#they had a whole song where (spoilers i guess) they were saying how did we survive before we met

[cheeseandbretboy]

JOKER (2019) AND JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX (2024) SPOILERS !!!

still trying to sift through my thoughts but i liked joker 2. i dont get how the ratings are so bad?? were people expecting a romance???? a fun movie? i mean even i was surprised by the depressing end but im really glad it happened because thats what joker 2019 was about too. arthur was never the actual 'joker' we see in dc films, and we knew that. his whole story is tragic but a lot of people missed that in the first movie. the second speaks on that to humanise arthur (even though thats what they literally tried to do in the first one?? didnt work i guess) and shame those who use him as a symbol for misogyny and incel stuff. i think what most people are mad about is how hes not as 'villainy' as the other jokers BUT AGAIN he was never the true joker and im confused as to how people missed that !! personally i loved how it shows that even after he's secured himself the identity of joker he's still repeatedly exploited as he was before that, and he has to come to terms with it. harleys character was really surprising for me because usually she's the one being manipulated by joker- in this case it was the other way around. especially interesting was how joker was the one who sung 'bewitched' about harley (the original song is sung about a man, so they had to change he/him to she/her) and the scene of joker and harley's show where she continues singing 'to love somebody' without looking at him, instead basking in the attention the audience gives her. people were expecting a twisted sexy romance between them but instead we were given something really uncomfortable and unnerving- like that sex scene. her character also gives insight into parasocial relationships and how weird and dangerous they can get. she never really knew arthur- she knew joker. the film starts with us finally happy that he 'for once in his life, has someone who needs him' and ends with us absolutely distraught. in the first movie, he says stuff like 'you dont listen' and 'i never knew i existed' and STILL after becoming an infamous killer, getting a show about him, EVERYONE talking about him, he's still not seen. there are just so many things the film points out about its fanbase (incels, parasocial relationships, identity, the glamourisation/sexualisation of violence, columbiners, exploitation etc etc) and i guess people don't like that. they want capitalism=bad, 'men have it so bad', and mm gore! which is fair- i loved it too- but it doesnt hurt to delve into the identity of 'joker' (whatever that is) and how that influences its viewers. its quite meta i like it a lot. they didnt care that the ratings would be awful because they had to speak on what the first movie did to people

oh also the intertextuality is just amazing. the songs are great, like i mentioned before with changing the female and male roles with 'bewitched', and even though i absolutely hate musicals this really worked fo rme. i think it's because musicals often have songs smack bam in the middle of realistic scenes and the singing just ruins it for me- but in joker 2 they're more often a part of arthur's fantasies so it was actually better. i wasnt sure about the musical element at first but after rewatching joker for like the 1000th time i realised how much its intertwined in the first movie- we just never really paid attention to it. the end of 'gonna build a mountain' was amazing (you have to pay attention to the lyrics), 'the joker' was great, and the few instances of violence we see from arthur while hes singing is really entertaining i love it sm. i keep mentioning 'betwitched' but i love it. 'she is cold, i agree, she can laugh, and i love it' ahh. i loved the intertextuality with nolan's the dark knight. a lot of people hate it, but i think people should be more flexible with inspiration and interweaving similar but different stories into films. just because it follows a similar story doesnt mean that it should either perfectly fit the mould of nolan's batman, but neither does it mean they should abandon it altogether either. harvey dent really surprised me, and even though he was a pretty minor character i loved the few references to nolan's batman they give (like his gory face after the explosion at court being a possible villain origin story). most obvious is the end though, where arthur is gutted by that inmate who admires him. the use of the joke was amazing and i was really surprised by how he got stabbed. you can see in this moment that arthur has been relieved of his identity of 'joker' and can finally rest as himself, just a mentally ill guy with a history of tragic abuse. when lee and his fans betray him (the real life ones too hilariously) we realise no one truly saw or loved him, and he couldn't deal with that. so, the identity of joker was passed on to that inmate- "ah, what a fine young son to take my place"- while he cuts a glasgow smile into his face. in felt this was sort of missing from joker 2019, so im really glad they used ledger's joker as inspiration for this inmate.

there's a lot more to talk about, ESPECIALLY gary's reappearance which im so so glad about, it really fleshed out his character. when he walked up to the stand, you can see people whispering and laughing at him- arthur never made fun of him. it really helps to make people question what constitutes a bad person. sure, these people didn't kill 6 people, but how easy would it be for them just not to laugh? it showed arthur's empathy, and how uncomfortable he was with admitting to it when trying to paint himself as the joker. "you were the only one who was nice to me" was said by arthur in the first movie when he kills randal and gary says something similar to him during court.

anyways wow that was great people are mad the 2nd movie is as depressing as the first (if not more). at the end ofthe first, arthur has a whole revolution loving him, and we did the same. at the end of the second we realise we never truly knew him, but exploited his character.

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

saw speak no evil last night, which i really enjoyed! it proved to be my very favorite kind of stressful movie, i.e. a slowburn thriller where people go to a beautiful and remote location and then Things Go So Wrong! it reminded me a lot of other faves ex machina, men, 10 cloverfield lane, the menu, ready or not, the recent blink twice, etc.

just some thoughts about this movie (spoilers!)--

+ i really enjoyed all the gender role stuff going on in this one a whole bunch. this is, of course, a classic gothic romp in my eyes. therefore, watching the dad -- down on his luck, feeling emasculated by his female family and by life not favoring him as much as it was supposed to! -- get seduced by the alpha male andrew tate-y bs embodied by james mcavoy's character, like the dad was but a shrinking naive gothic heroine missing or even lusting after all the red flags, was SUCH a fun subversion to me. yes! yes!!!

+ every time that mackenzie davis's character tried to establish boundaries and they got run over and then she let it slide to be palatable, i viscerally FELT THAT. there was, of course, a big element of 'privileged people wanting to appear woke so they keep being boundlessly pityingly nice to the poor people', but even deeper than that, i think this was a great portrayal of how women in particular are expected to constantly accommodate and ignore their intuition. the bit with making her eat the goose. D: and it got worse!

+ i also really liked how in the big showdown, the mom and the kids were the ones who actually took out the enemies, and the dad was the only one without a 'kill' to his name. (though he did sacrifice himself by jumping off the roof, mirroring Accomplice Wife's self-sacrificial death!)

+ gosh, the dark implications re: Accomplice Wife's character were so harrowing - the victim becoming the abuser - and the fact that the little girl was being primed to follow in her footsteps ..... D:

+ i enjoyed that the kids were the ones who had the sort of Big Finding Bluebeard's Closet Of Dead Wives Reveal. (my bf pointed out that this is a bluebeard story, and it so is! my favorite!) that sort of ASOUE-y feeling of kids having to make it on their own because adults aren't a guaranteed source of safety. MAN, poor ant. :'( that kid had a HORRIBLE time. i really admire his persistence in keeping on fighting and trying to communicate.

+ i saw someone in the reddit discussion thread say that couple vs. couple is an underrated trope, and i agree! would love to see more of that in cinema.

+ love how the title operates both on the level of "this kid can speak no evil about what we do because we cut his tongue out" AND "don't ever say anything mean to people or you might hurt their feelings and what could possibly be worse than that (oh, this, i guess) 😬"

+ can't believe they did nick miller's favorite song cotton eyed joe so dirty like that. :( that scene honestly brought tears to my eyes from pure misery. the fact that some parents really do treat their kids like that ...................... (even if that wound up not being totally the situation in this particular movie). disgusting and heartbreaking.

+ the most a+ "eternal flame" use since gilmore girls.

+ after i watched the movie i read up on what the original film was like, and may i just say: that would have broken me psychologically in the movie theatre. thank god i didn't have to see that. THANK GOD! sometimes american optimism really works for me, honestly. if it's a gothic, then in the gothic, they've always got to make it out at the end!!! bruised and bloodied and haunted but still standing! so i'm really glad they did!

+ it honestly never occurred to me that people would thirst over james mcavoy in this movie, because he's so gross and horrible, but it takes all sorts to make a world, it turns out. the internet teaches me that every day!

+ anyway, i had a great time watching this! would definitely watch again! but gosh, was it a special kind of fun and stressful to watch it unfold the first time.

[kanmom51]

JK live 23 September 2023 (NYC)

20:11 or 8:11 pm EST

cr./to the creators of the media used in this post.

or

24 September 2023 9:11 am KST.

Coincidence? Starting the live at 8:11? I think not.

And not the first time he goes live at that time either.

So yeah, JK came live at 8:11 and ended the live at 13:23 minutes.

13 again? Coincidence again? Given that he said his goodbyes at around the 12 minute mark and then waited (?) for it to reach 13? Maybe. Fact is it did.

OMG, he opens up the live like this:

He's so damn adorable.

And it's a Bratz lip gloss, lol.

How can you not love him?

Anyway, JK starts the live saying long time no see and with talk about 3D coming out on the 29th. He tells us how it was his idea to add the clip at the end of the GCF performance, but someone ruined the surprise by running it during the rehearsals, which they obviously weren't supposed to. Oopsy. Spoiler king was spoilered. Lol.

He is a little fidgety, feels like he's doing the live cause he needs to, rather than really wants to... just a feeling I had.

JK says that as much as he was busy he actually did have time to come to us live, but, and this is where JK has decided to place the boundaries that he himself kind of tore down just a little while ago - he talks about there having to be a push and pull, but I guess he realised, perhaps with some help from others, that tearing down those walls between himself and us has also created an expectation from some fans for more, too much. Also, there needs to be some mystery (he was probably told) and leave the fans with a want for more...

I don't think this is the end of the JK we came to know and love the past few months, but I do think that he is trying to re-assess and set some boundaries between the artist that he is and us as fans.

And truthfully, let's be real here for a sec. Us, the fans, we were kind of a filler in. When the real thing is there, and the time to enlistment is getting shorter and shorter, and there is a choice between the two, who do you think he will choose? A 3 hour live with us or a sleepover with JM? I really don't think the choice is such a difficult one. Do you?

JK asks how the performance was. Hasn't monitored it yet (oh, and believe me when he does he's going to be hard on himself). And yet, even though he heard from fans they liked it, he feels he did better at rehearsal. Says it's a jynx. On the day of the performance his throat got dried up. It's called anxiety or nerves JK. If only there was someone there with him to calm those nerves...

And before you come at me, yes. I do feel he was anxious. He was a little closed up and distant as well. The enormity of it. The having to speak English. The being there ALONE. There were these little moments of disconnect during the performance. Maybe if he would have started his set with the more lively songs it would have helped, but if only there was someone there to support him and calm him, that dryness in the throat he talks about... yeah, non existent. My opinion. Fight me.

Then Jin shows up in the comment.

I mentioned that it felt like he did the live because he had to (after the performance and the 3D teasers dropping). Jin showing up in the comments, his reaction, felt like relief in a sense. He was really happy.

He saw one of the members commented, went in to see who it was and was really happy to see him.

The whole interaction between them was so older and younger brother, lol.

Jin with the "stop touching your hair", the whole call me convo (JK saying the times aren't lining up him being overseas and Jin answering with him texting Jhope 300 messages a day, as in "you ass, you can always send me a message instead", lol).

Watch the interaction here:

What did I take from the interaction with Jin?

First of all, that JK was really happy to see him. Not JM level happy, of course, but really happy. Do I say what I'm thinking? About members showing up in his comments and his reaction to them? Nah. In this instance I will take the fifth.

Second, we get it straight out of the horses mouth: JK is enlisting soon. Not like we didn't know it already. Like seriously. But there are those, solos mainly, that seem to still think that JK won't be enlisting with the others. Well, JK made it abundantly clear in that conversation that he's definitely enlisting and it's happening soon. It's the "I'll be joining that party soon" (as in the Jin and Jhope army party) and it's in the "you'll be out while we're still in so take care of Army until we're done" whole convo as well.

Anyway, you gotta love Jin.

Moving on.

JK tells us that 3D is different from Seven - and to look forward to it.

Wanted to thank army that came to the concert, thank K army for taking the time and supporting him.

29th September is Choseok. JK says the reason the song is released that day is he thinks we will like it more. Ok, yeah. Not the tight schedule and looming enlistment. Well, he does hint about it. Starting up about the reason it's hurried, and why he's been in a hurry, but leaves it up to our imagination. I guess we know, right? If they want to be back by mid 2025 enlistment needs to happen by at the latest start of 2024. And in the little time left he has the single and an album to release. And my guess is there is more too. Some set for before enlistment, some set to land while they are away. JM and him.

He asks "what's after this? what is it?" laughingly answering "your curious, right?"

"What is it? I am really looking forward to it." he says cheekily.

Then he says he's working hard in preparing something for us.

And then he looks down and finds the exact comment he wants to answer:

The Weverse translation is a little different.

The gist is the same.

We have JK recognizing a JM comment and answering it specifically. And I say specifically because there were PLENTY of Tae comments in his live. Layover, Tae, Slow dance, screaming at him to just say a god damn thing about Tae's album or releases. But our man, he stood fast, lol.

And don't get me wrong, I don't think he doesn't support Tae or want him to succeed. He's his bandmate and friend. But you know what he ain't, is his boyfriend. That is the one and only Mr. Park Jimin. So, it's not that JK doesn't care, it's that Tae just ain't on his mind. Wasn't it Tae that used to say, repeatedly, that JK just ignores him? Lol. But even if Tae isn't on his mind, the comments, they can definitley serve as a fucking annoying reminder. Which JK chooses very loudly to ignore. And making a statement of sorts while doing so, by reacting, out of all of those comments, to the one relating to JM.

That's what I call a big ass JK FUCK YOU to the cult.

Anyway, we were talking about JK's reaction. And when you talk about reactions you look not only at the verbal but also the body language.

The way he leans in to read the comment once he recognizes it's about JM.

The way he does that head tilt when talking about JM's dancing.

The neck crack.

The hand gesture.

Let's talk about the hand gesture for a second here.

Man knows the choreography. That hand gesture was him doing part of the choreo. Muscle memory. And his eyes and facial expression.

Also, have a look at this:

Ok, so it is funny how JK knew JM posted to IG and watched it as well... You know, considering the man told us he not only deleted his own IG account but deleted the app from his phone all together...

Thing is man monitors SM. We know that!! You think he wouldn't have seen it on Twitter? Or TikTok? JM's dance is all over the place. So yeah, my initial thought was: hey, how did he see it without an IG account? But then, you know, when common sense took over, I realised he could have seen it ANYWHERE. We know he monitors. We assume he monitors JM and Jikook accounts. He would have seen it either way.

But in any case, as I mentioned, this wouldn't have been the first and only time he has seen this choreo or dance.

JK continues to tell us he's going out for diner with staff. A good reason indeed to end the live (that like I said, he wasn't in the feels for).

And continues telling us to be curious.

Didn't someone tell him curiosity killed the cat?

At the end of the live JK makes us know he's monitoring SM (like I said before, something we already knew). He knows what fans are saying. He talks about the good. And he is thankful for those kind words.

But he also sees the bad. We know it!!

Ooh, btw, do we talk about that ring JK was wearing?

This is the second time around we have him wearing this kind of ring.

Interesting.

So to sum it up:

In those 13 minutes and a bit of his live, he mostly spoke about the performance, 3D coming out, talked to Jin in the comments and answered the comment that happened to be about JM.

I guess that wraps it up.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Sense and Sensibility (2024, Hallmark) a review

I had expectations for this movie. They were not surpassed. It didn't perform below them either.

Spoilers under the cut.

So, this is a short movie (1.24hr long) a tv movie, a hallmark movie. You must keep that in mind as a frame of reference for what I'm about to say. You cannot really compare this with theatrical movies on equal footing.

Where to start. Costumes and sets. It is Bridgerton's world and we live in it. Everything is VERY colorful and shiny and not very real looking; that was to be expected. I think that sort of semi-fantasy aspect didn't hurt at all, and it was consistent. If you are not going to stick to the time period, at least go ham and show me something really interesting. I'm looking at you, Netflix Persuasion. There are some dresses that are pretty, and some others that... aren't. Considering that apparently the costume designer had to make something like 60 pieces in a month, it's kind of impressive that it came out as it did.

One funny bit, though, in this respect, is that they complain about how small the cottage is like some actual estate houses aren't the same size IRL XD Allenham we only get to see from afar, and it is rather disappointing.

Music: nothing to write home about, to be expected. Yes, we got one of those Vitamin String Quartet modern-song-played-by-strings. IDK. They were a bit dorky in their heyday, I don't know why they are so sought after in these pieces lately. I digress.

The acting. Deborah Ayorinde was a really good Elinor. She definitely deserved better writing and direction. The rest of the cast was good enough; I feel some roles really benefited from their characters being a bit hammy already in the source material (Lucy, Mrs Jennings, Anne, Fanny, Robert), others were really struggling because of being given very poor dialogue (Mrs Dashwood), and others were just... not good (Willoughby and Brandon, sadly). Edward was... a very special case. I can only describe it as the actor having two expressions: one, an attempt at reaching Hugh Grant's adorkableness AND Dan Stevens' ease at the same time, and two [SCREAMING INTERNALLY], but I guess those two were indeed enough to make it work just fine!

Which leads me to the writing. We all knew this adaptation was going to live or die in the writing, and most likely die.

The thing is that most of it is written around repeating 95' and 08's greatest hits, while attempting to compress the narrative into an hour and a half. And that goes as well as you can expect it to. Some scenes are painfully rushed -Brandon's backstory was extremely awkward to get through- some things are over before you have any time to assess their real weight -Marianne's illness, and many others end up being... incongruous.

Let me stop a little on those. The movie keeps Margaret, and gives her the whole play acting as a pirate with Edward from 95', but then removes the only real plot relevant thing she does in the book. So why keep the character at all? (Willoughby asks for Marianne's handkerchief in exchange for Queen Maab, instead of cutting a lock of her hair).

Because 2008 makes Brandon suspicious of Willoughby from the get go, this one makes it so that they know each other and implies that Brandon knows dirt on Willoughby, but then plays the rest of the story straight, which makes it... pretty inconsistent.

Speaking of Brandon, we have reached adaptation #5 that cuts out the fact that he tried to elope with Eliza sr. This time the backstory is that his father promised to let him marry Eliza if he proved himself as a soldier, but when he came back, he found his father has kicked her out of the house. Yeah, that was utter nonsense.

The adaptation makes a clumsy attempt at including the dinner at Mrs Ferrars... but Brandon isn't there to see Marianne defend Elinor.

We needed to have a "Brandon rescues Marianne in the rain" scene, but in this case, she's not faint or anything, he just grabs her because she's sad XD

And the list goes on and on and on. It was to be expected that the shadow of both 95 and 08 would be large over this one, but it truly is to the point that the references and contrivances are almost constant. Which is a pity because I think most of the original choices were interesting.

For example, Marianne twists her ankle running after Margaret, to try and stop her from asking something embarrassing, which is a good choice in terms of showing that Marianne is passionate, but she has more sense than Margaret.

On his deathbed, Mr Dashwood makes Elinor promise that she will take care of her mom and sisters and keep the family together. That added pressure on Elinor works really well in the context of the adaptation, and ads a new layer of interest.

John Dashwood is written mostly as a hapless but not malicious idiot. This is similar to what From Prada to Nada did (though there it made more sense because of the father having two families simultaneously), but I'm not sure where was that going. They did cut the Palmers, so I suppose the choice was so that they could go to Norland instead on their way to Barton (it is never established that Norland is so far away as it is in the book, so I guess one could give it a pass), but in that case, I feel the most cost effective shortcut is... have them go to Barton? Because we do get to see Barton (Marianne goes alone with Brandon to see it close to the end, and they get engaged before Edward returns, don't think much about it, manners and such are... for this movie... loose guidelines. But it isn't super offensive most of the time).

Anne Steele is decent fun as she's supposed to be, but Lucy really suffers the flattening. The mastermind has been flanderized into just a mean girl, and that's a pity.

Oh, Edward is sassy at times! And the sassy jokes land! I have to say it is not my preferred way of doing the character, but he does show some sass at the end of the novel, so, you know, I'll allow it I suppose XD

Edward's return and proposal started pretty good, but it overstayed its welcome. I cannot emphasize enough that, when writing this kind of proposal, you must avoid the word love if you can, and if you must use it, use it once, and with great reluctance.

The movie chooses to dedicate quite a time to the reveal of Edward and Lucy's relationship, and it's honestly... decent? For a scene made out of whole cloth it stands on its own feet reasonably well. But there's no Fanny freakout. This is probably the most shocking plot twist in the adaptation. This very on-the-nose Hallmark adaptation decided to cut the Fanny freakout of all things. Impressive restraint.

One thing, however, that was sadly cut out was Elinor and Marianne's conversation about Willoughby at Barton. It is instead replaced by an unsubtle comparison between Willoughby and Edward, and an exchange between Brandon and Marianne. It is one of the several points where the storytelling relies on previous knowledge of the work.

These are my main, disordered thoughts. I leave you with this choice from the ending, that I cannot form a thought about:

At Elinor and Edward's wedding, on the first pew are in attendance, from center to side: Mrs Dashwood, Margaret, Marianne, colonel Brandon... and Eliza Williams with her baby in her arms.

As a summary, I'd say Elinor and Edward's story was good enough, the relationship between the sisters was sweet, there were some odd choices, some interesting choices, and overall the writing was severely downgraded by attempting so much to stick to the choices of previous famous adaptations.

[aurorawest]

I finished The Mars House last night and have been trying to gather my thoughts beyond ADJFAWEHDHA; and AHHHHHHHH. Let's see how this works out.

In a lot of ways this is a pretty typical Natasha Pulley book, which makes you love complicated people who have done bad things, possibly for good reasons and possibly not. The love interest is to all appearances a xenophobic nationalist, but you better believe I loved Gale pretty much immediately.

In other ways this book is different from her past work—obviously there's the far future setting, but it's pretty clear that Pulley wanted to Say Something about gender with The Mars House. This book is a response to and shots fired at the terf ideology and it is not at all subtle about it. And of course, it's a Natasha Pulley book, so there's still empathy for the far-future Martian terfs.

So I would definitely call it the most...political? of her books, which for me was not at all a bad thing. It has everything that I love about Pulley novels—her gorgeous use of language, her ability to wring beauty and pathos out of the small and ordinary, the gay pining, the morally dubious main characters. I've seen reviews say both that the science is ridiculous and that the book is hard science fiction, and I would come down on the side of the science probably being a bit ridiculous, since it's definitely not hard science fiction (lol at the reviewers who are throwing that term around and not knowing what it means). I actually have no idea if the science is plausible or not and I honestly don't care, because that's really not the point of the book.

Anyway, now I'm just going to list things. Doing a read more for spoilers! And I'm not joking, I'm going to spoil the whole book under here so really, if you haven't read it and you care about that, don't keep reading.

The worldbuilding was so good. I mean, this is one of Pulley's strengths, but I had wondered how it would stack up in a sci fi novel versus her historical fiction. As usual, everything was so visceral and textured. Tharsis and Songshu feel like real places I could visit.

THE MAMMOTHS OMG OMG. When they decided to ask the mammoths for help pulling up the gravity train, I almost jumped up from the couch yelling (I would have, but I couldn't disturb my cat who was on my legs). The entire idea of communicating with mammoths and studying mammoth society almost made me cry. Having spent even a tiny amount of time around elephants in the wild, all of that rang 100% plausible. And true in my heart.

I need a sequel where River and January go to Alpha Centauri to talk to the aliens that the Penglai mission is going to find there.

I'M ABOUT TO SPOIL THE ENTIRE BOOK SO DON'T READ ANYMORE IF YOU DON'T WANT THAT.

Speaking of River, yeah I guessed that "Aubrey" was actually River. The clues were well done and I felt smug when I was right.

But!! I actually thought River knew more than they did! A literal chill went up my back when River revealed they had NO IDEA AUBREY WAS LITERALLY IN THEIR ROOM WITH THEM.

The scene in River's bathtub had me screaming crying throwing up.

Is Natasha Pulley working through something re: waifish orphans? I knew Yuan was going to end up being adopted into House Song within pages of their (his?) introduction.

I love that we never find out if River is biologically male or female. I love that January says it doesn't matter and he means that and never tells us.

Speaking of gender abolition, can I have that please for myself.

All of the animals were, as always, a delight. Shoutout to the puffin at the beginning who we never see again, as well as Shuppiluliuma in her basket.

The ancient Mediterranean references littered through this book (see above) were also a delight.

When you think about it, both of Aubrey's consorts fell for River, and that's funny.

The flashes of love between River and Aubrey were devastating.

The haptic implants are a dystopian nightmare and absolutely a realistic prediction of where we're going to end up.

Mori and Daughter!!

[roenters]

(Fight Club spoilers. Obviously.)

As best as I can breaking down some of my thoughts on Fight Club (cause man I have a new love):

Originally thought it'd be some action shit and only put it on cause I'd heard the name before, saw it on netflix recommended (by the time I got to it, it'd been taken off 🙄) and knew it was a cult classic.

On the first watch, what do we have?

A mental breakdown. Absolute brain fuck that when I started picking up suspicions they were fucking right and brother has DID. Crying my eyes out, that song is now a sure-fire way of producing a breakdown. Absolutely love it.

And I was damn well glad they put that bit in about the dad cause that explains where their trauma could've stemmed from for them to get DID in the first place. Good fucking shit.

What do we think of Dickhead Durden?

Can you guess?

Fucking manipulative prick. He's becoming him. Oh shit, he is him. They're sharing the fucking body. Mental. Brain fuck. He fucked up his entire life and our fucking guy was useless to do anything because he knew what he'd do, where he'd go, that he'd try to stop it and exactly what to say to make sure our guy found out jack shit and didn't know a damn thing about what was going on or about them.

Beautifully done.

However, I've just watched it a second time. I've been wanting to for weeks. I feel like I could watch it over and over again. It's such a good fucking film.

I didn't notice the first time round- we were playing where's fucking Tyler- I saw him pop up behind the doctor bloke and I said, he's there. He's fucking there! And my mate said no he isn't- are you going nuts? Where? And I rewinded it and didn't fucking see him and I'm like I swear it. I saw him. Had to do it a good four times until I got it on just the right spot and saw him again. Was well fucking cool. Great detail for people rewatching cause I literally did not notice that shit the first time round at all. And then again- at the fucking therapy thing. He's got his arm round the guy- and I'm like he's fucking there. Again. I'm not nuts I swear it! And we have a repeat fucking performance until I get it on the right spot. Swear down I thought I was seeing things for a hot minute. What a good way to get your viewers feeling empathy for the main sodding character 💀 and a good nod to the film reel stuff. Pretty fucking sick if you ask me.

Also like just all the little details when that guy was walking down the train, bus, whatever and avoided Tyler but then butt shoulders with our guy. Like yeah-- understandable. I doubt you can even fucking see him.

It's so cool‼️‼️ I love it. I didn't have a mental breakdown the second time which yk, is always a good sign. It was more like an awe thing honestly. Like pointing shit out. Also like- I noticed in one scene you see him wearing that check jacket right? The camera follows him but really you'd just think he was a background character otherwise. Well, I did the first time anyway. But then when we meet him on the plane, the check from his jacket has migrated to his pants and he's wearing the same getup, just the other half. It's such a nice nod. Love that shit. And with like- when our guy is talking about space and how corporations will name things and that perfectly links in with Tyler's anti-consumerism ideals. Like. I just love it. Okay, rant over. I just love it.

Oh shit- also the whole fucking stuff with Tyler- like before I think he's a manipulative dick (which he still is don't get me wrong), turning our guy into him basically. But it's not just that- he thinks that's what he wants. He knows they're a system. He's the only one aware of that. He thinks he was made for the sole purpose of bringing about the life our guy dreamed of having. In his books, he's just bringing that about. Helping him. Even tho it's incredibly irresponsible, not great at all and by most views - completely fucked his life up. He's just doing what he thinks he needs, wants, strives for. Helping him achieve that. Wild.

Oh yh and the shit like when he was on the stairs and he's like 'just tell them you did it'- our guy had no inkling that they would think he was the one that blew up his own apartment before Tyler said that. Tyler just put that thought in his brain. It's wild honestly.

There's probably more shit I could say- like how Marla is actually an alright person to be fair and she's just 1. A bit fucked up herself and 2. Reacting to how fucking mental those two are. Ain't her fault. She's cool in my book. Absolute icon.

Okay- anyway. Good day.

[pardonmydelays]

"i don't think i'll ever understand musicals the way you do" is something i've heard from one of my friends a couple of days ago when i told him i'm about to cross the whole country just to see one of those (my favourite one!) live in theatre. and i can't blame him. if you'd have told me a year ago that i would do something like that, i'd probably have laughed in your face. life is so unpredictable. i guess i have changed a lot. and i could write thousands of essays about how musicals helped me get through the shittiest period of my life, but we are not going to talk about this today. today we are talking about in the heights, the first musical i got a chance to experience live in theatre, hopefully not last. so grab a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable, this is going to be the longest essay you've ever seen, friends.

a little warning: spoilers. a lot of them actually. so if, by any chance, you haven't seen/heard it yet and you are going to, don't read it.

first thing i feel like i need to mention is that they had this mini bar inside the theatre and you could order a lot of different drinks there and one of them was called abuela's coffee. i heard one lady explaining to someone that it's actually coffee with condensed milk. my jaw dropped and i was like CAN I STAY HERE FOREVER, PLEASE? for those who don't understand why, here's a quote from the first song:

USNAVI: abuela, my fridge broke, i got café but no con leche ABUELA CLAUDIA: try my mother's old recipe: one can of condensed milk

so this was my first "OH! THEY GET IT!" moment (a little note here: i had a lot of oh, they get it moments, mostly because i don't have any people around me who understand musicals the way i do... honestly, you'd have to live inside my brain). that was the first time ever when i could actually be in the room where it happens with all those people who get it and care about it as much as i do (mostly actors and people responsible for the whole show tho, but we will get to this later).

let's get to the show. so when i finally went inside and i saw the stage, i already had tears in my eyes (don't judge me please). usnavi's store, abuela's door, daniela and carla's salon, all those puerto rican, cuban and dominican flags (one couple behind me was trying to figure out which one is which and it was funny because i knew and i wanted to scream)... listening and memorizing the whole soundtrack is one thing. being able to experience it all live is something else. all those things around me were so familiar and this was the first time in months (MONTHS! OR EVEN YEARS!) i felt really understood. after all, it was all like a little celebration of lin's story (the one i love with all my heart) and i truly felt like home. so that was another OH! THEY GET IT! moment.

i don't think i'm going to talk about every single song here, that's not the point. i will talk about my favourite moments, but also about things that didn't work very well in my opinion (again: this was a polish version so all the songs were translated into polish. and they did a really great job here, surprisingly. but it wasn't perfect, more about that later).

one thing you need to understand is that i will never be normal about musicals so of course i had to burst into tears at the very first song (i don't even know why, i think i was a little bit too excited). i was actually crying in the most random moments like when i first saw nina or at the end of carnaval del barrio because I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT (who the hell cries at carnaval del barrio when everyone is having the time of their lives lol, me apparently).

ok, so the first song. the choreography, oh my god. it was everything. the translation was also pretty good here, i need to say this was probably one of my favourite moments. imagine me leaving today giggling like a child when usnavi came on that stage and started rapping, i was in heaven. also, i have to admit, the cast was amazing. i could never imagine anyone better for this role (and again, i am talking about polish actors because everyone knows who's the best usnavi of them all). he was cute and charming and awkward and so adorkable and also really handsome. he was actually perfect in my opinion.

i kinda lost my mind when i saw nina for the first time. first of all: i already knew who was going to play her and let's just say i fell in love with this actress before i even saw her live on that stage. this was important to me, because (as some of you know) nina rosario is my favourite character. and oh my god, she was an absolute perfection. what a voice, sweet jesus. i'm being serious, this girl is so talented, give her every award (i honestly hope i will have a chance to see her again one day, i'm just crazy about her). and breathe was so good! polish version was amazing, i was so scared they would screw it up, but they didn't, so all's good (this song is very important to me, ok?). also, she's a phenomenal actress, i could feel all her emotions for real. and of course i cried, what did you expect?

i don't have that much to say about benny, except that he was really cute and he had amazing chemistry with nina, so once again, the casting was really good. i mean, he is not chris jackson of course, but i have decided i'm not going to compare all those actors because everyone knows at this point how much i love OBC, i was trying to have an open mind. vanessa was also pretty great, amazing voice and her dancing skills, wow, just wow. i could talk about all those actors for days actually, but i'm not going to do that, so i will just quickly mention that i absolutely loved daniela and carla, abuela claudia made me cry, sonny was the funniest character in the whole play and i don't think i will ever recover after piragua guy's performance (i was the only person in the audience who was laughing when he came on that stage, they don't get it, ok? polish people have no sense of humour and that's a fact). actually, there were a lot of funny moments (obviously) and i was the only person who was laughing, god help me.

so let's get to the first thing that was a little disappointing for me. you will not believe it, but it was actually... 96,000 (this is one of my favourite songs and i seriously can't live like this). it's not the translation tho (it was honestly fine), it's the voice overlapping part at the end (again, the best thing ever, just listen to we don't talk about bruno from encanto and non-stop from hamilton and you will understand why it works so well in every lmm's song). the thing is, you could actually only hear vanessa's part and i wanted to die, because EXCUSE ME. i always sing usnavi's part and you could barely hear a word from it. but apart from that, the rest was fine, the choreography was amazing and it's just something i needed to mention because i had thoughts about it.

paciencia y fe! ok besties, i have thoughts, again. abuela claudia was absolutely incredible, also, her relationship with usnavi is something that you can't see in the movie version (they were so sweet i wanted to curl up and die. i knew about it before, i saw slime tutorial with obc on yt, ok? i'm pretty sure lin would be mad at me for watching bootlegs lol. i just wanted to say this). the translation didn't work out at the very end of the song tho, because when in the og version abuela sings about the "winning ticket", everyone knows already she won the lottery. i don't remember polish translation exactly, but it was something with double meaning, depends on how you interpret it, and i'm 100% sure people who didn't know the plot just didn't catch it. the rest of the song was absolutely beautiful tho.

when you're home. i was so afraid of this one, because i am totally crazy about this song (did i ever mention lin wrote this one after one of his first dates with vanessa? no? yes? ok i'll shut up about this now). oh, they did a really great job with it and it's a relief. i have nothing else to say, except that i was crying like a baby, but this song always makes me cry so what did you expect exactly? one of the best moments for sure. again, nina and benny's chemistry was absolutely incredible.

as much as i loved the club, i was actually really disappointed with one part, which is usnavi's famous "jealous i ain't jealous, i can take all these fellas, wHaTeVaaaaa". i've been waiting so long for this! and they messed it up with their stupid cringy translation which i don't even remember at the moment but usnavi was actually mad at benny and he cursed? ANYWAY. the rest of the song was great and the choreography was absolutely phenomenal, oh vanessa! let me get the next one! (i love her so much, she was amazing here). a little note from me: no one was laughing at the "no hablo ingles" part, NO ONE BUT ME!!! THEY DON'T GET IT! WTF! i was so mad (i am aware of the fact that most people probably didn't even know this story before and they just wanted to see a musical, not THE MUSICAL, which is totally fine. but sweet jesus, where is their sense of humour? they left it at home or what?).

and blackout was that part where the voice overlapping effect worked very well, so all's good. actually, one of the best moments for me as well. people were actually so confused when all the lights went down, but that was just so amazing. all the panic! everybody was screaming, crying! WE ARE POWERLESS! THE END OF ACT I!!! oh, i had the time of my life.

i had this weird feeling that they didn't exactly know how to translate most of hundreds of stories so they just made this song shorter than it actually is. which is fine i guess. honestly, it's better than bad translation, so i can forgive them. what i absolutely can't forgive tho is that the audience wasn't laughing at US NAVY. polish people, you have no fucking taste. i said what i said. and then again, usnavi and abuela's relationship was so sweet this song actually made me cry (mostly because i knew what was coming but also, i was just this weird girl who was sitting there in the second row and was crying at the most random moments).

ok, guys, honestly. carnaval del barrio was the best moment from the entire musical. oh, how much i want to experience it again! daniela was absolutely incredible, carla was so sweet, piragua guy stole the whole fucking show for me (seriously guys! he was just so amazing!). also, those little details i have never noticed before? i can't even tell if the same thing happened in the original version (the quality of that bootleg is actually terrible), but benny dancing with american flag somewhere in the background was so fucking funny and i don't think i will ever get over that part where at the end they were all still dancing and celebrating and nina and usnavi just ran away as fast as they could because... because you guys know what just happened. also, this is the moment i started crying.

i was so scared of it. let me tell you one thing, i experienced abuela's death at least fifty times and i still cry every single time. so atención is something i have to mention, because all the emotions and kevin's shaky voice made me burst into tears right away, and this time i wasn't the only one because i saw a lot of people crying when they realized what happened (i also heard a lot of OHs when he said abuela passed away, so yes, most of them didn't know this story and they were surprised). and alabanza was something else. believe me when i tell you i am writing this with tears in my eyes, i have never cried so much in public. this was the moment i was the most scared of and i was absolutely right because holy fuck. i was a mess. all the actors with those candles singing alabanza a doña claudia! (yes, they didn't translate it, all the spanish parts were left like in the original version and i am so grateful for that), it was just so sad and so beautiful. and this time i was actually like oh, they get it now (everyone was speechless and people were crying).

everyone must know at this point how much i adore champagne and i wasn't disappointed (thank god!). once again, usnavi was absolutely adorable here and people were actually laughing this time (also thank god!). how do you get this gold shit off? (my favourite line from the whole musical) was translated really well and the moment when usnavi and vanessa kissed! with all lights on them! this was so emotional and the audience reacted so well! we were all clapping (it was so funny to pretend like i didn't know it was gonna happen haha i was just as excited as all of them and once again i was like OH! THEY GET IT!). 10/10, would recommend.

if you think i wasn't crying during the last song, think again. one thing i absolutely hate about the movie version is that they actually changed the graffiti that made usnavi stay in washington heights, but i'm not gonna talk about that and i'm not gonna talk about vanessa also being there in the movie. in the original version it was a portrait of abuela claudia made by graffiti pete and oh boy, i lost my mind (i knew about it but i still lost my mind because it was absolutely beautiful). i got the feeling it was a little rushed in our polish version, but i can forgive them because it still made me cry. also, at the very end, usnavi did not only finally acknowledge he's home, when the song was over he pretty much told the audience that we are all home right now and may i just say... i felt that. i was home. they made me believe for the first time in my life i was where i belong, and somehow that was everything.

one thing about me is that this is actually all new to me. this was my first musical i saw live in theatre (and also lin's first child, which is exactly how it was supposed to be i think), and believe me when i tell you i've never had this much fun in my entire life, not even at all the concerts of my favourite artists. it was worth every money. it was worth spending 11 hours on the train and 11 more on my way back home, which by the way we should normalize (people are doing crazy things just to see their favourite artists on the stage and it's considered normal, so why can't we consider THIS normal?). anyway, i don't expect anyone around me to understand it the way i do, but i feel like i really found my thing, and it's all because of lin-manuel miranda, our beautiful puerto rican genius. he made me believe musicals can be cool and i truly wish i could thank him for that one day.

and like i said, in the heights is my favourite story with my favourite characters and i listened to it so many times i have memorized all the little details. experiencing it live is something completely different tho and i think it's safe to say this was the best night of my entire life. even tho most of the people in the audience didn't really get it, i finally felt like i was a part of this world created by my favourite genius and for the first time ever i felt understood. so i think i can say that now: i found my island, guys, i'm there, i'm home!

[ghost-proofbaby]

I'm gonna cheat because I don't listen to TS but you know how much I love our pair from Maroon. can you tell us which of her newest songs you most associate with them right now. any tidbits you feel like sharing

^ it's me pleading for special treatment because I love you

abi babe i will always give you infinite special treatment always. however i apologize for how long this is because, uh, this is the couple who i specifically think dominates my brain while listening to TTPD.

i've already covered "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", so that one 100%.

besides that, though...

Down Bad. the entire premise of the song being compared to being abducted by aliens and when you're returned to earth being like "actually i liked it better up there take me back" as a metaphor for love feels very much like when you had a good relationship, something you expected to last forever, and it just gets taken from you. however, to spice things up - i think it works better applied to how eddie feels. the whole 'fuck it if i can't have him' is exactly how he feels as he's completely destroying himself in the aftermath. and just for fun, so you don't necessarily have to listen to the songs if you don't feel like it my love, i'm adding the specific lines from each song that i feel apply the most.

"how dare you think it's romantic, to leave me safe and stranded? 'cause fuck it, i was in love. so fuck you, if i can't have us."

^ it applies to both reader/sugar and eddie. first half feels very her, because he left her behind to not risk exposing her to a life that had begun to decay him. but second half feels very him cause... fuck it, ya know?

So Long, London. this one is about just being sad and mad about the end of a relationship, and that's where both eddie and sugar still are mentally. to build something so sacred up only to watch it be burned down by the other person. sugar is far angrier than eddie, though, since she's not really taken the time to work through how she feels with the end of it all.

"i didn't opt in to be your odd man out. i founded the club she's heard great things about. i left all i knew, you left me at the house by the heath. i stopped cpr - after all, it's no use."

also.... honorable mentions to the entire goddamn bridge, but specifically "you swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?" and "i'm just mad as hell 'cause i loved this place for so long"

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can). it's a bit of a spoiler, and a bit of a reach, but i think it's a good perspective from the others looking in. the media, but also specifically corroded coffin. this really only applies to post break-up them story-wise, too. he's wrecked himself, destroyed all that he was, and sugar is the only one seeming capable of bringing him back to what he once was.

"i can fix him - no, really, i can. and only i can."

loml. i guess what i'm saying is basically every single song where taylor got very vulnerable and terribly sad about the end of an important/long relationship. this one speaks for itself quite a bit because of the theme of the guy saying "you're the love of my life" repeatedly, only to leave. which is exactly what eddie did, in the grand scheme of things. and taking it a step further? the small implications of a breakup and attempt at rekindling? yeah, yeah that's them alright, your honor.

"who's gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames, if we know the steps anyway?"

^ literally what they are doing as we speak ^

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. this one i would mostly apply to all of sugar/reader's anger pre-reunion. that anger of a man who simply ghosts you. she didn't let herself feel the 'breakup' much, but she did go through some of the stages of grief - and she got stuck at anger.

"you kicked out stage lights, but you're still performing. and in plain sight, you hid. but you are what you did."

^ all his self-destruction when she sees it at surface level :) just seeing him as doing nothing more than throwing a tantrum :)

this is getting a bit out of hand now, but when it comes to the double album bit, there's even more. i don't want to bore you to death so i'm just going to list those songs but. yeah. this album felt very maroon coded to me. the losing and the anger and the sadness and the clinging to what once was. should've expected it, in all fairness.

from THE ANTHOLOGY, i'd say that 'the black dog', 'chloe or sam or sophia or marcus', 'how did it end?', 'i look in people's windows', 'the prophecy', 'peter', and 'the manuscript' are the ones that fit best for maroon. some are a stretch, some it's solely based off of one line that i couldn't get over, and some i just simply think it's the vibes. a true matter of the illness that is "they're my blurbos so i'll apply whatever song i want to them".

i'm sure we'll see a few of these as chapter titles going forward, including the anthology ones, so that'll probably be when i dig in a little deeper about specific lyrics. or when i post ominous music posts.

anyways if you made it to the end (especially you abi) i love you so fucking much and thank you for enjoying my absolutely insane ted talk i just basically did on how TTPD is very very sugar x eddie coded <3

[e-adlirez]

RNJesus is a b$%ch: A Deep Dive into the Thea Sisters' Nat1 Holder

Why does this woman have so much bad luck? :D What Feng Shui and Ba Gua violations did she make to have enough bad luck to get bent at least once per hardcover? :D (/lh /hj)

A nat1 is a natural 1, which in D&D terms usually means a colossal fail at a prompted task; therefore being a nat1 holder is not something you wanna be.

The Thea Sisters have a nat1 holder and she goes by the name Violet :'D

This is just a post about how many times she's been outrageously unlucky in a special edition book--

Spoilers for the special edition books, mainly books 2 and 4-9.

Oh and uh, group nat1s don't count, unless it's a situation where "everyone had a not-good time except for these guys" thing.

Before we get into that, we should probably set the stage a bit by establishing Violet's strengths and weaknesses, stats-wise. Violet is an intellectual, with a lot of general booksmarts, a good amount of emotional intelligence, cracked vision from art experience, sensitive ears from her training as a musician, flexibility from classical training and yoga, and a mind for tactics; and in the line of weaknesses, she's a bit touchy, can't survive without sleep, is not very athletic, often prefers to stand by while the other girls do stuff, and isn't good at doing things on the spot.

Now with that context, let's peep all the nat1s.

The first one comes during Secret of the Fairies, when the girls finds these Lake Fairies through their song. Which just so happens to somewhat work via siren rules.

So Violet's sensitive, musically attuned ears mean she rolls a nat1 94 pages (out of 310) into the book, leveraged only by Colette successfully stopping her from walking straight into the lake.

Now you may be thinking, "I mean it's not the worst thing in the world. Vi just got unlucky with this one," and to that I say

You'd be surprised just how unlucky Violet is capable of getting in these things.

The Secret of the Snow was probably the one Vi did the best in (that and Cloud Castle, imo). Maybe she fell into quicksand (with Nicky and Thea) and twisted her knee for about a couple minutes, but she did pretty good! She literally went and told a nightmare fuel kraken-esque thing to shut up, like a girlboss :D

Cloud Castle I guess isn't really a nat1 because it's a heroic sacrifice, what with the whole having her dreams yeeted and everything, but she got better it's fiiiinnneee

Woman t-posed to assert dominance, that must've given her at least two extra points /j

Treasure of the Sea is.... baffling, to say the least.

Okay so context:

There's this place in Aquamarina called the Infinite Abyss and it's thalassophobia incarnate but if the paranoid fantasies came true. You look down into it, you get yoinked into the darkness and possibly turned into a fish in the deep. This part is very unclear, but the abyss either has magic that physically tugs people enough to startle them to look down out of instinct... or it has a subconscious influence on those nearby, like a magically-induced intrusive thought that tries to convince the intrusive thinker to let the intrusive thoughts win and look down. I'm prefacing this with this statement... because I have no idea what the hell this scene is supposed to be.

Is Vi like, put under a spell? Was the physical tugging of the abyss too persistent to ignore? Were the intrusive thoughts just that goddamn loud? Did the plot police realize that things were going along too easily and they needed Vi to take an L so they can shake things up again this time? No clue! She just.... does, and she and Colette almost die because of this thing (whatever it is) that could've been easily avoided.

(Owners of the non-English books, if you're able to could you check the Infinite Abyss scene of the book so we can compare notes and try to decipher what the hell is going on here? That'd be nice /nf)

Speaking of Ls Vi just takes, Land of Flowers.

You're gonna love this one, because she takes not one, not two, but three Ls in this one book :D

First time was with this uh, this flower wall outside of the Golden Dahlia Palace that has Flowers of Forgetfulness (the opposite of forget-me-nots, it seems) where you get a whiff of the stuff and suddenly it's the total opposite of the time of day you last remember, you don't remember how you got there, and you feel like you just came out of a trip. Okay maybe that was an exaggeration but you get the idea-- Vi gets too close to one, accidentally sneef snorfs, and Colette winds up having to pull her away.

Second time was this scene where the girls had to cross this rope bridge that was hanging above a field of magic nettles, and I kid you not, this is the most Looney-Tunes-ass nat1 Vi has ever taken.

She is described as "[grabbing] the vines confidently, having watched her friends", and then she missteps and she straight-up does a Goofy-style fall into the nettles and is KOed by it so hard she had to be brought to two different places just to get her to wake up.

Then the third time was when they were going into this evil witch's tower and had to climb up some magical stairs that functioned like the trippy stairs in Harry Potter? Vi was about to step down, but just to be a dick I guess, the step decided to poof. Fortunately she didn't fall but holy crap how badly could that have easily gotten right o o

Crystal Fairies is a case where I dunno if this is worse or better than Vi's rotten luck in LoF, because while she takes only two nat1s in the book instead of three, both happen literally during the first half of the campaign. First one was her accidentally falling off a path and into a maelstrom-- don't worry, she didn't drown-- and second was... well...

"Now these crystals are very dangerous, they work by Narcissus rules so we should do our best to not look at the crysta--"

"Ooh shinyyyy......"

"VI NO"

This is more accurate than it sounds. And it is painful :D Who gave her the idiot ball for that one scene :D

After that we have Dance of the Star Fairies, where in the latter half of the book, she's riding a dragon chariot with the girls and King Astroboy over there, and when trying to land they accidentally thwump into an invisible force field, which sends Vi flying out of her seat and possibly into space had Nicky not caught her. Well hey, at least she managed to destroy this peepaw gnome at checkers, at least there's one W to balance out this L.

And last but not least, Magic of the Mirror. This one's actually not that bad, and it kinda comes full circle, surprisingly enough. Remember how Vi's first nat1 was when she fell under a song spell? Well, this last nat1 in this post is the same: the girls are put in a situation where they have no other choice but to listen to a siren's song, Vi being more vulnerable to music-based spells almost gives in, but the girls come in clutch and snap her out of it. Yippee :3

Why did this take way too long to make? I dunno :D. Why'd I make this? I dunno :D maybe I wanted an excuse to ramble about my blorbo, sue me

Anyway hope you enjoy this spectacle, and if you think that's all of them in the franchise, naaaahhhh bro we haven't even gotten into that one time in SuperSisters where Vi literally got captured on her first mission :D

[missnight0wl]

I don't know why but the new Hunger Games song 'Can't catch me now' made me think of Rakepick and I wanted to know if you get the same vibe 👀

Hm, hold on, let me listen to it…

Ok, first of all, this is a pretty dope song. I’d probably hear it sooner or later, but thank you for telling me about it earlier. I really like it ❤

Secondly, to be completely honest, I don’t think Rakepick would come to my mind if you didn’t tell me that… But to be fair, I think it’s mostly because I knew from the start that it’s from the new Hunger Games, and while I didn’t read “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” yet, I did watch some spoiler videos, so I pretty much now the story – and I simply can’t not think of Lucy Gray when I hear this song. On the other hand, I can also see why it does make you think of Rakepick. Because... yeah, it does have the vibes. And you know what? I saw your message when I was in bed already, so I didn’t check the song right away, but I was like: “Hm, Rakepick and Katniss are kinda similar…”. Of course, not quite in personality, but like… the theme? And I say Katniss because, from what I gathered, Katniss and Lucy Gray have that type of similarity, too, so I guess I’m putting them all in one group.

Ok, so I think it’s mainly about the fact that Rakepick is a rebel. Personally, I’d say it’s one of her core characteristics. Remember when we asked Snape about her school years and he was like: “She was a danger to everyone at Hogwarts and the very principle upon which this school was built”? Sure, he was probably being dramatic because he is Snape, but I don’t think he was just being dramatic. Then we had those moments implying that she had a beef with the Ministry, and while she was not disrespectful about Dumbledore, I wouldn’t call her very respectful either. Finally, we have her whole relationship with R – and to be clear, I’m talking about Rakepick’s story before it was ruined by JC.  I mean, let’s take the letter we found in Y4.

To me, “final warning” means there were warnings before that one. Moreover, it had to be sent in the past. And where Patty was at the time we found that letter? At Hogwarts, searching for the Cursed Vaults. It actually kinda fits the chorus of the song:

But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now

There’s just something very “uncatchable” about Rakepick indeed. Also, this idea of being ever-present actually goes along with her role in the story, imo. How she’s being mentioned in Y2 already, how she ties it all together and whatnot.

Also, not directly connected to the song, but you know how the main Hunger Games series is all about Katniss's willingness to sacrifice for Prim?

I still claim that she was genuine at that moment because it was way too late for any attempts at manipulating MC. And I do think that sacrifice was meant to play a much bigger role in Patty’s story overall.

Finally, one last more random thought. Well, technically two. Katniss is strongly associated with fire, right? Now, tell me “the girl on fire” does not suit Rakepick perfectly. On top of that, a while ago in HPHM, there was that masquerade ball TLSQ. And I thought then that it would be way more interesting if it wasn’t at Hogwarts, and it was Jacob and Rakepick attending the event. I talked about it with my friend, and I kid you not, I even mentioned the dress Katniss had in “Catching fire” while describing what would Patty wear.

[rottenbrainstuff]

Hey guess who didn’t hate the new Joker movie? (No spoilers)

So I went and saw it last night cause I needed something to do with someone I didn’t really want to spend time with, and I couldn’t think of something to do together. Look I don’t know, why don’t we go see Joker, it’s getting bad reviews so maybe we could go laugh at how bad it is or something?

So that’s what we did.

And then yeah I dunno. I didn’t hate it. I kind of liked it?

Maybe the trick was to go fully prepared to hate it, and then anything in it that was good went above my expectations. Maybe the trick was that I knew the movie made fans mad, so as I was watching it, I was entertained thinking about how joker fanboys would be hating it.

I don’t know what to say. I found it interesting. The first movie was technically quite well made, but made me deeply uncomfortable. I liked this one better. I liked the surreal quality. I watch musicals, I watch movies with songs in them. The music reminded me a lot of Dancer in the Dark. I don’t feel like the songs were “for no reason” as some have complained. I liked the beginning. I had a hard time liking Arthur in the first movie, but I was much more on board here, much more on his side. I loved the score, loved the malevolent cello, and there are some shockingly beautiful shots.

You guys are probably too young to know this, in fact *I* am almost too young to know this, but back in the day, movies used to begin with a random cartoon tacked on the beginning. I had no idea there was a cartoon with this movie too, and I thought that was super neato. I was also a bit surprised at the animation: 2D looney-toons style animation is basically a lost art at this point, and I had no idea who the heck they got to make that. Credits revealed: it was Sylvain Chomet. (Triplets of Belleville, the illusionist) Of course it was. That was a neat surprise that I hadn’t heard anyone mention.

Unpopular opinion: I actually really just do not like Harley Quinn as a character. Ever. She is, at best, annoying to me. Even in Birds of Prey, I just didn’t really enjoy it. I enjoyed her in this movie. This is the first time ever, ever, that I have ever seen Harley Quinn and was actually interested in her. Whatever I was expecting, it was NOT this. I was absolutely fascinated by how different her dynamic with Arthur was. I won’t give away spoilers but dang, yeah, that was not what I was expecting and I really liked that.

I can see why fans are mad at this movie. Tbh sometimes I felt like it was made specifically to make people mad, or that it was made as a snarky response to the creepy joker fanboys who turned the first movie into their brand new Fight Club. I found that amusing. As I was watching it I was entertained thinking about how much it made people mad. I think it made me more willing to be on the movie’s side. Some people have said Joaquin Phoenix phoned in his performance here but I do not agree.

Unfortunately….

Nothing can save the ending, which is an absolute fucking mess. The whole thing starts to unravel and meander with the trial, and then we have an egregious case of multiple-ending-syndrome a la LOTR. I was very bored by the end and really wanting things to wrap up, and that is such a huge shame. I feel like a few rewrites could have tightened up the last third and turned it into a proper big ol gut punch, but instead it rambled on and on to the point where I didn’t know or even care what it was trying to do anymore, and those songs that I liked initially, I started to groan instead because I didn’t want another song, I wanted them to hurry up and end the movie.

So yeah. I don’t know. Picked out the movie 100% expecting it to be dogshit, had a legit fun time instead. I do not regret using up my tickets.

(NOTE: hilariously, every single YouTube review I have seen pronounces the title differently, and incorrectly. Not sure why, I thought folie a deux was a psychiatric term that was generally familiar? Guess not. It’s pronounced foh-LEE ah DUH, with the U in deux being pronounced like the U in put. I have heard some extremely creative pronunciations! I find it amusing!)

[nevermindigotthis]

Ring of Power S2: Could be worse, actually

So I'm finally caught up on S2 of The Rings of Power, and while I still don't think it's good, necessarily, I like season 2 much better than 1. Full Spoilers below:

Things I (still) don't like:

How they compressed around 150 years of learning how to craft Rings into like, a couple of weeks. A) If it was that easy, Celebrimbor&Co would have figured it out on their own, B) it makes the betrayal by Annatar much less tragic if he's just this dude that showed up a few weeks ago. That being said, I get why they did it, if it takes 150 years you can't have any human main characters.

If dwarves have Storm Singers, why isn't Song as a weapon or tool of the elves ever shown or heard?

WHERE IS CELEBORN??? WHY DOES GALADRIEL SEEMINGLY NOT CARE?? She goes on and on about how Finrod died, which sure, was tragic, but she only offhand mentions one time in season 1 that she has a husband, and goes like "oh he died" with basically a shrug. How is the love of your life, with whom you have (or should have) a child by now so much less important than your brother?

The whole Galadriel/Sauron thing. Bro. Why????

On the matter of Sauron, why is he such a whimp in S2E1? Are you telling me Sauron, 1st lieutenant of Morgoth would be successfully betrayed by some orcs? And since when do Maia turn into blobs of goo when "killed"? Aren't they spirits? Shouldn't he turn into a "ghost", fly away, gather his strength and just chose another form? Like he does when he goes from Halbrand to Annatar?

The Nori story. It's Gandalf. We've known it's Gandalf from the moment he showed up. We also know who he becomes. It feels like a rather pointless way of forcing Hobbits into the story, just because a LotR story needs to have some hobbits.

Arondir this season is only there to remind you that Isildur is of course alive and that Theo exists. I don't know why we should care about Theo though.

I still think the costumes are way worse than in LotR and I'm still sad that the elves no longer feel as etheral as in LotR.

Random cameos that serve no purpose, other than making nerds like me do the DiCaprio Meme: namedropping 1st age people (e.g. Beren, Melian, Feanor), a female Ent, Tom Bombadil

Things I actually DO like:

They gave us Annatar. While I would have preferred if Annatar had been introduced, we'd gotten to love him, and THEN he were revealed to be Sauron, so we could have been just as betrayed as Celebrimbor, I do like how "gaslight, girlboss, gatekeep" he is. He really earns the "deceiver" title. And I loved how he randomly changes from white to black clothes and literally nobody comments on the ominous change in wardrobe.

I like Elendil. That actor was made to be in a Tolkien story and Elendil remains one of the coolest and best characters.

On that note: Miriel is pretty cool too. And I absolutely ship it.

They kept Cirdan's status as literally the only elf with a beard!!! I love it. That actor is also perfectly cast! Love it!

I actually don't mind Adar. I don't think we needed another villain apart from Sauron, but he's alright I guess. At least he's interesting.

ELROND MY MAN!!!! I love how all the elves are deceived by Sauron or taken in by the rings and then there's Elrond. He says no to the rings and even when Galadriel gives him hers he doesn't even put it on. That's some strength of character right there!

Poor Celebrimbor. Again, I would have prefered another version of Annatar, but Celebrimbor's enthusiasm, then skepticism, then horror and despair are so welll done *chef's kiss*

Also Sauron mentioning he was tortured by Morgoth. Bro is traumatized and making it everybody elses problem.

Just. Disa. Georgeous, Strong, Compassionate, her VOICE,... Stormsingers as a concept in general, but especially Disa. Holy shit. She's so cool. They could have given her a bigger beard though.

[mountain-wire]

6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, here's to the last man on earth in the end.

Au!Raphael x gn!reader

Part 1

Cw: Talk of death kind of

Self-indulgent writing, we love it. This is entirely based on Anna Bates song "Last man on earth" and a random writing prompt I saw on TikTok a while ago, so. If that tells you something, take it I guess.

An au set where the reader has ended up immortal and as the last man on earth due to a medicine that everyone had to take that was meant to lengthen human life[spoilers: it didn't.], until... actual alien turtles show up. That's basically it.

The world. Still just as empty as you remembered. You'd been alone for a while now, a few years you'd think, maybe 5. You lost track after a while, just sort of living life as it came by. This whole thing started by you thinking everyone in your house just disappeared, left without you. You realized after a little bit that it wasn't what happened. You found out the horrible way that after this sort of shot meant to keep everyone alive for much longer actually did the opposite. To everyone but you.

So you were left alone, you wandered. By now it felt like you'd lost your mind, saying everything in your head out loud, so you could at least hear something. You ended up in New York 2 years ago, seeing all the buildings starting to grow plants was... Weird. You didn't think any structure would be growing Vines and moss by now, let alone New York of all places. You were definitely found wrong there, it was sort of fun watching the plants grow over the past 2 years, gave you something to do.

Animals had also started venturing into the abandoned city, it was a good change in the silence you'd fallen into. You even got close to the deer and squirrels.

At the moment you were walking through one of the most overgrown parts of New York you'd seen by now, the vines climbed the side of the buildings at least 20 feet up and moss was spotted around up much of that. It had a weird comfort of seeing it, it looked just like old images you saw of cities taken over by plants. You were sure to see more of this soon, you thought.

You walked to what you assume used to be a restaurant, pulling out a knife and cutting at the vines that locked the door shut, and started talking out loud to yourself.

"This'll be fun. I think. I mean it looks like a cool restaurant," you looked to the side, the restaurants windows covered. It did not actually look cool. "yeah. Cool looking. Looks like... Vines! On the menu today! Maybe it'll be the road work ahead one."

Quietly laughing, you opened the door, hearing a jingle. Man did that bring a bunch of memories back. You brushed it off and jogged to the front, rang the bell thing they had. Leaning against the counter you looked around, this place seemed to have the same vibe as those little pit stops you see in more rural areas. It was much quieter than it should've been though. It made you uncomfortable.

Deciding it had been enough time you hopped the counter, knocking the stuff on the side to the floor. You ended up on the floor too, you'd just tripped yourself.

"The service here sucks." You said after a couple seconds, hoping anything watching you would laugh along too. You didn't think anything was watching anyway, but you can always be sure.

You felt like you could sleep, but you needed to up and move. Quickly, you sat up and crawled to where you assumed the kitchen was. You assumed right, and it smelled horrible. Someone had to have died here, come on.

"Knives knives knives, spoons, but is there any food that's actually good?" Clanking and scraping attacked your ears as you moved things, grabbing different knives you liked so you could add it to the knife room. "Hopefully this place was bad and used canned shit. That would make my and the microwaves day..... How that thing still works is a mystery to me. I'm sure someone out there knows why it still works! If only they could tell me."

Reaching the end of the line you decided to grade the cleanliness of this place and went back through, you learned if a restaurant was less clean there's a better chance of them using cans or non perishable foods. You liked the mystery of it too, it was like a game. It took up time and kept you entertained!

"Let's see.... Ovens... Check! Kinda greasy, kinda dusty too, somehow. How is the inside of an oven dusty, it's supposed to be shut tight right? Wouldn't that stop a lot of dust. So put 'not very good ovens' on the list."

You enjoyed using the knowledge Gordon Ramsay gave you from his shows. Wait...

"GORDON RAMSAY!!! NOO!!!!" You gripped your hands to the side of your head and dropped to your knees, all dramatically.

Upon the realization that Gordon Ramsay was dead like everyone else, you decided to skip the rest of the kitchen and just head straight to the freezers and fridges to look for food. On the way you took note of how this place actually had a microwave. Hopefully their salads weren't being put in there.

Every Gordon Ramsay reference your mind made had you feeling slightly worse. It wasn't super new, realizing someone big was also gone, but it always hit you the same.

"Alright. This one's for you Gordon." You wiped fake tears from your face before bursting open the doors to see...

A normal fridge. Nothing horrifying or exciting. That was exactly what you wanted right now, to be met with more silence, more quiet. An upside! There was at least honey in here, and at least a single can of soup. You'd read all the details on the nutrition labels later, but for now you would stuff them into your bag and continue the investigation.

"Let's go! Kinda nasty freezer check! Let's mark this place down! This one's gonna be nice to clean I can tell. Well I can't really, but it'll be satisfying! There's a lot of random tins, I'm not sure I wanna know what's in there. Maybe this is what died, not even a person." Reminded of Gordon Ramsay again, you frowned and pulled out a map of New York.

You marked this place with a red marker, that you know means to return. You never said the reason but you always knew when you'd return to any location with the red mark. You also marked it with orange, which means it's a restaurant. You had colors for many places. Black for 'dont return here', red for 'do return here', purple for electronics stores, orange for restaurants, blue for sporty areas, yellow for more shop filled areas, green for apartments or homes, and pink for unpredictable areas(you also liked to call them the exciting areas). Most areas with black were also pink.

"Let's blow this joint, guys." The map returned to it's spot in your bag and you gave it a pat before slipping on invisible sunglasses and taking long strides out the door.

You never realized how stuffy it was in the restaurant. It felt amazing to take a breath outside of that place. It really did smell horrible. There's probably a good few reasons for that. You moved away from the restaurant to take a good look at it, you wanted to remember what it looked like for when you eventually returned. You wanted to head home for now though, listen to music on the many different things you had. You had a vinyl record player. Who just has that in New York, you didn't know but you were pretty glad they did, they had some pretty cool bands too. You wanted to listen to music desperately, so you planned to run. Seeing a cool skateboard you stopped in your tracks, almost falling flat on your face.

"Well hello there! How did I not see you before... Oh wait nevermind, I was definitely just way too focused on the plants. That makes sense. Who would just leave this out here though. There's nobody nearby, who just loses this on the streets of New York..? Whatever, mine now." The skateboard seemed uninterested in your commentary as you held it under your arm.

You looked back at the area you just came from, upset you didn't get to explore more, before setting the board on  the ground and setting off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wheels came to a stop as you placed your foot down, a weird squeak-screech noise coming from it. Maybe all the years of no use. You looked around wearily, looking for anything that could see where you're going. It felt like your home was a secret you needed to keep, but it wasn't. Even if it was what would you have to hide it from? Nothing. Something inside you just kept saying you had to look around whenever you stopped and eventually you just stopped caring about suppressing it. Seeing that everything was clear you picked up the board and ran into an alleyway in-between what you think is an arcade pizza place and bakery with a home on the second floor. Rummaging through your bag you walked to the back doors of the bakery, it was barred up with this silly looking padlock you found in one of the unstable areas. The arcade was locked up with a similar one too, you were just in the bakery mood today.

"Found you, you beauty!" You said, holding a key that looked just as silly as the padlock up to the sun like it was going to save your life.

The lock opened easily, which was not surprising, the key was made for it. Quickly, you slid into the bakery before closing the door and relocking it, except from the inside this time. Putting the key back into your bag you moved further into the building, your bag now only hanging loosely from your hand. Your feet felt heavy and your eyes felt the same. A good sleep to some music would be awesome. Making your way to the stairs you moved through your bag once more, this time simply checking you had everything you wanted.

"Everything's there, I think. I'm okay, it's okay. Everyone's okay." You yawned and turned towards the door besides the stairs.

The basement doors always felt ominous, today was no different. There was a feeling of something new this time. Today was really throwing you off, everything's felt new. You didn't like it, but what else could you do. Brushing off that feeling you swung the door open and shuffled in and down the stairs.

The walls were painted with your own hands, a white background with designs, characters, and silly things you remembered from the past. It made you feel better to see, a comfort in an uncomfortable place. The wood floors matched pretty well covered in drops of paint you ignored and never cleaned up, no matter how messy it could look it felt like home.

You dropped your bag on a stool by the stairs, a loud clang coming from it. Ah, the knives. You were so caught up in the almost normal you forgot the knives.

"How could I! Gordon Ramsay look what you've made me do."

You made it a point to collect random things from your adventures, it just so happened you got so many knives you have a room dedicated for them now. It wasn't your favorite use of a room but it felt cool. Grabbing the knives from the bag you quickly walked through the basement coming to a smaller-than-normal door with a label that let you know exactly what it was on it.

"I've got more knives for you, knife room! I hope they fit in well! They're pretty cool ones this time." They all looked the same, another lie.

The door got stuck a little, you've just gotta turn it until you hear a click then you can open it. It's just like lockpicking.

Once it opened you hurried in, already looking for a place to put the new knives. You were at least glad the knife room was kinda small, so it's not like you'd use this room for anything else. Finding a nice spot in-between the few knives that look exactly the same and the other knives that look exactly the same. You really dreaded the day you'd have to start hanging knives on the walls. Or just sticking the knives in there like some freaky countryman.

With the knives In their new home you felt satisfied enough to leave the shiny room, which you did with little complications! The door that's weird to open is weird to close, you still needed to do that stupid maneuver.

Heading back to what you called the living room, you happily slid over to the record player you definitely didn't steal. You had a little bookshelf beside it with all the records you found and liked. It was mostly just everything you found, you weren't going to pass up any music in this world. Your favorite was this Queen record you found, it was Queens greatest hits. Which the greatest hits might not hold your favorite Queen songs but it still had really awesome songs. It's Queen, of course there's awesome songs on it.

Carefully you put it on the player, and moved the thing that you didn't know the name of onto the record and started playing your music. Holding your hands up like if you touched it you'd break it, you backed up towards the couch. You knew that as soon as you sat down you were going to fall asleep, but you didn't mind.

"This sleeps gonna be awesome." Were your last words after you sat down.

You fell asleep to Bohemian Rhapsody, could you ask for anything more than this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly, a loud crash woke you up. As far as you know, that wasn't normal in your home. Slowly, you stood up. Your eyes were still blurry and you were still riddled with sleep side effects, but you made a move to the stairs.

"....The music.... It's not playing... It's been longer than like 20 minutes. That narrows it down..." You were slowly waking up.

Another loud crash sounded when you opened the basement door. It was definitely coming from outside. At least that's good to know.

You realized you forgot the door key. You didn't want to go and get it so you just opened the window and crawled out, with a bit of knocking things over. You hoped that whatever was making the loud noises didn't hear. If it was even a creature, at that.

You stopped and waited for a second, hoping another sound would come from the noisy thing.

Another sound did come, and not even a minute later. The smart half of your brain suddenly kicked in.

"Itsnoneofyourbusiness Itsnoneofyourbusiness Itsnoneofyourbusiness.... Don't be like white people in horror movies....... Damnit." You moved silently, heading to the back of the arcade instead of the bakery, as it had more cover.

You were hoping it would just be an animal being ridiculously stupid, and that's definitely what you were expecting too. The crash was followed by an unfamiliar noise, the sort of thing you'd expect to come from a tuba or other large brass instrument, but it was weirder than that at the same time, like an auto tuned tuba being operated by someone who doesn't know how to play the tuba.

What you did not expect to see was what looked like a very large and spiky rock. No wait... That's not what it was.

"Oh my god, what the fuck" you whispered as you ducked more behind the building that was currently blocking you from the thing on the road.

It was laying on the road, so that's why you would think it's a large, green, spiky rock but you've never seen a rock that looks like that and by this point you're pretty sure you've seen all kinds of rocks. A second point that changed your mind from rock completely was that it moved. It was moving. Rocks don't move. You'd say that whatever it was looked like a turtle, but turtles are not that large the last time you checked. The biggest turtle you knew existed was the Archelon and those guys were extinct, and also sea turtles. So a normal turtle? Totally off the table. Rock? Also totally off the table. Everything you could have come up with was thrown off the table. The table was thrown out the window!

"Okay okay okay. This isn't my business, this isn't my business. Not my circus, not my monkeys." You tried to convince yourself to walk away, that this was something you didn't want to deal with.

You couldn't help but stay though, it was totally new, even to the world before you became the last person on earth. You were in new territory and it was so cool.

You leaned further out, to get a better view of whatever it was. You didn't think turtles could stand like that either. Every instinct in your body was telling you to run as whatever this held its head and looked around.

If you were to die from the shot that killed everyone else you'd want it to be now. Your curiosity got the better of you and the turtle saw you. You made eye contact. A note, it had normal eyes too. It was weird. This situation was weird and now? You were screwed. Utterly screwed.

You started at the turtle and he stared at you for what felt like forever before you slid back behind the building. You didn't know if you should run, stay hidden, or go inside somewhere quick. You quickly shut up your mind, if you needed to really listen at any point it would be now. If whatever that was decides to sneak up on you what would you do? It is definitely stronger than you, you'd lose in a fight instantly.

Shoving your fear down you stood tall, preparing for what you would see when you looked around the corner again. You felt like you should've run but you wanted to be brave. You carefully grabbed the wall before the corner and leaned over, prepared to see the turtle thing still looking over from the road. What you didn't expect was the turtle basically directly in front of you, close enough you could reach out with one arm and touch it.

The feeling of dread that overcame you was something you could attribute to the feeling you'd expect a mouse to have when a lion is standing behind it and it knows.

You looked up at the turtles face. It looked extremely confused and shocked. Even worse, it now leaned down to your level. It didn't seem like a threat but you were certainly terrified. It spoke, but you couldn't understand it. You're pretty sure it's just a different language type of situation but you did not want to deal with this at all. On that thought you finally listened to your instincts and absolutely booked it down the alley. Where you were going you didn't know but hopefully it didn't either. You could hear it shout something out as you ran away, but you weren't going to stop and see it's reaction. No way were you going to get yourself captured or something. You could think about what just happened when you stopped and were safe.

You were going to run until your muscles ached. You could promise that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So gonna be a series. Apologies if it's not awesome, this is literally my first time writing something like this ever. Criticism is absolutely appreciated! <3

⭐ Next

[makigorogoro]

disorganized thoughts on fionna and cake eps 5 and 6

(Spoilers!!)

ok ive only seen the eps once each and im going off of memory so a lot of this is probably gonna be paraphrased and mixed up but whatever . also this post is really fucking long lol sorry

-OK FIRST OFF THESE WERE SO GOOD RAAAAAH

-obviously we are in the farmworld, not surprised but very happy!!!

-also not very surprised fionna and cake immediately went along with simon’s plan

-the whole time they were talking about where to find a crown i was like lol. simon don’t look behind you

-cake bringing fionna a dead rat was really funny

-the versucci gag or whatever was also really good

-but what made me die was fionna talking abt how she’s played a lot of post apocalyptic rpgs and then it pans over to “man who has actually lived through the apocalypse”

-was really cool to see how the farmworld has developed after what happened with ice finn, i think it’s interesting how they’re more technologically advanced since the first time an ice age happened in this world they pretty much reverted to medieval times (does that make sense. you know what i mean)

-i was SO convinced jay was farmworld finn’s little sibling so when he said dad my heart stopped

-the name jay didn’t immediately click until bonnie was revealed to be one of his other kid’s name and i was like HOLY SHIT PUHOY???

-veeeery interesting since assumingely golb destroyed/erased the pillow world

-i guess you could just chalk it up to finn would have named his kids the same thing in any universe?

-but i mean speaking of his kids GOD he got busy with huntress wizard

-i mean it has to be huntress wizard. one of them looks just like human hunter wizard

-sucks that she died though

-simon’s ship of theseus thing was so fucking funny oh my god he’s just like me fr (i started talking about the ship of theseus in one of my assignments a few days ago and i was like. is this too nerdy.)

-i haven’t really talked about farmworld finn yet. a little sad he turned out so cold (pun not intended oops 😭) because of what happened to him when he was younger

-good on him for saying simon was a damn fool or whatever for wanting to put the crown on lol

-i wish they actually had a talk though

-cake saying fionna should kiss him while knowing he’s just an alternate version of her??????? girl

-also farmworld jake still being alive was crazy

-so it did turn out the crown was destroyed in this world, i honestly wasn’t sure since the crown from the main world survived direct contact with a comet lol

-the romeo and juliet style romance going on between finn’s kid and big destiny’s kid was really good

-finn showing up with bartram lmao!!!!!

-dude i love bartram, the bit in finn the human where finn’s mom says that they have to sell the mule and then bartram’s head peaks out from the bed in the corner is unironically one of my favorite jokes in adventure time

-i kinda forgot what happens between here and the end

-so did farmworld finn fucking die????

-idk what happened there i sure hope not

-i really don’t know if we’re going to revisit these worlds in any capacity considering the amount of time left but i hope we do now!! i feel like we need to see what happens lmao

-now for ep 6

-wasn’t really expecting it to open on “fionna world” as they started calling it

-i was wondering how they were gonna balance gumball and marshall yaoi with what’s going on with the main trio

-they did it really well though i think

-i also wasn’t really expecting to be introduced to winter king right away once we got back to the main plot

-he definitely gave me weird vibes right from the start im gonna be honest lol

-blaah i don’t really remember what happens between that and the winter wonder world sequence

-so ill just talk about that. holy fuck

-every review i read before the show came out was really hyping this scene up and i get why now

-was really cool to see the beyond the grotto animation again and the song was so good it’s still stuck in my head

-but the moment the winter king said he overcame the crown with sheer will i was like. um. im calling bs

-i was just thinking however it did happen though i have a bad feeling about! felt really bad for simon and when he said that he sucked i was like. oh no ☹️ dude

-the moment i saw little ice marcy pretty much cemented it for me i was like oh no something fucked up is happening here. tbh i still can’t really figure out what happened with that but given what the winter king said about making an ice betty. uhhhhhhhhhh

-OH YEAH cake once again saying simon and the winter king should kiss . GIRL WHAT ARE YOU ON

-i looooved crazy pb

-i remember when people were saying she was a marcy pb child lmao.

-simon saying that he wanted to “fix her” while the winter king just wanted to kill her was really interesting. im trying to figure out what it means lol. like we know that simon wants to be the ice king again but also now knowing he would want to fix and save someone from that madness…idk

-her song was really good

-her playing those ominous notes on her keyboard made me laugh

-i haven’t really talked about gumball (im not calling him gary im sorry) and marshall. i thought they were really cute!!! could definitely see marcy and pb meeting in a similar way

-the juxtaposition between gumball talking about his creations to fionna fighting the fucked up versions of them was really cool

-i hope gumball doesn’t take what the lemoncarbs said to heart . they’re just like that

-ok so. I was honestly more shocked that fionna kissed (a version of) simon than him disintegrating seconds after lmaooooo

-i have to wonder why he immediately died here when in betty (the episode) he was dying relatively slowly without the crown’s magic

-ive been writing down a bunch of crack theories and the first thing ive gotten right was the winter king transferring his craziness to pb lol lets goooo

-i was thinking that simon might’ve transferred it himself but then i was like nooo he wouldn’t do that….apparently he would do that

-idk despite how he seemed i think the winter king was still a little insane in the membrane.

-maybe the crown was still influencing him in some way? and that’s the message here? idk

-i can’t believe bi fionna is real

-back to gumball and marshall. gumball describing slumber party panic……oh my jod 🥺🥺🥺

-the baby world was so cute

-“and i’ll be cursed the right way” simon do you fucking hear yourself

Ok that’s definitely not all i have to say but this post is long enough lmao ,, god this show is SO GOOD i can’t believe it’s real. ok that’s all

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of working on my taxes

11pm, sunday, march 26, 2023

big ol' spoilers for the second book of the scholomance series and the movie RRR (2022)! plus a song you likely haven't heard of, a puzzle game, and assorted ramblings. it's an ilcb, what can i say.

reading stayed up later than i intended this past thursday and then couldn't settle until i'd stayed up even later, finishing the last graduate (naomi novik). some stuff in a deadly education which irked me remained true in this one-- big example, so much of how el relates to people, orion specifically but the enclavers in general, is to be shocked because they don't understand something that ~everyone else gets~, which? i guess effectively introduces us to her attitude and stance towards the world, and (to a lesser extent) to the world itself, but el saying 'we all never did x' or 'everyone thought y' always made me want to ask, how do you know this? having a first-person narrator do exposition about the world is one thing, but having them make general statements about attitudes or thoughts of other people (especially when that same first-person narrator has supposedly spent her first three+ years a social outcast?) just got to me after a while. although, definitely believable as a smarter-than-you high schooler. and, on the flip side, i think that there were enough moments in this one where el had her assumptions challenged, or the things that 'everyone just got' were turned upside down, that i will accept it as a narrative choice. i love a book that establishes a system and then explodes it-- for that, i definitely prefer this one to its precursor. and i ended up really feeling for the scholomance itself! all its sass and vicious attempts to uphold its mission took on this really moving flavor by the end.

also working on: jasmine throne, ebook; dial a for aunties, audiobook; the brothers karamazov, ebook (for bedtimes); and vol. three of heaven official's blessing (print).

watching watched RRR (2022) over the course of the week, with a break at the 1.5hour mark where there's a clear intermission. because of that, i think by the time i'd come back for the second 'act', i'd more or less acclimated and wasn't as shocked or overwhelmed by the Sensory Everything of it anymore? so despite the massive ~reveal~ in the second act, that rama raju has been under deep cover the whole time he's been working his way up in the ranks of the army, i wasn't quite as hype the second time. also, i feel like that deep cover reveal actually simplified his character for me; i had been sort of fascinated by the idea that he was a sincere supporter of the people oppressing him, and was fascinated to try and understand why, what from his past had caused that, and how he could possibly be brought around or what could change his mind-- so the fact that all of it had been a pain-staking act felt like a removal of a layer of complexity, rather than an addition? plus, like-- just because you beat and killed innocent people for the sake of maintaining your cover, doesn't mean you...didn't beat and kill them...but it was very Tragic and Difficult for him, you know. and i guess in a way, the decision to break his cover for the sake of trying to salvage bheem's friendship, and support bheem doing what was right, does mean that he had a major change of heart? i liked the water-coded-character balancing out the fire-coded-character, i liked the song and dance numbers esp. naatu naatu, i liked the hyper-color saturation and the bromance. both of the leads killed it, and good lord ram charan is outrageously, offensively good-looking. he had a little of the jason momoa eyebrow in the later half, with the long hair? you agree.

also watched: crazy, stupid, love (2011) which was a really interesting look back into an era of film and society which i did live through but which i was not, like, paying attention to at the time; episode 14 of bossam: steal the fate with @hematiterings which will deserve its own segment soon, it continues to impress and constantly surprise us; and the first episode of the new season of shadow and bone which as someone who read the crow books but none of the actual s+b series was a great time. i love seeing these characters, i love seeing this world, i have a lot more affection for it now that there are these faces and these visual aesthetics attached, it makes all of it far more interesting. big crush remains on jessie mei li, surprising myself by also now appreciating nina in a new and serious way.

listening new hozier good. new fall out boy good. others more qualified and knowledgeable than i will be able to tell you why, but right now the strings-into-big powerful rock chords buildup that happens in 'love from the other side' is just playing on a loop in my head. but in the last week i think i actually listened to this song the most, a surprise from my spotify discover weekly which i wasn't thinking too hard about and then the steel? guitar? chiming in the background really sank in and i couldn't get enough of it. it's not not surf rock. the chorus is a groove. the ambivalence about gender is a bop. i don't know anything about NoSo, but now i'd like to.

playing two different weekend visits to my friend with gamepass means i've gotten to try out a bunch of different great games lately. failed quite spectacularly at a crash bandicoot racing game (couldn't resist picking my lil guy based on cute vibes over, like, driving features); laughed ourselves to fucking tears playing the fighting (?) game gang beasts (your fighters are so floppy); and then today we had quite a good time with escape academy in two player mode. honestly so satisfying and good, but the puzzles are legitimately tricky and i think i'd have gotten very frustrated on my own. it felt like doing an escape room, in the best way, in that you could shout out what you were seeing at one side of the room and the other person could be playing with the lock and inputting what you were saying, etc. the character design on the different npcs is very good, the art and all the design is great; i am very curious to get more of the lore about the founders (a group of friends who all have a lot of Past, it's almost locked tomb-esque, if i may); there are many. many. puns.

making daubed some superglue on the broken egg cup! ended up breaking it a little bit more in the process, but it's back together now. not my neatest job, but better than it was. also trimmed up the weird dangling tree limb over the back porch, put the christmas lights and wreath in the basement at last, and sent a card i'd been sitting on for far too long. this hasn't quite unclogged my letter-and-card-writing flow, but it's a start.

working on two zoom talks down, one and a half summer jobs applied for, one summer travel grant due at the end of the week, and now actual chapter writing to get back to. since nobody seems to notice or mind if my committee doesn't meet until after the semester is over (oops), i've got a bit of extra time. for now, the real challenge is probably catching up on RA hours i've neglected this month, since those are actual income hahahah alas. luckily, i think a friend solved one of the mystery words i'd been stuck on in this round of RAship work, which will help a bit this week.

[blackjackkent]

The path through this side of the oubliette is VERY gross. Dead bodies hang from the ceiling and there are several intellect devourers wandering around. Clicking on one of them elicits the reply "DOWN. DOWN. DOWN. SHE WAITS," and also causes Hector to comment, "They're not attacking. Seems they think we're allies."

I'm very curious to get here on my stream playthrough now, where we saved and befriended Us. I'm still holding out hope that Us is still alive and this is the first place we've seen intellect devourers since the start of the game. XD (No spoilers pls.)

And hey, look, we found the weird guy we heard singing from the other side of the oubliette when we were there before, surrounded by massive piles of dead bodies.

Seems pleasant. Let's go talk to him I guess.

"The stench," Hector says as they approach. "I wonder how many pilgrimages to Moonrise ended down here."

The bugbear, dazed and bewildered, speaks only one word as Hector approaches.

"Chop."

Narrator: No will sparks behind his eyes. His mind has been hollowed out, to better echo the commands of the collective. You could kill it, end its miserable life of enslavement. Surely that would be the humane thing to do...

The narrator woke up this morning and chose violence. (Though I don't think Hector disagrees with her.)

Narrator: Or you could take advantage of its vulnerability and plunder what's left of its hollow mind for anything that could serve you.

These two things aren't really mutually exclusive I think. But we'll avoid the tadpole check since it seems mean and just ask some regular questions.

"What is this place?"

"Nur. Sery. Here. They become."

"Become what?"

"Part of One Mind. Four little feet. Dancing. To same song."

Narrator: With a lurch, you realize he means the intellect devourers. Here the brains are harvested, made part of the hivemind.

Yuck.

"What did you do to all these people?"

"Chop. Chop. Help them. Become?"

"I need to find your master - Ketheric."

Immediately the bugbear's whole attitude shifts. His head ducks and his eyes close, and his voice trembles with either reverence or terror. "Mas. Ter? No. Down. Deep. One of Three. ONE OF THREE."

Hector frowns. This creature's miserable existence has only one possible end; he feels more than a little pity for it in spite of the brutality of its work. "Why don't I send you to join all these creatures you butchered?" he asks quietly, and though it is a threat, his voice is calm.

He suspects the bugbear might welcome it - and he is correct. The creature's eyes close and it draws its head back expectantly. "Yes. Yes... please..."

----

Not a hard fight, although all the intellect devourers in the area (five) also became hostile and had to be taken out as well.

Further upsetting things to be found after the fight -

The bugbear was carrying this:

A letter on a bloodsoaked table:

And a note on the opposite side of the room:

This place is even more upsetting than it appeared on initial landing.