography this drama nods at BL tropes but manages to elevate them (and itself) with a strong mature story concept about a spoiled rich kid who gets a heart transplant and becomes a teacher it order to pay out survivor’s guilt. On the way he falls in love with a local park ranger and contends with his own classism and escapist tendencies. Everyone seemed to perfectly suit their roles and GMMTV made the most out of its stable. Combined with excellent production (and post production) values, 1000 Stars is without question GMMTV’s most mature, charming, and smart BL series. I think it should go down as one of the top BLs of all time. I feel safe recommending this one to friends and non BL watchers. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

HIStory 3: Trapped Taiwan 2019 Viki (cop) - Basically the definition of enemies to lovers from Lin Pei Yu. This is a cop + the mafia man he is chasing but WAIT, they fall in love. Added bonus side couple: assassin and nerd cop ALSO falling in love. It’s great. All the leads are stellar. Its high heat, fun action, and a bit of a mystery drama but pretty about all of it. My only warning is that the main couple doesn’t entirely end up together, it’s implied, but… amorphous ending. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Your Name Engraved Herein Taiwan 2020 Netflix? (army, recent history) - This movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it. MIXED REC, NOT FOR SPECIFICALLY BL FANS

S.C.I. AKA SCI Mysteries China/Hong Kong 2018 YouTube? (censored bromance, cops) - This is a police procedural with a censored main couple of police investigators who live together basically as husbands, it’s just not talked about. This is one of the first BLs I ever saw (I found their relationship very confusing). RECOMMENDED

Guardian China 2018 grey (censored bromance, cop) - Episodic urban fantasy meets police procedural, one of the most epic long term pinings in the history of long term pinings. RECOMMENDED

Light Taiwan 2021 Gaga (cop) - Ironically titled movie about a street hustler (incest, rape, abuse survivor - all depicted on screen) who falls in (and in love with) an undercover cop. TRIGGERS

Shorts & Sides

A First Love Story Korea 2021 YouTube & Gaga (military service) - Strongberry are true masters of their craft and yet A First Love Story is still one of the best things they have ever produced. It’s the only microfilm ever to make one of my year end top ten list. It’s two episodes of about 8 minutes each that manage to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers confession ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot. How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time? It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. You are a ridiculous human if you haven’t spent 16 minutes with these two boys. Go watch it now. Or go watch it again. It’s time VERY well spent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Just Friends? Korea 2009 Gaga (military service) - Boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out and the future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

(also one of Korea's first BLs, they would NOT stick to this style, it's way more Taiwan feeling.)

The Immeasurable Taiwan 2021 Gaga (cop) - Police officer falls in love with a student who turns out to be an anti-establishment activist. MIXED REC

DanYok side couple in Not Me (cop)

I've left out bodyguards and historicals (or both).

I've left out the super dark, unhappy, violent, rapey, and pinks, because... I don't like 'em, and you asked me... so...

Now you know why the BL adaptation I want more than ANYTHING is Decedents of the Sun, soldier+healer but GAY? Come on, it writes itself!

(source)

[thechaseofspades]

Kiff is a fun show that takes relatively grounded concepts like drama class or going to the movies or the grocery store and turns up the absurdity. A lot of the stories come from Kiff just being super determined to do what she wants to do that day and going to ridiculous lengths to do it. Also Kiff's friendship with Barry is sort of an early-season Spongebob and Patrick dynamic which is always fun.

The humor shines most with sight gags and blink-and-you-miss-it. You'll also get plenty of Kimiko Glenn one-liners that are nothing like Lena but still funny to think that it's her voice. It has what I call "Brooklyn 99 syndrome" where it'll have one moment in every episode that's the funniest thing I've ever seen but I wouldn't call the whole show that if that makes sense.

Also they do the classic song in every episode formula so if you're into that then it's there. Gives us the Lena songs we were robbed of.

Hailey's On It is also fun, and also a lot less focused on the romance element than the trailers and theme song suggest. Sure, Hailey and Scott's *friendship* is all over the show, but it's more about Hailey overcoming her fears of commitment and trying new things.

Hailey and Scott are absolutely adorable together in a best friends type of way. W for us folks who want fun platonic cross-gender relationships, Dewey and Webby style.

This show also does the song in every episode thing, and the lead is the voice of Moana and she canonically sings pretty well and keeps getting pushed to sing more which I love actually. As funny as the "irl actor can't act" trope is to me, I think it plays a lot into Hailey's self-confidence which like I said is a theme in the show.

Tell ya what Scott is dumb as a rock sometimes but I love him. That's all I have to say.

One issue I have with the show is they do vomit/sickness jokes in every episode. Not kidding it's pretty much every single one so far. I can handle one or two if they're good jokes but Hailey's On It goes to the well way too many times in my opinion.

Another thing about the premise is that it requires Hailey to be successful to finish her list. Like when her goal in the episode is to win a contest then you know she's gonna win and it's just a matter of how. I feel like they're gonna have to mess with that formula sometimes to keep it fresh. They've had one or two like the strawberry owl episode where she stumbled into it but most of the time she just wins because she has to for the show to work.

People were upset because Amphibia and the Owl House ending meant that DTVA was dead or whatever. And sure these might not be the epic "story-driven" shows that those two were (although there is definitely story in Hailey's On It so idk what y'all want), but the TVA is in good hands.

Go watch Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur I am begging you.

[faiirytalcs]

WINNIE HOWLING is based on WINNIE WEREWOLF from Hotel Transylvania 2. She is a SHAPESHIFTER, COLLEGE STUDENT, and uses she/her pronouns. She has the power of SHIFTING, ENHANCED SMELL and SUPER STRENGTH.

Important History

a business lady through and through, winnie is ambitious and determined. she put off her own future for a long time to help her family mainly because her brothers were all running off and leaving her to be the only reliable child - classic eldest daughter moment

technically, she was the only daughter up until recently but it still counted

her whole life, she stood out from all of her brothers but, when she was younger, winnie tried really hard to be just like them...even if she tried to make it seem like she couldn't stand them

she traversed the line between being feminine and being a complete tomboy and she had no shame about wearing her pink punk shirts

growing up with so many brothers instilled in her the kind of male confidence that was often misplaced and, to be fair, it worked to her advantage more often than you'd think. second guessing herself just wasn't something the girl ever learned how to do and she wasn't going to start now

winnie has a tendency to be rowdy and abrasive when the time calls for it, ready to protect those she cares about even if it means putting herself into dangerous situations; which happened more often than you'd think (and sometimes unnecessarily).

these days though, winnie is going to put herself and her future first which means finally heading back to business school and starting to build her company. her time is now!

winnie has an incredible sense of smell, so incredible that she easily fell into the category of super smeller. a lot of the time, it comes in handy but there were times when she resented having such a talent

she isn't super close with either of her parents but if it came down to it, Winnie is a daddy's girl at the end of the day. he's so stressed out all the time, she feels like it's on her to help if she can

a few years ago, winnie stopped pretending not to be a full-blown romantic. romance books, movies - even romantic comedies - she loved them all and between getting her degree and building an empire, winnie was going to get her epic love story

she's never had a ton of friends, there were way too many siblings and family weirdness to explain to anyone new, but that's fine with winnie; she always preferred having a few close friends than a ton of people she didn't really know

it feels strange not to be the only daughter anymore in her family and she doesn't feel like she's done enough to be a good role model for her little sister, a feeling she's never really had before, so there's some extra internal pressure that Winnie has put on herself to do something worthwhile

loves to go for runs in the woods, letting loose when stress gets to be too much

she carries that with people in her life too, inviting people to let loose, to lose their inhibitions every once in a while, and feel the animalistic nature that is inherently in everything you do

APPEARANCE

Face Claim: jaz sinclair

Height: 5'5

Build: slim

Eye Color: dark brown

Hair Color: brown

Piercings: ears

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits: energetic, romantic, playful, protective

Negative Traits: abrasive, blunt, stubborn, nosy

Likes: punk music, defying standards & stereotypes, business plans, thinking outside the box, black combat boots, dennis, howling at the moon

Dislikes: thunderstorms, crowded rooms, monotone notes that get louder, low ceilings, whistles, most of her brothers, the idea of dennis leaving

Phobias: hydrophobia

Hobbies: running, going to concerts, picnicking

Aesthetic: putting yourself first for the first time in your life, epic romances, fighting for what you believe in, candlelit dinner dates, reaching goals you never thought possible, running freely through tree trunks in pursuit of the moon, watching the stars with someone you love, not so secretly loving your best friend

FAMILY

Mother: wanda howling

Father: wayne howling

Sibling(s): sunny (younger sister), wally (older brother), wilbur (older brother), wilson (older brother), whoopi (older brother), wade (older brother), weepy (older brother), wanye (older brother), wendell (older brother), wesley (older brother), wilma (older brother), wyatt (older brother), waylon (older brother), willie (older brother)

Pet(s): n/a

[swagmother]

Ok ANOTHER multi movie review post, these ones are pretty recent watches, spoilers ahead for uhhhh :

Beau is Afraid: this one was a super great time, feels like it drags a little towards the woods/play part of the film but otherwise loved every second of this. It was sad, anxiety inducing, disturbing but also extremely funny near constantly. I’d say the highlights for me are the entire first 30-40 minutes, and the sex scene towards the end was spectacular. I loved hereditary, thought midsomar was just ok, but if beau is any indication for future ari aster movies, i am excited!!! Would love to watch this again …. One day

Terrifier 2: I had been meaning to watch this one for a while, I thought hallows Eve was forgettable, Terrifier was ok with the gore being pretty cool, and I had heard good things about the sequel. Particularly “someone threw up at the theater” which you don’t hear much these days!! So it was quite unfortunate when I happened to have taken a gram of mushrooms and was outvoted by others when it came to picking the movie but I didn’t want to miss out so…. It was pretty alright? It’s hard to give a 100% accurate assessment because of my state at the time, but this was definitely a step up from the initial Terrifier, and certainly contained the absolute worst and disgusting scenes I have ever watched in my life! I genuinely thought I may maybe possibly throw up or remove myself from the room if it continued, but anyway, I liked what they did with this movie. It was at times quite funny, had a tendency to drag intermittently, very very difficult to watch sometimes but mostly the scalping scene in particular, cool gore effects! I look forward to Terrifier 3 and I would never recommend this movie to anyone

Incantation: ok this one I actually didn’t watch in it’s entirety so take this with a grain of salt as opposed to all my other thoughts which you should take with 500 pounds of salt. Incantation is just an alright movie. I thought they did some pretty cool 4th wall breaking twisty wisties, but unfortunately I am not a fan of found footage horror where some ghost lady is just standing in some corner facing away from the camera and then it’s like AHHHH I’M LUNGING AT YOU EXTREMELY FAST AND LOUDLY AND I LOOK REALLY UGLY if you do like things like that then you’re gonna have a blast….. god speed

Days of Heaven: this one has been on my list for a while ever since I had seen some screen caps from the film which looked absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have too much to say about the movie but I did like it quite a bit. It’s impossible not to be enchanted by the plethora of breathtaking landscape shots taken during golden hour and dusk, I really enjoyed the latter half of the movie and the occasional narration by a 1916 child with a Chicago accent which sounds funny …. But she has many interesting things to say and ways of framing events granted uhhh murder and romance and stuff occurring! Anyway , I think if you like beautiful looking movies, you should watch this…

Eraserhead: eraserhead is about a super charismatic guy with cool hair and many prized possessions on his shelf/dresser who goes to his epic girlfriends parents house to discover they have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Cool hair guy loves and cares for this child so much that he has a really long nightmare and then wakes up and becomes the movie title. If you have never seen eraserhead I feel obligated to tell you that most of what I just wrote was a lie, Eraserhead was an ok movie, sometimes I thought there were some very cool things going on, other times I was extremely bored! I plan to watch more David Lunch movies, and I hope to like them more than eraserhead

Spiderman across the spiderverse: sorry to any dorks who may care, but this is not epic masterpiece…. It was pretty great though! I actually have a lot of thoughts about this, many you may have heard already so I’m gonna try and keep this as brief as possible for me. Super super amazing animation, some of the best I’ve ever seen, some very very very minuscule moments where the animation looked REALLY bad though lmao but I guess it could be subjective. Audio mixing was kinda eh, it was funny but not as much as the first. I really liked the spot, disappointing he wasn’t as present in the latter half, and his sudden pivot from basically comic relief to very very serious villain was eh, despite the self aware “villain of the week” jokes. The main conflict with Miguel felt a little forced imo, I do not buy that out of the thousands and thousands of spiderpeople present, that all of them would willingly follow Miguel on this and not at least HALF would immediately jump to Miles side, like that’s genuinely boggling to me! Also, the whole cast of spider people in first movie literally ACKNOWLEDGE Mile’s grief for his uncle and are like “for me it was my uncle ben” etc, so wtf are they now like “uhhh don’t remember that you actually haven’t experienced your important person dying moment!” I have more thoughts on it but i don’t wanna ramble too long, I’ll just say I kinda feel like that whole conflict is a mess that very quickly seems very silly if you think about it for more than 5 seconds. I wish we got some more uhhh Hobbie and he wasn’t so passive with the Miguel conflict…. I liked the twist of sorts at the end andddd that was a lot of criticism but I really liked it, would recommend, and would love to watch it again soon which I can’t say the same about many other movies I watch!

Thus ends movie review…. Next one will only be movies from the 60s-90s……….. yay!!!!!!

[ifdragonscouldtalk]

"This third movie puts aside the Madea jokes for a heavy plotline" the first two Madea movies aren't even about Madea!? Madea is for like 3 scenes of comedy and the rest of the movies are incredibly serious plots covering heavy and difficult topics as well as an exploration of African American culture!?

Like I'm sorry the first ever Madea movie has MAYBE two funny scenes, and one of them is Madea cutting a couch in half with a chainsaw. This is at LEAST 30 minutes in to the movie, which are spent with the husband of the MC physically DRAGGING HER out of their house while she screams and fights him so he can move in his baby momma. The REST of the movie follows her in an epic romance with a blue collar worker (Shemar Moore), giving a portrayal of black masculinity seldom seen even today which is soft and understanding without being overly forgiving. In BOTH these first two movies, the male love interest EXPLICITLY UNDERSTANDS the female MC's trauma and responds to it with kindness, even when it forces her to act unkind and try to push them away. HELL, masculinity of any type in media is STILL portrayed in any way other than "soft and forgiving". These movies came out in 204 and 2005. THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO. It is the most beautiful portrayal of masculinity, much less African American masculinity, I have seen of any media ever. Getting back to the first movie, as the love interest has finally helped the MC reach emotional stability, is finally proposing, her ex-husband gets FUCKING SHOT because he was ORIGINALLY A DRUG DEALER and he becomes paralyzed, and because their divorce isn't finalized it's up to the MC to take care of him and manage his estates -- EXCEPT the baby momma, who btw says that they should just let him die instead of try to resuscitate him, has emptied his bank accounts. For the next fifteen minutes the movie turns into the scariest psychological horror I've ever seen (tbf I don't watch horror) where the MC finally loses her composure having to care for the man who continues to treat her like trash even though he's relying on her to even go shit, and physically and emotionally tortures a man paralyzed from the neck down, to the point she is watching him almost drown in a bathtub, sitting in his own shit and piss, and watching her eat while having nothing. This is only the A plot of the movie, there's a whole ass B plot! DOES THIS SEEM FUCKING FUNNY TO YOU

Okay so far the first two movies characteristically end in a perhaps Shakespearean comedy-esque manner, with a proposal and a wedding respectively. But getting there is NOT funny. The storylines are expertly crafted. Yes, Madea as a character is funny, but these two movies ARENT ABOUT MADEA?! Which is my point. "Breaks from the jokes to a heavy plotline" Let me tell you

In the second Madea movie, it opens directly with a woman who is physically abused by her fiance, in a very disconcerting opening scene. He wakes her up, mentions drawing a bath for her "soreness". There is a four string quartet in their bathroom, playing music. This is disconcerting, it is not romantic. He strips her and watches as she climbs in the bath. Her face as he strips her in front of four strangers, kisses her neck, and leaves her in the bath... If you want to know what a real face journey is like, what real acting can be, watch a fucking Madea movie. The entire second Madea movie is chronicling this MC and her sister, both their differing relationships with their mother and with the men in their lives. If you come at me about spoilers for these movies, they are twenty fucking years old. Okay so MC is desperately trying to escape her fiance with support from Sister and Madea. Sister is starting to fall for a bus driver but has hesitations because she wants to protect her two children. Her mother has a FUCKING DEAL WITH HER FIANCE because she's been taking the MC's trust fund left by her late father this whole fucking time, the fiance is her banker, and the fund is almost empty! SHE IS LITERALLY SELLING HER DAUGHTER. You find this out first, but it's during a bid where she's saying she won't bring MC back if he keeps hitting her (MC is living at Madea's). THEN in a confrontation with MC, Sister, and the mother, Sister reveals that the mother ALSO HAD A DEAL WITH MC'S FATHER (different to Sister's father) and every weekend Sister was raped by MC's father so they could have the luxury and money he had, and mom admits it and says SHE DOESNT REGRET DOING THAT. Funny jokes hahahahah!! So hilarious! Okay MC finally ends up following Madea's advice and beating the shit out of her fiance on the day of their wedding when he hits her again, and Sister uses the wedding to marry her bus driver BF (it's really cute), and again THESE ARE THE A PLOT, THERE IS A WHOLE B PLOT, and I think you could even say there's a fucking C plot if you wanted. ITS GOT MAYA ANGELOU IN IT.

Why the fuck are these even LABELED COMEDY MOVIES because they are completely genre defining. The scenes with Madea are unquestionably funny, yes, but Madea is hardly the fucking point! These are poignant societal explorations, and more importantly, they're MESSY. In the first movie, the ex-husband forgives the wife for the abuse he suffers from her when he's paralyzed. In the second movie, the Sister finds closure and sort-of forgives the mother for letting her step-father rape her. Is this what we want to happen? Absolutely not. We want the bad guys not to win. We want them to suffer, we want them to be punished, but that's not REAL. These movies are messy and uncomfortable and the characters do things you don't want and are imperfect just like a real family because it's NOT ACTUALLY THAT EASY TO WALK AWAY. Believe me I KNOW THAT from experience.

So I'm sorry to whoever wrote the fucking "All Madea Movies In Order" article but having the absolute audacity to claim the third movie is "put[ing] all Madea's jokes aside for a whole other plotline, a more serious one" is a spit in the face of the first two movies and the portrayal of very real and very human control and suffering shown in them.

Anyway I think I'm a Madea fan now

I thought the madea movies are supposed to be funny? This went through romance, slapstick, and now its in psychological horror

[yuwumeniji]

ONE DATE WITH LUXIEM

If we went on a date, where would we go?

WARNING: Please remember that I am writing about Luxiem based on their characters online and not of the people behind their vtuber avatars, thank you!

EXTRA NOTES: this is the most delusional i'll ever be and then i'll crawl into a hole and disintegrate into dust ♡

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧ ─────┈⊰᯽⊱

GENERAL ; setting the stage

Established relationship with the luxiem members (albiet the beginning of one)

first dates !!! fluff !!!

i only know what romance is via otome game, i've never been on a date myself lmao

who proofread lmao (def not me)

MORE UNDER THE CUT!

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧ ─────┈⊰᯽⊱

IKE EVELAND

Classic bookstore/coffee date

what can i say? he's a classy guy

he stayed up all night planning what to do for a date and even called vox of all people for what to do on a first date

"NO! I'm not inviting them to my house on the first date - that's too... ris- hey, I know you're laughing at me!"

he figured that the date wouldn't be enjoyable if he couldn't take you someplace that he also enjoyed, so he settled with an article of top 10 dating spots in your city; thankfully, it included a cafe bookstore that ike is a regular at.

he takes you to his favourite rustic/vintage styled cafe and even gives you his Top 10 List Of Coffees He Would Die For

bonus if the cafe was also a book-lover's heaven ; those bookstore/cafes are so neat (i don't know the actual name for those lmao)

the date ends nicely - a pleasant time together just chatting and drinking coffee together, giving each other book recommendations (ike says it's good insight for a novel that he'd like to dedicate to you at one point) and so on. you both decided to go on another date to find more cafes like this together.

LUCA KANESHIRO

A thrilling amusement park/arcade date !!!

It's like having to walk a dog with a leash except the dog is luca running around the park grounds and pointing excitedly at different roller coasters

"C'mon Y/N! It'll be fine ! Look, I'll even hold your hand at the big drop, can we pleeease go on that one?"

Backtracking into the night prior, luca is the type to call everyone he knows so that way he could hype himself up for tomorrow

and to ask for fashion advice - it's surprising to hear something like this from luca, the man of fashion himself

also he just wanted to share with everyone that he finally scored a date with someone he likes

luca takes you to many different rides - thriller rides, fun rides, rides he's never been on, you name it!

luckily for you, the amusement park also had a small arcade too - luca took it upon himself to win you every prize imaginable even if some of the things he did made him look silly

the date ends off at a romantic ferris wheel ride because vox told him it'll be romantic AND he's seen it in anime before (of course anime would be correct, they are very accurate with the love-story telling for sure!)

the date is a success! luca scored another date - perhaps next time, things will be a little more calmer.

MYSTA RIAS

the ever so classic movie date - but he's the one who suggests to watch a horror movie (even though you do know he's a little cowardly at times, you follow along with his plan)

it was either vox or luca who actually suggested the horror movie - much to mysta's dismay, but !! he's willing to do so for you !!

"a horror movie? are you sure?"

mysta would like to think he's THE shit, the smoothest person on earth who is about to woo YOU

date plan (brought to you by mysta): suggest horror film for your first date with him, watches you get scared and comforts you while putting on a brave face so that way he would look cool and epic in your eyes, fall in love (SUCCESS)

he could've suggested a rom-com, but he wanted to seem so alpha sigma male and not some beta male (cue the eye roll) in your eyes that he completely forgets to pick a movie that was enjoyable for the both of you

he also fails to realize his own fears and instead cowers behind you while watching the scary movie together (bonus points if he is legitimately hiding his face in the crook of your neck or something so he doesn't watch the film lmao)

after leaving the theater, he starts becoming sulky and pouty about looking cowardly in front of you that it literally takes your entire being and a half to practice self control - whatever you do, don't tease him !!! he's trying his best !!! even though he's so cute and all ;;;

you can believe that he instantly started jumping for joy when you suggested to watch a movie together again

SUCCESS! i hope

SHU YAMINO

a trip to the aquarium is to die for when going on a date with shu

shu instantly thought of bringing you to an aquarium after winning tickets for 2 at a local supermarket for one of their events

the night before the date, shu spent time watching different aquatic documentaries so he could impress you with his knowledge of the fish in the aquariums (yes he watched wild kratz yes it was to impress you)

nerdge shu (REAL) - while you both are touring around the aquarium, he starts to tell you random facts about the fish you see

"oh yeah? that's a clownfish.... best well known for their role in finding nemo..."

lots of photos !!! the cutest couple aquarium photos to ever exist !!!

the walks under the tunnel area felt a bit too romantic - walking hand in hand with shu, watching him ramble off about the sharks that swam peacefully and the lighting.

dear god the lighting

surprisingly enough, the blue and green hues of the aquatic tanks made shu's whole appearance feel otherworldly ; if you can disregard the flames that follow him around ever-so often. it was mesmerizing (he knows you were staring and he's a little glad that the aquarium lights were able to hide his flustered face)

the date ends off well ; shu had a blast and you gained the important knowledge that he truly is a nerd even though he denies it - well, at least he is your nerd.

best believe from now on, every anniversary or important event will be celebrated at the local aquarium.

VOX AKUMA

an art museum and dinner date, how fancy

another very classy man who had to call everyone he knows because ' holy shit this is THE Y/N he's taking on a date with and his heart is about to combust '

yes we're back with the wiki-how articles on how to impress your date on the first ever date; shu was the one who sent him a link and he thought maaybe it's good for a little light reading

"Shu... you're a genius! they would love this!"

"Vox, it's just a wiki-how article, you don't have to take it to hea-"

"SHUBERT I OWE YOU ONE."

he eventually settles on a nearby art museum as they were having an event for an artist you once mentioned - perfect!

that definitely displays that he was listening to your conversations with him and he remembers - how sentimental!

as for dinner, he decided to show off his culinary prowess and impress you with a restaurant quality dinner created by yours truly!

he's about to become the man of sex the man who is going to sweep you off your feet!

well at least that's what he hoped.

the art museum was boring - the two of you only toured around the small exhibit and left quickly THEN went to a fast food chain of all places before you could try vox's cuisine.

it made him pouty on the way home that the date didn't go according to plan, but you noticed how much effort he made in order to make it fun for you, and to be honest - knowing this was a lot better than the actual date itself.

so the date ends off surprisingly well - a little kiss on the cheek for goodbye and another scheduled date where the two of you get to laze around all day is set; vox couldn't be anymore happier than that.

[dresshistorynerd]

Pride And Prejudice 2005 - Costume Analysis

I like this film. I think it's overall visually gorgeous, it has an amazing score (which I listen to on a regular basis), the acting is really good, and the story is well adapted. Due to being a single movie the story is trimmed down of course, but the core elements are there and I think the compromises are well made. The scene of the Netherfield ball, where Elizabeth and Darcy dance and the crowd around them fades away and there's only them and the music *chef's kiss*. The reason I don't love this film is the details and how they change the tone and themes of the story in some major ways. Pride and Prejudice the 1813 novel is a subtle satire of Regency class politics and marriage institution and a romance, while the 2005 movie is a romance with limb class commentary. It's not inherently bad to change the tone or themes of the story in the adaptation, but in this case I think the original themes were more compelling, and the themes of the adaptation are quite lacking. I'm bringing this up, because I think costuming is a major part of that.

I’ll focus on women’s clothing because that’s what I know most about (also this is so long and I would have made this into a novelette).

Spoilers ahead for a 200 year old novel.

Okay firstly a very quick rundown of the plot, though I would imagine everyone knows it, but just in case. (CW: mention of grooming and predatory behavior, skip to the next paragraph to avoid.) The Bennets have a small estate and five daughters, Jane, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Mary, Kitty and Lydia. Their estate is bound by law to be inherited by the first born son and since they don't have any, the next closest heir is a distant cousin of Mr Bennet, a priest named Mr Collins. Mrs Bennet is very set on getting rich husbands to her daughters so they would ensure the security of the family after Mr Bennet's death. And what do you know, an eligible, and more importantly rich, bachelor, Mr Bingley, moves into the neighborhood. He is a himbo, his friend, Mr Darcy, is a snobbish ass, and Lizzie dislikes him greatly. Jane, who matches Bingley's sweet himbo energy, falls in love with him and he with her. Militia regiment arrives in the city and a Mr Wickham mixes up the bag and convinces everyone that Darcy is even more of an ass and he is a poor poor victim. Darcy falls in love with Lizzie and thinks they have flirtatious banter when Lizzie is ruthlessly hating on him. Mr Collins turns out to be a pompous idiot and proposes to Lizzie who slam dunk refuses. The Bennets are tacky publicly and Darcy convinces Bingley not to marry Jane, though very hypocritically then asks Lizzie to marry him. She gives the most epic slam dunk refusal history has ever seen. Darcy reveals Wickham is a predator and an ass, but retreats to lick his wounds and also make himself less of an ass. Wickham, the predator he is, elopes with Lydia (she is 15, he is like 30...). There's a whole mess, the family is ruined, Darcy had just become nice and Lizzie is now regretting her decisions. Darcy fixes everything, though poor Lydia is married to her groomer (pretty dark stuff), he marries Lizzie, and Bingley marries Jane. The end.

Now to the costuming. It was designed by Jacqueline Durran, who has won multiple awards for her work. I'm extremely ashamed to say that I have not watched any of the other films she has worked on (yes I haven't watched Atonement, Anna Karenina or the newest Little Women, don't at me). What I've seen from pictures of some of her films, I think most look gorgeous, but some I don't like (the Little Women has some atrocious looks, though I'm not going to comment on the costuming as a whole since I haven't seen that film). Overall she seems like a very accomplished costumer and I don't doubt her skills, even if I'm going to disagree with some of her choices for this movie.

The overall vision for the costuming according to an interview with Durran (sorry, it's behind paywall, but you can sign for the free trial), was a provincial feel and differentiating the film from previous film/TV adaptations by setting it in the 1790s, when the novel was initially written. I think it makes sense. The exact year the book is set in isn't explicitly stated, but the regiment, which is settled in Maryton in the book, would suggest that the book is set between 1793 and 1795. After France declared war against England in 1793, there weren't enough barracks so militia regiments set out camps in the countryside. Brighton camp, where the novel's regiment moves to, was opened in 1795. The previous adaptations have taken the year it was published as their point in history and the fashion changed quite a lot during the almost 20 years between writing and publishing the book, so it would be very distinctive. There was also a conscious decision to modernize the costuming for modern appeal.

Aesthetics

As I already said, I really love the visuals of the film. The aesthetic cohesion is really good, including when it comes to the costuming. I like that they emphasize the rural aesthetics. The whole film becomes earthy and rustic and the beautiful shots of the English countryside nature only enhance it. In costuming the aesthetics are visible in the earthly tones of brown, green and warm reds, and the practical wool and linen fabrics suitable for walks in the woods. It gives me the feeling that the characters are part of the landscape and I love that.

Is It Historically Accurate?

I don’t think historical accuracy is that important in historical costuming. When the story is set in history, there needs to be enough historical accuracy to get the viewer immersed and believe they’re watching a story set in history. Costuming can get you immersed in a fantastical version of history and then I’m at least much more lenient when it comes to historical details. I think in this movie the ahistorical costuming annoys me because the aesthetics are grounded and realistic and the story is very much too. I don’t think their deviation from historical fashion brings anything to the table, in fact, I’m going to explain why I think it undermines the story.

One of the reasons why they set the story when it was first written is that the director Joe Wright didn’t like the high waisted empire silhouette of the 1810s, which is a little weird because the waistline is very much high already in the mid 1790s. But it does explain why the silhouette is so off mark. Here’s a couple of fashion plates to show you the evolution of the silhouette during the 1790s. The first one is from 1793, second 1795 and third 1797.

You can see in the middle of the decade the waistline is already very high, and we could imagine the movie was set in 1793, which could be entirely possible. The silhouette still wouldn’t be right and for some reason (which we get into) there are still some high empire waistlines in the movie. Below you can see how many different silhouettes the costuming has. The problem with all of them is the lack of volume in the skirt, which is really defining in the decade, and the lack of roundness in the chest especially with the lower waistlines. The round pigeon chest was extremely fashionable especially in the 1780s and still in the early 1790s. As the waistline got higher the chest was still round and mono-chest, unlike the later Regency fashions when a very separated chest became fashionable, like seen on Miss Bingley in the middle below. Most of the costumes get it really close to right, but so many of them suffer from a very undefined straight and limb silhouette.

Worldbuilding Through Costuming

I have a much bigger problem with the inconsistency of the silhouettes and what those inconsistencies imply of the worldbuilding. If the costuming deviates from history, I think it’s important to build a coherent costuming, both in aesthetics and silhouette. In aesthetics, as I said, I think they succeed, but it falls apart when it comes to the silhouettes. There seems to be no logic behind when different types of clothes are used, and barely any logic with who uses what clothing. It’s very apparent when you look at the ballroom scenes. Here you see some men with long hair (basically no men had long hair after the French Revolution), some with short, some wearing tailcoats, some not. There’s Mrs Bennet wearing something that looks like a mix of 1770s and ‘80s. There’s women with short sleeves, long sleeves. It’s a mess.

Class

Let’s take a little detour to talk about class in Regency society. In the movie the Bennets are portrayed as almost like peasants and basically poor or at least lower middle class. They are shown to do housework and have farm animals like chickens in their house. Their clothes look significantly less expensive than for example clothes of the Bingleys. Their house is not small (though it looks rundown) and they do have some servants, so they don’t seem working class. This is very weird because Mr Bennet is a landowner, aka landed gendry or country gentlemen.

Below there’s a table of seven classes of English society during the Regency era. This is from 1814, so the numbers probably don’t reflect 1790s numbers, but the structure is still the same. Inside the second class in the third highest position there’s country gentleman, where the Bennets belong. And if you look at the class structure it’s pretty obvious they are not poor or even middle class. They are upper class. Mr Darcy is also a country gentleman, he is not a knight, but he’s a landowner. So they are in the same class and even the same subclass. The only difference is the Bennets are on the lower spectrum of income inside their class, and Darcy is higher, and their different family connections (Darcy has extended family in knight class, the Bennets in fourth class). The only thing that really separates them is a relatively small gap in income. In the book (I don’t remember, if she says that in the movie) Elizabeth even says to Lady De Bourgh that “[Darcy] is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.”

Interestingly the Bingleys are in the lower subclass. They don’t own land, their father was a merchant (probably in third and not fourth class), and with a large income they have elevated themselves to the lowest position in the second class. That’s why Mr Bingley is considering buying an estate on the countryside to elevate their family into the landed gentry. I feel like Miss Bingley’s snobbish attitude comes from an inferiority complex she overcompensates.

Let’s get back to costuming. What I think the movie is trying to do with widely different silhouettes is to try and distinguish different classes and age groups very clearly. The Bennet’s (not including Jane) have flat bodices and low waistlines, while Miss Bingley has a very high waistline and round bodice. I think the implication is that rich people, like the Bingleys, follow fashions, and poor-ish people, like the Bennets, have outdated fashions, except their oldest (and prettiest) daughter, who they give newer clothes. Also the fashion upper classes seem to follow is from the future, seemingly from the 1810s? Setting aside that the Bennets are higher class than Bingleys, though not as rich, it still doesn’t make sense.

Firstly below is shown stays on the Bennet sisters and they are not right. In the 1790s the stays were all over the place since they were going through a big transition, and short stays like the Bennet sister wear were one of the options. However, they would not make the chest flat. I don’t think short conical stays with very straight appearance like these were ever worn? I haven’t at least seen any evidence. If they didn’t have cups like Jane’s stays and my example stays, they would have otherwise more room in the front or have very low, almost underbust, neckline, or anything to get the round fashionable shape. That had already been fashionable when the waistline was still low in 1780s.

But the much more glaring issue is the idea that even a family like the Bennets, who are portrayed in the movie least as lower middle class, wouldn’t be able to keep up with fashionable silhouettes. It betrays a misunderstanding of what fashion was back then. It was social etiquette. Having the wrong foundational layers would be like today going to a job interview in sweatpants. I’m sure some people would do that, but they would be going against social norms. People frequently, especially lower classes, but others too, modified their old clothes to achieve fashionable silhouettes. This is not to say everyone wore the same clothing. The silhouette for the most part was the same, but the class differences could be seen in fabrics, details, jewelry, embroidery etc.

This class divide in clothing also raises a question about the balls where everyone had widely different silhouettes. Are we supposed to believe these balls were for mixed classes? What is their purpose in the movie’s world? In real world balls were for upper classes only and different upper classes didn’t mingle in the same balls, because they were an acceptable place for young unmarried people to get to know each other and marriage between different classes wasn’t acceptable.

Generational Divide

Then there’s the other divide between different age groups. This one I don’t understand at all. I can see you wanting to distinguish different classes clearly visually, but age groups? We can already see whether people are middle aged or teenagers? Everyone who is middle aged in the movie is wearing decade old clothes. Here’s Mrs and Mr Bennet as examples. The historical garments are from the early 1780s. But even Lady Catherine De Bourgh is wearing at least decade old clothes. Even her hair is from the 1780s. The very elderly, who didn’t attend social gatherings anymore, weren’t expected to follow fashions, but the Bennets are even seen attending many gatherings including balls, and none of them are elderly. I feel like this decision has some ageist undertones.

Themes of Class and Classism

My biggest issue is how these decisions affect the themes and the tone. Classism is of course a major theme in the story, but I feel like the visuals in the story water down the message. The difference between Darcy’s and the Bennet’s class positions has been propped up so much, when it resolves without a lot of issues, it kinda implies there’s no real consequences for marrying outside your class, and the only issue is some snobbish people. The lack of class divide in social settings like the balls I mentioned also makes it seem like there’s not actually that much of class divide at all. In reality Regency England was super fucking classist and had a very strict class hierarchy still, even if it was slowly starting to shift from class based on born position to one based on money. In the book it was subtly shown in the many strict social etiquettes (like the scene where Mr Collins goes to talk to Mr Darcy (his superior) without first being presented to him by someone they both know), and in visual medium this could have been reinforced so well with the dress etiquette.

The decision to prop up the class difference between the main couple has an added effect of losing the satiric tone of the novel. The satire in the novel is subtle and found between the lines and Austen’s witty writing style. It comes from the absurdity of Mrs Bennet complaining about how poor they are while they are literally landowners and quite clearly not poor. How they are all basically the same class, and still there is so much classism even inside that specific subclass. How everyone is so obsessed with good marriage and status, but it’s looked down upon only, if you’re not rich enough, otherwise it becomes sensible. The decisions to make the Bennets seem poorer takes away the satire and the nuance. This way it’s not showing how ridiculous everything is, but playing it straight.

Anachonism

Class is definitely my biggest issue, but I still have issues with modernization. I’m not inherently against it. For example I love the costuming Moulin Rogue! and it’s hella anachronistic. But I do think there should be a purpose or at least do something interesting or pretty with it. I don’t think this film does that. When the dresses lose their volume and silhouette, they look kinda modernish summer dresses, and it’s not terrible, but I think they just look boring.

But my god the hair, it’s just bad most of the time. Most hair we see is boring and ugly low effort modern buns. I hate all the hair Miss Bingley has too, they are some weird smooth take on Rococo hair I think? (Especially the one somewhere up in a green dress.) Though, there’s some better examples too. For example Miss Bingley (as shown below) almost gets once the half open styles they liked to do in the mid 1790s right, but it’s way too wavy and put together. It looks so dumb. The peak fashion was wild voluminous curls. Lizzie too almost has that style right once, and it’s better than on Miss Bingley, but still no voluminous curls at all. In the Netherfield ball scene her hair is probably closest to the right. That Ancient Greek inspired hairstyle with a lot of curls was fashionable at the time. It only lacks the scarf/ribbon thing, like everyone does in the whole film.

I’m a little torn about Kitty’s and Lydia’s hair. They have very accurate children’s hairstyles, but they were already presented to the society (not considered kids anymore), so they wouldn’t wear those styles. But I appreciate the movie showing how young and childish they actually were, making us not forget how predatory Mr Wickham is towards Lydia.

The biggest reason why the modernization annoys me, especially with the hair, is that the actual historical fashion would have fitted so perfectly with the movie’s rural cottagecore aesthetics. Like look at how perfectly cottagecore the fashion was? Imagine if they had used the hats instead of bonnets and full flowy skirts with big bows. The hair is also a perfect fit. This is the only decade when they could have finally used the open hair everyone in Hollywood likes to push on historical films and yet they choose modern buns most of the time?? I’m livid. The wild curls also just would have fitted the aesthetics so well.

So in the end I don’t hate it, I’m just disappointed, because the film is really good and it could have been even better.

I might do a part two where I go through individual costumes I liked the most and hated the most, but it just couldn’t fit here because of the picture limit and also this is over 3k words.

[esther-dot]

There are some jonsa shippers who like Dany and think she is not going to be a villain. I have read their takes and most of them blame Sansa for revealing Jon's secret is her being selfish. They believe that Jon has right to get angry over her. I don't know if they really care about Sansa. Some of them believe that Jon did love Dany but they are not going to last. They are stuck on Sansa lying to Jon in s6 terming it betrayal.

Well, to be fair, if you take the scripts seriously, that is exactly what D&D wanted them to think. D&D were not critical of Jon at any point, even in the script, so I'm sure in their heads Sansa did mistreat Jon, and he is a saint for protecting her in spite of her betrayal.

A lot of Jonsas don't think D&D intended Jonsa to be romantic, or, if they did at one point, they dropped it before the final season, but even if they view J/D as genuine, they reject the idea of blaming Sansa for anything because that is total bs!

My understanding is that most of the original fans who wrote the first Jonsa fics viewed it as a crack ship and not only didn't think it was canon, they didn't want it to be canon. This being my first fandom experience and first "shipping" experience, I didn't understand all of this, but by the time I was active, the fandom was very splintered. There were multishippers (people who liked both Jonsa and jxnerys), book jonsas who thought show jonsas were ridiculous, show jonsas who thought book jonsas were gross, etc etc. The divide between canon and fanon shippers was so notable that I saw Dany stans/jxnerys shippers who were aware of it all saying how sad it was that Jonsa got hijacked by canon shippers and they feel sorry for all the nice people who view it as a crack ship. Oops!

As for blaming Sansa for s6, I know it was a popular narrative that she was trying to get Jon killed so that she could be Queen, but I think that was debunked in s7 and s8 when all she wanted was Jon home and safe, and she fully intended for him to be KitN again. And, I don't know how anyone could actually think that any of Sansa's actions were morally equivalent to Jon's in s7-8. I know D&D may have thought she was a dark character, but Sansa was loyal to her family and people and did what was necessary to protect them. Jon (if you're operating by the interpretation you mention in your ask) betrayed her trust, betrayed her people's trust, lied to their faces about it, refused to see the red flags Dany was rubbing his face in, dragged people who had fought for freedom under Robb and to defeat the Others to install a queen they didn't want on a throne they didn't care about, and then had them commit war crimes all in the name of luuuuurrrvvvveeee. There's just nothing Sansa did that is that bad! You can’t keep a straight face and argue that Jon’s wrongs didn’t go far beyond her own.

Unfortunately, I have the chronic problem of coming to my own conclusions, and nothing D&D say will ever convince me that Sansa did anything wrong, or that Mr Kit H. is that bad of an actor. I deliberately watched some of his other stuff including one or two very shitty movies to check. lmao! I don't know what was going on, but I don’t believe that D&D thought they executed an epic romance in Jxnerys or that Jonsa was strictly platonic. And I don't think they introduced all of that "be smarter" stuff in s7 only to make Jon dumber than anyone on the entirety of the show. Like, if they had just mentioned Robb, sure. Because then the idea would be that he went and pulled a Robb so it’s ironic. But to bring the Mance parallel into it on top of that...please. There was intention there that doesn't work with what they claim their goal was. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway, if you don't believe in Dark Dany, I do think it's easy to direct anger at Sansa that isn't proportional to her "crimes" because Sansa was presented as the antagonist to Dany who D&D framed sympathetically until the very end of the show. I can't say these people don't love the characters as they see them or the ship as they view it, and I did write a little "Dark!Sansa" fic with a bit of the "she is a manipulative baddie" vibe because it is entertaining (link), but I think that idea, like Jon loving D, was created to hide Dark Dany, and in the end, we were meant to realize it was all nonsense. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also, you aren’t really welcome in the fandom unless you denounce jonsa and dislike show Sansa, so sometimes people feel compelled to say that stuff or be excommunicated and unfortunately, that isn’t an exaggeration. 😂

[princessbatears]

For Casa Werewolf! ✨ HC Of my Choice: do you have any HCs about family game or movie nights? What do the triplets think of Javi’s movie room? Cause you know he has an epic one with like a legit soda fountain or popcorn machine 👀

Heather, thank you soooo much for sending in this ask! ❤️ Also, many thanks to @aerynwrites for requesting a movie night HC! This was so, so fun to to explore.

🎞 Game/movie night:

Javi’s home has an absolutely incredible media and game room. A giant projector screen on one wall. The most comfortable squishy leather sofas and reclining chairs (with attached tray tables and cupholders, of course). Built-in bookshelves to hold DVDs, Blu-rays and VHS tapes. A pool table AND a board game table.

Then, there are the readily available snack options, like a soda fountain, slushy machine, small wine and beer fridge, vintage-style movie theater popcorn maker, and a stash of various candies.

While your triplets are very physical little beings that don’t like to sit still, they do manage it one night a week to play games or watch movies with you and Javi.

When they’re in the mood for a game, the five of you sit at the gaming table. Drinks have to have lids because wild gesticulating has led to some spills (and not just caused by the kids). Then, whichever child gets to choose this time, does so.

Tallulah’s favorite is Clue/Cluedo. She adores the mystery aspect and everyone gets a thrill when someone finally makes the first guess. “Miss Scarlet in the study with the candlestick!”

Bo’s go-to is Candyland. With his major sweet tooth and love for racing boarding games, it’s no surprise he’s drawn to it. Javi’s also a huge fan of these kinds of games, so he and Bo go all-in to beat each other.

Astrid’s favorite is Pictionary. She’s the artist of the family and everyone wants to be on her team, which is a much-needed confidence boost for her. She makes you all roll a dice to see who the lucky person is because fairness is very important to her. Then, it’s an hour of giggling as the teams attempt to guess what the drawings are supposed to represent.

On the nights the pups want to watch a movie, there’s a plethora of family-friendly ones in Javi’s library. He’s been stocking up ever since you all came into his life.

Of course, he makes sure to introduce ‘National Treasure,’ ‘Paddington 2’, and the ‘Croods’ films. You hadn’t realized Nic Cage had made so many movies for kids.

Pixar and Disney, of course, feature heavily, as do some of the older adventure movies from the 50s and 60s.

Your favorite thing about these nights isn’t the movies themselves, but it’s all of you piling on one of the sofas. You and Javi sit hip-to-hip while the kiddos lay across you, snuggled up together. Knowing there’s only so long left before they outgrow this phase, you treasure every minute of it.

Inevitably, they fall asleep by the end, so warm and safe. You and Javi smile at each other as he picks up the girls, one in each arm, and you cradle Bo to you. Then, you carry them upstairs and tuck them into their beds.

“This is all I’ve ever wanted,” Javi whispers to you nearly every time it happens.

“Me, too,” you smile.

Send me a prompt for my Casa Werewolf series with Javi G! 🐺

Find out more about Javi's romance with the werewolf single mom here!

[mostlymovieswithmax]

Movies I watched in May

Sadly, I kind of skipped writing a post for April. It was a mad month with so much going on: lots of emails sent and lots of stress. I started a new job so I’m getting to grips with that... and even then, I still watched a bunch of movies. But this is about what I watched in May and, yeah… still a bunch. So if you’re looking to get into some other movies - possibly some you’ve thought about watching but didn’t know what they were like, or maybe like the look of something you’ve never heard of - then this may help! So here’s every film I watched from the 1st to the 31st of May 2021 Tenet (2020) - 8/10 This was my third time watching Christopher Nolan’s most Christopher Nolan movie ever and it makes no sense but I still love it. The spectacle of it all is truly like nothing I’ve ever seen. I had also watched it four days prior to this watch also, only this time I had enabled audio description for the visually impaired, thinking it would make it funny… It didn’t.

Nomadland (2020) - 6/10 Chloé Zhao’s new movie got a lot of awards attention. Everyone was hyped for this and when it got put out on Disney+ I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. Seeing these real nomads certainly gave the film an authenticity, along with McDormand’s ever-praisable acting. But generally I found it quite underwhelming and lacking a lot in its pacing. Nomadland surely has its moments of captivating cinematography and enticing commentary on the culture of these people, but it felt like it went on forever without any kind of forward direction or goal. The Prince of Egypt (1998) - 6/10 I reviewed this on my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon. For what it is, it’s pretty fun but nowhere near as good as some of the best DreamWorks movies.

Chinatown (1974) - 8/10 What a fantastic and wonderfully unpredictable mystery crime film! I regret to say I’ve not seen many Jack Nicholson performances but he steals the show. Despite Polanski’s infamy, it’d be a lie to claim this wasn’t truly masterful. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) - 8/10 Admittedly I was half asleep as I curled up on the sofa to watch this again on a whim. I watched this with someone who demanded the dubbed version over the subtitled version and while I objected heavily, I knew I’d seen the movie before so it didn’t matter too much. That person also fell asleep about 20 minutes in, so how pointless an argument it was. Howl’s Moving Castle boasts superb animation, the likes of which I’ve only come to expect of Miyazaki. The story is so unique and the colours are absolutely gorgeous. This may not be my favourite from the legendary director but there’s no denying its splendour.

Bāhubali: The Beginning (2015) - 3/10 The next morning I watched some absolute trash. This crazy, over the top Indian movie is hilarious and I could perhaps recommend it if it weren’t so long. That being said, Bāhubali was not a dumpster fire; it has a lot of good-looking visual effects and it’s easy to see the ambition for this epic story, it just doesn’t come together. There’s fun to be had with how the main character is basically the strongest man in the world and yet still comes across as just a lucky dumbass, along with all the dancing that makes no sense but is still entertaining to watch. Seven Samurai (1954) - 10/10 If it wasn’t obvious already, Seven Samurai is a masterpiece. I reviewed this on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, so more thoughts can be found there. Red Road (2006) - 6/10 Another recommendation on episode 30 of the podcast. Red Road really captures the authentic British working class experience. Before Sunrise (1995) - 10/10 One of the best romances put to film. The first in Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy is undoubtedly my favourite, despite its counterparts being almost equally as good. It tells the story of a young couple travelling through Europe, who happen to meet on a train and spend the day together. It is gloriously shot on location in Vienna and features some of the most interesting dialogue I’ve ever seen put to film. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

Tokyo Story (1953) - 9/10 This Japanese classic - along with being visually and sonically masterful - is a lot about appreciating the people in your life and taking the time to show them that you love them. It’s about knowing it’s never too late to rekindle old relationships if you truly want to, which is something I’ve been able to relate to in recent years. It broke my heart in two. Tokyo Story will make you want to call your mother. Before Sunset (2004) - 10/10 Almost a decade after Sunrise, Sunset carries a sombre yet relieving feeling. Again, the performances from Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke take me away, evoking nostalgic feelings as they stroll through the contemporary Parisian streets. There is no regret in me for buying the Criterion blu-ray boxset for this trilogy. Before Midnight (2013) - 10/10 Here, Linklater cements this trilogy as one of the best in film history. It’s certainly not the ending I expected, yet it’s an ending I appreciate endlessly. Because it doesn’t really end. Midnight shows the troubling times of a strained relationship; one that has endured so long and despite initially feeling almost dreamlike in how idealistically that first encounter was portrayed, the cracks appear as the film forces you to come to terms with the fact that fairy-tale romances just don’t exist. Relationships require effort and sacrifice and sometimes the ones that truly work are those that endure through all the rough patches to emerge stronger. The Holy Mountain (1973) - 10/10 Jodorowsky’s masterpiece is absolute insanity. I talked more about it on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 10/10 Another watch for Grand Budapest because I bought the Criterion blu-ray. As unalterably perfect as ever. Blue Jay (2016) - 6/10 Rather good up to a point. My co-hosts and I did not agree on how good this movie was, which is a discussion you can listen to on my podcast. Shadow and Bone: The Afterparty (2021) - 3/10 For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow and Bone, which is why I wanted to see what ‘The Afterparty’ was about. This could have been a lot better and much less annoying if all those terrible comedians weren’t hosting and telling bad jokes. I don’t want to see Fortune Feimster attempt to tell a joke about oiling her body as the cast of the show sit awkwardly in their homes over Zoom. If it had simply been a half hour, 45 minute chat with the cast and crew about how they made the show and their thoughts on it, a lot of embarrassment and time-wasting could have been spared. Wadjda (2012) - 6/10 Another recommendation discussed at length on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Wadjda was pretty interesting from a cultural perspective but largely familiar in terms of story structure.

Freddy Got Fingered (2001) - 2/10 A truly terrible movie with maybe one or two scenes that stop it from being a complete catastrophe. Tom Green tried to create something that almost holds a middle finger to everyone who watches it and to some that could be a fun experience, but to me it just came across as utterly irritating. It’s simply a bunch of scenes threaded together with an incredibly loose plot. He wears the skin of a dead deer, smacks a disabled woman over and over again on the legs to turn her on, and he swings a newborn baby around a hospital room by its umbilical cord (that part was actually pretty funny). I cannot believe I watched this again, although I think I repressed a lot of it since having seen it for the first time around five years ago. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - (2011) I have to say, these movies seem to get better with each instalment. They’re still not very good though. That being said, I’m amazed at how many times I’ve watched each of the Twilight movies at this point. This time around, I watched Breaking Dawn - Part 1 with a YMS commentary track on YouTube and that made the experience a lot more entertaining. Otherwise, this film is super dumb but pretty entertaining. I would recommend watching these movies with friends. Solaris (1972) - 8/10 Andrei Tarkovsky’s grand sci-fi epic about the emotional crises of a crew on the space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris is much as strange and creepy as you might expect from the master Russian auter. I had wanted to watch this for a while so I bought the Criterion blu-ray and it’s just stunning. It’s clear to see the 2001: A Space Odyssey inspiration but Solaris is quite a different beast entirely. Jaws (1975) - 4/10 I really tried to get into this classic movie, but Jaws exhibits basically everything I don’t like about Steven Spielberg’s directing. For sure, the effects are crazily good but the story itself is poorly handled and largely uninteresting. It was just a massive slog to get through.

Darkman (1990) - 6/10 Sam Raimi’s superhero movie is so much fun, albeit massively stupid. Further discussion on Darkman can be found on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) - 1/10 Abysmal. I forgot the movie as I watched it. This was part of a marathon my friends and I did for episode 32 of our podcast. Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996) - 1/10 Perhaps this trilogy is not so great after all. Only marginally better than Darkman II but still pretty terrible. More thoughts on episode 32 of my podcast. F For Fake (1973) - 8/10 Rewatching this proved to be a worthwhile decision. Albeit slightly boring, there’s no denying how crazy the story of this documentary about art forgers is. The standout however, is the director himself. Orson Welles makes a lot of this film about himself and how hot his girlfriend is and it is hilarious.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) - 4/10 More style over substance, Sony’s new animated adventure wants so much to be in trend with the current internet culture but it simply doesn’t understand what it’s emulating. There’s a nyan cat reference, for crying out loud. For every joke that works, there are about ten more that do not and were it not for the wonderful animation, it simply wouldn’t be getting so much praise. Taxi Driver (1976) - 10/10 The first movie I’ve seen in a cinema since 2020 and damn it was good to be back! I’ve already reviewed Taxi Driver in my March wrap-up but seeing it in the cinema was a real treat. Irreversible (2002) - 8/10 One of the most viscerally horrendous experiences I’ve ever had while watching a movie. I cannot believe a friend of mine gave me the DVD to watch. More thoughts on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Don’t watch it with the family. The Golden Compass (2007) - 1/10 I had no recollection of this being as bad as it is. The Golden Compass is the definition of a factory mandated movie. Nothing it does on its own is worth any kind of merit. I would say, if you wanted an experience like what this tries to communicate, a better option by far is the BBC series, His Dark Materials. More of my thoughts can be found in the review I wrote on Letterboxd.

Antichrist (2009) - 8/10 Lars von Trier is nothing if not provocative and I can understand why someone would not like Antichrist, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. After watching it, I wrote a slightly disjointed summary of my interpretations of this highly metaphorical movie in the group chat, so fair warning for a bit of spoilers and graphic descriptions: It's like, the patriarchy, man! Oppression! Men are the rational thinkers with big brains and the women just cry and be emotional. So she's seen as crazy when she's smashing his cock and driving a drill through his leg to keep him weighted down. Like, how does he like it, ya know? So then she mutilates herself like she did with him and now they're both wounded, but the animals crowd around her (and the crow that he couldn't kill because it's Mother nature, not Father nature, duh). Then he kills her, even though she could've killed him loads of times but didn't. So it's like "haha big win for the man who was subjected to such horrific torture. Victory!" And then all the women with no faces come out of the woods because it's like a constant cycle. Manchester By The Sea (2016) - 6/10 Great performances in this super sad movie. I can’t say I got too much out of it though. Roar (1981) - 9/10 Watching Roar again was still as terrifying an experience as the first time. If you want to watch something that’s loose on plot with poor acting but with real big cats getting in the way of production and physically attacking people, look no further. This is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen because it’s all basically real. Cannot recommend it enough. Eyes Without A Face (1960) - 8/10 I’m glad I checked this old French movie out again. There’s a lot to marvel at in so many aspects, what with the premise itself - a mad surgeon taking the faces from unsuspecting women and transplanting them onto another - being incredibly unique for the time. Short, sweet and entertaining!

Se7en (1995) - 10/10 The first in a David Fincher marathon we did for The Sunday Movie Marathon, episode 33. Zodiac (2007) - 10/10 Second in the marathon, as it was getting late, we decided to watch half that evening and the last half on the following evening. Zodiac is a brilliant movie and you can hear more of my thoughts on the podcast (though I apologise; my audio is not the best in this episode). Gone Girl (2014) - 10/10 My favourite Fincher movie. More insights into this masterpiece in episode 33 of the podcast. Friends: The Reunion (2021) - 6/10 It was heartwarming to see the old actors for this great show together again. I talked about the Friends reunion film at length in episode 33 of my podcast.

Wolfwalkers (2020) - 10/10 I reviewed this in an earlier post but would like to reiterate just how wonderful Wolfwalkers is. If you get the chance, please see it in the cinema. I couldn’t stop crying from how beautiful it was. Raya and The Last Dragon (2021) - 6/10 After watching Wolfwalkers, I decided I didn’t want to go home. So I had lunch in town and booked a ticket for Disney’s Raya and The Last Dragon. A child was coughing directly behind me the entire time. Again, I reviewed this in an earlier post but generally it was decent but I have so many problems with the execution. The Princess Bride (1987) - 9/10 Clearly I underrated this the last time I watched it. The Princess Bride is warm and hilarious with some delightfully memorable characters. A real classic!

The Invisible Kid (1988) - 1/10 About as good as you’d expect a movie with that name to be, The Invisible Kid was a pick for The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, the discussion for which you can listen to in episode 34. Babel (2006) - 9/10 The same night that I watched The Invisible Kid, I watched a masterful and dour drama from the director of Birdman and The Revenant. Babel calls back to an earlier movie of Iñárritu’s, called Amores Perros and as I was informed while we watched this for the podcast, it turns out Babel is part of a trilogy alongside the aforementioned film. More thoughts in episode 34 of the podcast. Snake Eyes (1998) - 1/10 After feeling thoroughly emotionally wiped out after Babel, we immediately watched another recommendation for the podcast: Snake Eyes, starring Nicolas Cage. This was a truly underwhelming experience and for more of a breakdown into what makes this movie so bad, you can listen to us talk about it on the podcast.

[asleepinawell]

Book Recs

I was gonna do one of these at the end of the year, but I’ve somehow managed to read 26 books this year already (12 novellas, 14 novels), almost all featuring queer authors and/or characters so this is already a long list.

Note: There’s a few on here I was kind of meh about, but in most of those cases it was a ‘book might be good but it’s not for me so i’ll mention it to put it on people’s radar anyway’ type of thing. Insert the usual necessary tumblr disclaimer about all of this being only my opinion and your opinions are valid too etc etc.

In order of when I read them:

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir - Fantasy novella from the author of gideon the ninth that’s a twist on the classic princess trapped in a tower waiting for a prince story. Quite fun. (novella)

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht - Dark fantasy about revenge and magic. m/m couple but like I said it’s pretty dark and twisted all around so definitely not a happy queer romantic story. My opinion was interesting premise that could have been executed better and probably should have been a full novel to embellish on the world building potential. (novella)

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine - Probably tied with murderbot as the best things I read this year. Scifi, f/f couple, wonderfully done exploration of what it means to fall in love with a culture that is destroying your own. More of the many queer anti-imperialist books that have come out recently and certainly some of the best. The second one is a direct continuation of the first. (2 novels)

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson - This is the third in the Baru Cormorant series (The Masquerade) and was my favorite so far. The second and third book were originally one book that got split I believe and the second book didn’t stand alone as well (though was still great), but the third book really made up for that. Dark fantasy world starring a queer woc whose country and culture is destroyed by the imperial forces of that world colonizing and assimilating them. She vows revenge and decides to work her way up within her enemy’s ranks to enact it from within and bring an empire to ruins. Really really fascinating study of so many different aspects of our own world and the systems which enable and allow bigotry and how bigoted and violent narratives are used to control minorities. This is definitely a darker series and I was particularly impressed with some of the commentary on the racism prevalent in non-intersectional feminism as depicted through a fantasy world. Can’t wait for the last one to come out! (3 novels, 1 forthcoming)

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells - There’s six of them--5 novella and a novel--and the first is All Systems Red. Told from the point of view of a self-aware droid/android that is rented out by a corporation to provide protection in a dystopian capitalist hellhole future that isn’t that unlike our current capitalist dystopia but is in space. Muderbot hacked the chip that controlled it and instead of going rogue just wants to be left alone to watch its favorite tv shows. Murderbot is painfully relatable and the books are both funny and poignant. Highly recommended. (5 novellas and a novel).

Winter’s Orbit - Everina Maxwell - This was a m/m romance novel with a scifi backdrop of royal intrigue. Generally I’m more into scifi with a queer relationship in the background than vice versa, so it wasn’t my favorite, BUT I think it was still well written and someone looking for more of the romance angle would enjoy it. Has all your favorite romance tropes in it, especially the yearning. (novel)

The Divine Cities - Robert Jackson Bennett - Three book series. I’m very conflicted about this one. Set in a fantasy world where an enslaved nation overthrew the country enslaving them and now rules over them. It’s a story of what happens after the triumphant victory and within that it’s also a murder mystery tied into the dying magic of the conquered nation. It also has a six foot something naked oily viking man fist fight a cthulhu in a frozen river. The second book was by far my favorite, mostly due to the main character being brilliant. My conflict comes from the fact I don’t feel like the story treated its women and queer characters well. Like it had really great characters but it didn’t do great by them overall. That and the third book didn’t live up to the first two. But still definitely worth a read, can’t stress enough how cool some of the world building was. (3 novels)

Into the Drowning Deep - Mira Grant - This might be the only one on here I disliked. It’s got a doomed boat voyage and creepy underwater terror and monsters and a super diverse cast of characters, but I just didn’t enjoy the writing style. While having a diverse cast is great, there were a lot of moments where it felt like characters were pausing to explain things about themselves that felt like a tumblr post rather than a normal conversation you might have while actively being hunted by monsters. I also bounced off all the characters. But a lot of people seem to have liked it so if you’re into horror and want a book with a f/f main couple then maybe you’ll enjoy it. (novel)

Dead Djinn Universe - P. Djèlí Clark - Around the early 1900′s, a man in Egypt discovers a way to access another world and bring Djinn and mysterious clockwork beings called Angels through. As a result, Egypt tells the British to get fucked and Cairo becomes one of the most powerful cities in the world. So Egypt, magic, djinn, a steampunk-ish vibe, oh and the main character is a butch queer woman who enjoys wearing dapper suits and looking fabulous while she investigates supernatural events. Her girlfriend is also mysterious and badass. And she has a cat. There’s three novella (one of which technically might be considered a short story) and then the first novel. You should absolutely read the novellas first (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili, The Haunting of Tram Car 015). Super fun and imaginative series. (3 novellas and a novel, more forthcoming)

River of Teeth & Taste of Marrow - Sarah Gailey - From the book description

“In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two. This was a terrible plan.”

Queer hippo riders!!!! Very much a western but with hippos. Main couple included a non-binary character. Loved the first one. The second one I was more meh about due to one of the characters I was supposed to like having obnoxious man pain that a woman had to take the brunt of the whole time. Also there were less hippos. But queer hippo riders! Definitely read the first one, and they’re both novellas so no reason not to read the second as well. (2 novellas)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers - I may be the only person who hasn’t read the long way to a small angry planet at this point, but I did grab her new novella and I loved it. It made me want to go sit out in the woods and feel peaceful. The world it’s set in feels like a peaceful post-apocalypse...or diverted apocalypse maybe. Humans built robots and robots gained sentience, but instead of rebelling they just up and left and went into the wilderness with a promise that the humans wouldn’t follow them.The remaining human society reshaped itself into something new and peaceful. It’s the story of a monk who leaves their habitual monking duties to go be a tea monk and then later wanders into the wilderness and becomes the first human in ages to meet a robot. Very sad there’s no fan art yet. (novella, more forthcoming)

The March North - Graydon Saunders - This was such a weird book that I’m not sure how to explain it. The prose style is hard to get used to and I suspect a lot of people will bounce off it in the first chapter. There’s no third person pronouns used at all and important events get mentioned once in passing and if you blink you’ll miss them. Set on a world where magic is extremely common to the point that rivers sometimes run with blood or fire and the local weeds are something out of a horror movie and most of the world is run by powerful sorcerer dictators, one country banded together (with the help of a few powerful sorcerers who were tired of all the bullshit) to form a free country where powerful sorcerers wouldn’t rule and the small magics of every day folks could be combined to work together. The story revolves around a Captain of the military force on the border who one day has three very powerful sorcerers sent to them by the main government with the hint that just maybe there’s about to be a big invasion (there is) with the implication of take these guys and go deal with this. The world building is extremely complex and very cool...when you can actually understand what the fuck is going on. There is also a murder sheep named Eustace who breathes fire and eats just about everything and is a Very Good Boy and belongs to the most terrifying sorcerer in the world who appears as a little old grandma with knitting. It had one of the most epic badass and wonderfully grotesque battles I’ve ever read. But yeah, it is not what I would call easy reading. Opinions may vary wildly. I did also read the second one (A Succession of Bad Days) in the series which was easier to follow and had a lot more details about the world, but overall I was more meh about it despite some cool aspects. The chapters and chapters of the extreme details of building a house that made up half the novel just weren’t my thing. (novels).

The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson - In this world parallels universes exist and we’ve discovered how to travel between them, but the catch is you can only go to worlds where the ‘you’ there is already dead. This turns into an uncomfortable look at who would be the people most likely to have died on many worlds and how things like class and race would fit into that and what we would actually use this ability for (if you guessed stealing resources and the stock market you’d be correct). The main character is a queer woc who travels between worlds with the assistance of her handler (another queer woc) who she has the hots for. She accidentally stumbles on a whole lot of mess and conspiracy and gets swept up in that. Really enjoyed it. (novel)

Witchmark - C.L. Polk - Fantasy world reminiscent of Victorian England (I think?) where a young man with magical gifts runs away from his powerful family to avoid being exploited by them. He joins the army and fights in a war and comes home to try and live a quiet life as a doctor, but a murder pulls him into a larger mystery that upturns his life. Also he’s extremely gay and there’s a prevalent m/m romance. This one was a fun-but-not-mind-blowing one for me. (novel, 2 more in the series I haven’t read)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon - This was one of those that everyone loved but I couldn’t get into for some reason. I tried twice and only got about halfway through the second time. It’s got dragons and queer ladies and fantasy world and all the things I like, but I wasn’t that invested in the main story (which included the f/f couple) and was more interested in the smaller story about a woman trying to become a dragon rider. There are few things that beat out a lady and her dragon friend story for me and that was the storyline that felt neglected and took a different turn right when we got to the part I’d been waiting for. But, I know a lot of people whose reading opinions I respect who loved it, and if you like epic fantasy with dragons and queens and treachery and pirates and queer characters then I’d say you should definitely give it a try. (novel)

Bonus: I didn’t read these series this year, but if you haven’t read them yet, you should.

Imperial Radch (Ancillary Justice) - Ann Leckie - Spaceship AI stuck in a human body out for revenge for their former captain, but that summary does not come close to doing it justice. Another one examining imperialism and also gender and race.(3 novels)

Kushiel's Legacy Series - Jacqueline Carey - This is two series, six books total, and starts with Kushiel's Dart. Alternate universe Renaissance-y Europe in a fantastical world where sex isn't shameful and sex workers are respected and prized. Lots of political intrigue and mystery. A lot of BDSM and kinky stuff too (the main character is a sexual masochist, oh and also bi!). I first read this series when I was fifteen or sixteen and it definitely made a big impression on me. Same author also wrote the Santa Olivia series which I’d also recommend. (6 novels)

The Locked Tomb (Gideon the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir - I mean, if you follow me, you know. If you don’t follow me you still probably know. I’d have felt remiss to have left them off though. Lesbian Necormancers in Space. Memes! Skeletons! Biceps! Go read them. (2 novels, 2 forthcoming, 1 short story)

Books On My To Read List:

Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho

Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse

This Is How You Lose the TIme War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee

Also, if anyone has any recs for scifi/fantasy books starring queer men (not necessarily having to do with a queer relationship) and written by queer men I’d love them. There’s a lot written by women, and some of them are great, but I’d love to read a story about queer men from their own perspective.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

March 2021 Part 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. 

This is a LONG ONE, it’s been A WEEK everyone. 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Lovely Writer Ep 5 - a little slow this week, but at least Gene finally flirted back, and very cute flirting it was, too. Also we got Aey’s motivation, background, and love interest. Thank goodness for that. 

Brothers Ep 8 - still pants, what can I say? Clearly I am a BL masochist. Very embarrassing for everyone concerned. 

1000 Stars Ep 9 - the conflict over Tian’s father was REALLY well done. The plot of this drama is excellent, the leads are great together, and yes I totally cried. What, you didn’t? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Word of Honor (China) Ep 16-18 - big battle fighty fighty stabby stabby. Ep 17 switches to “this drama isn’t big enough for two chaotic-neutral godlings!” So what do they do? Drink together and bicker... A LOT. Then in Ep 18 we all get the dubious joy of really freaky puppets. (I HATE puppets.) Also how is China letting this be so SO VERY VERY GAY?  Also, I wanna walk through the forest wearing a smanshy purple robe and waving a big fuck-off white fan around simply because I’m a pretentious fuss monger. And frankly, I feel like this is an achievable life goal for me. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 4 - not gonna lie, this is looking to be one of my top 3 BLs of 2021. It’s SO GOOD. Big bonus to this ep for treating stalker behavior like the mental illness it is and not as some dumb representation of enduring love. 

The Most Peaceful Place is My Place (Vietnam) Ep 1 - finally dropped (find it under NƠI BÌNH YÊN NHẤT LÀ VỀ BÊN EM on O2′s channel). It’s got actors already comfortable with BL and looks pretty good so far. An angry tsundere uke reunited with his ex, a stoic chef, giving us lots of snap, crackle, and pop out the gate. 

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 2 - I want to love it, but it is just moving too fast. There’s not enough character dev and then they’re throwing flashbacks in? It feels like a treatment rather than a show, and a rushed treatment at that. Bummer. 

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 2 (AKA Ep 3-4) - let the cheesy popcorn continue! Idiot remains an idiot; ingenue remains an ice queen; nice gay guy remains nice and gay; obsessive stalker brother is getting ever more whackadoddle. Of course these last two have the best chemistry. (It’s caregiver codependency and the salvation trope. We got us a Leo/Fiat situation going on.​) Plus lots of classic BL tropes because OF COURSE there are lots of tropes. 

Occasionally, I am tempted to argue that shows like H4 or Cherry Magic or Ossan’s Love aren’t technically BL because of the office setting and age of the protags - but then they all behave like high school students anyway, so *shrug* 

Stand Alones

Cute little Taiwanese micro BL Friend or Lover dropped, about bisexual realization within a friendship group. Normally these are too short for me, but this one did pretty good with its 15 minutes of charm, plus it’s abad boy + shy softy pairing. 

Breaking News - Thai BL

Fish Upon the Sky released its actual trailer. The upside-down kiss is gone, which makes everyone sad, and it seems far less rivals to lovers than the first iteration, which makes ME sad. But it still looks good and a more classic BL than GMMTV has given us in a while. New trailer focused more on the makeover trope and they’ve upped Mix’s role (the object of everyone’s affection) now that he’s proved himself. (Or they are using him more to carry the trailer since he has a fan base form 1k*). Starts April 9 on GMMTV in 1K*’s time slot, probably with a 10 ep run. 

2gether the movie is apparently coming April 22 to Thai theaters. F4 Thailand must be having issues or GMMTV just wants to milk the BrightWin cash cow. It’s rumored to be a combination of 2gehter + Still 2gether with some extra scenes and ending. Also, one assumes a lot will be cut out, if it’s movie length.

Call It What You Want released its updated trailer. If anything, it looks more scary than before. What are we in for? April 9th. 

Nitiman got a release date, May 7 on One31. 

I Told Sunset About You 2 got an updated release date of May 27 on LineTV. 

Second Chance the series is coming to LineTV on March 29. I don’t know much about this one. Tons of familiar faces (mostly TharnType side dishes) and some nice looking new talent but a dearth of eng subs. I think it may take on Brothers’ time slot. Line did eng subs for Brothers so maybe they will do 2nd Chance too? 

Close Friend the series is coming April 22. This is a combination of 6 couples with 6 story arcs as music videos (maybe)? It’s an epic fan service with familiar faces like OhmFluke (UWMA), MaxNat (LBC also in Y-Destiny), YoonLay (YYY also in Y-Destiny), KimCop (GenY), and JaFirst (TT2).

Y-Destiny starts March 30, and has starting dropping couple’s trailers. I’m still suspicious given the director but it seems like there is plot (or plots) and a theme. Looks to be a series of 7 single ep vignettes (amended, see comments, might be 2 eps each for 14 eps total), different couple each time, some with supernatural elements, all with decent chemistry and acting chops. 

Sun MaxNat’s tutor/student arc

Mon jaded rich kid meets poor innocent  

Tues sports romance enemies to lovers 

Weds the messy realistic actual dating one 

Thurs hot ghost boyfriend (sad) 

Fri YoonLayPerth coping with loss and finding new love (sad). This one will all rest on Lay's acting so we know it’s in safe hands. Our boy is going to KILL it. 

Sat time-slip memory loss reunion romance 

I’m thinking we can’t expect any of these to end happy or be classic BL. They’re gonna be more slice of life-ish. 

Gossip - BL Outside of Thailand 

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) got a legit teaser (eng sub here). @curriculumvtae​ reports that it’s releasing April 15th on WeTV (Philippines & Thailand) and Idol Romance (South Korea), while Will of Thai Bl says it’ll be on Viki too. It’s a short run of 8 ep built on a fake relationship trope (arranged marriage variant):

Ryu Ho Seon’s (Kang In Soo from You Wish) arranged marriage turns out to be with his expected bride’s brother, Choi Ki Wan (Lee Se Jin from Mr Heart). Ryu tries to undo the marriage, but his ill mother opposes this saying the scandal would be too much. Meanwhile, Kim Tae Hyeong (Jang Eui Soo from Where Your Eyes Linger), a senior at Ryu’s school, comes to congratulate him and falls in love with Choi. Then one day, the original bride disappears.

Okay it seems a bit twisty turny for ONLY 8 EPS, but oh my goodness how excited are we? Our first intentional historical BL out of Korea!

We already knew Hong Kong was doing a remake of Japan’s Ossan’s Love under the same name (not my favorite Japanese BL but so very popular) but it’s now reported to be coming to Viu in June. Who knows how the CFA will take it. Depends on whether Hong Kong bows before the NO GAY KISSES regs or if they are going to use this as a political nose thumb... things could get cray with this puppy (the original has several kisses and s shower scene). Are we back in Addicted territory only with added comedy and civil unrest?

Speaking of Japan, Absolute BL (AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko) dropped sooner than anyone thought, March 27. But being Japanese who knows how/when/if we get subs. Protag finds himself trapped in a world of BL, but being straight he fights against any hot guy that draws near, but the whole world (literally) is conspiring against him. It’s a parody adapted from a yoai.

What with Absolute BL from Japan plus Lovely Writer and Call it What You Want from Thailand, is 2021 the year of BL being ultra self referential? Sure feels like it.

In Case You Missed It

Faded a gay micro film from Taiwan from 2017 deals with parental acceptance and serves up a ton of BL tropes (piggyback, forehead kiss, etc). I’m pretty sure this was a propaganda piece for legalization of gay marriage, and it’s an interesting nugget of BL history as a result. Yes, it ends happy. It’s cute. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Man there’s a lot going on right now! Spring has sprung... I suppose. 

P.S. I cannot believe I missed Absolute BL as a blog name. Numbnuts = me.