#this got rambly but i hope you enjoy the artist's commentary! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mittensmorgul · 3 years ago

Text

For anyone interested in long-term residence in the supernatural fandom, please have some observations I’ve made over the decade I’ve been here. Take it or leave it as you will, but I’ve found all of this info useful over the years I’ve been here.

I wrote this yesterday, and it achieved its mission of identifying the sort of folks who would react negatively to it (i.e. a lot of block lists have been updated), so now that it’s been edited for content, it’s going under a cut (because that is how we do things on tumblr in general, unless we have a deliberate purpose for annoying readers with excessively long text posts) for the sake of people who actually do care about the fandom and its history. If that’s not you or your reason for being here, then keep on keeping on with your own thing, I guess. For those who are interested, there’s a lot of fandom resources some of us have been building for years that you might enjoy knowing about.

First off, I’ve been informed by a few friends who’ve read through this for coherency’s sake that it sort of reads like a *shakes cane from porch* fandom grandma complaint, but honestly... I earned this rocking chair and goshdangit imma rock now. So apologies for any “back in my day” vibes or faint aroma of tiger balm this post might give off. Then again, it’s loosely based on a similar post from 2012 so like... time is a flat circle anyway I guess.

1. There is no such thing as “tumblr famous,” unless you’re referring to the hilarious and delightful fic of the same name (please go read it, you will cackle). Posting Hot Takes for imaginary Clout™ on this site is kind of pointless in the long run. Sure you can post solely for the sake of stirring shit and getting notes, but the majority of the folks who do aren’t long term residents of the fandom. They’re just tourists moving through our little beach town for spring break. If you’re actually intent on moving to this corner of the fandom for an extended stay, please bother to really feel out the permanent residents and understand the culture and general mood of the neighborhood. It bears no resemblance to whatever��s going on across town where all the bars and beach parities are happening, and those loud, drunken revelers are, again, gonna disappear back to their regular lives or on to the next party eventually. That doesn’t mean the fandom is dying, it’s just evolving.

(funny how I had several comments implying that I’m just trying to keep the fandom from evolving with this post, because I sincerely do want the fandom to continue on for years to come, and that is impossible without evolution. We can evolve without self-immolating, though. mostly i included point 1 for an excuse to push ancient but hilarious fanfic on you.)

2. Once you post something here, it’s been unleashed to the fandom winds. You never know where it will end up, or who will comment on it or add to it. Remember that time Misha tweeted the link to the Epic Cockles Love Story post? No? It was wild. That was 2012. They all know we’re here, and how to find us if they want to. Please don’t take it to their doorsteps.

Obviously if someone is being a dick on your posts, please feel free to block them, but the whole entire point of this site is to engage people with your posts. Being big mad that someone reblogged your post with comments or supporting evidence, or happy headcanons or “HECK THIS IS GREAT BECAUSE (insert personal story about their experience or whatever else made them Feel Things about your post)” is frankly ridiculous. If your goal is to avoid any sort of engagement with your posts, then maybe try instagram instead. From what I understand, there is a SPN fandom presence there, and nobody can tarnish your original posts with unwanted commentary. But the ability to reblog with additional commentary is a FEATURE of tumblr that builds community through conversation. Otherwise we’re all just talking to ourselves in a vacuum, and that’s what actually kills fandoms.

(and for the folks who just want to blog how they want to blog and don’t want people to engage on their posts at all, please feel free to block anyone you want, as well... nobody wants to step on your toes, but most of us also don’t want to walk on eggshells wondering if this post is one of the “do not add comments for any reason” sorts of posts, either. This is a huge fandom and most people can’t even begin to keep track of every creator and their url du jour, and what their personal rules might be regarding interaction with their content. Including a “please don’t add comments” note at the bottom of your posts-- and not in your tags that won’t even show up on reblogs, but in the actual body of the post-- would sincerely help avoid any awkward or unwanted interactions, too. At the end of the day, you are in control of your own fandom experience and the block button exists.

For the record, I block zero fandom blogs (which is why I posted this, I wanted it to reach a wide scope... refer to the opening paragraphs as to why).

3. Since this post was partly inspired by a tag I left on that post going around about how “previous tags” mean fuckall on this site (which you can read here), just a reminder that if you like someone’s tags or feel they add value to the post, part of the Peer Review structure of tumblr encourages you to PASTE THEM INTO A REBLOG. If you do this, then at least credit the person who actually wrote the tags! Don’t just copy someone else’s tags into your tags on your reblog of the post without credit either. They were not YOUR tags. (I have had this happen to tag rambles I wrote and someone else got credited with them on a subsequent reblog and it is FRUSTRATING). Just... don’t even bother to write “previous tags” because WHAT PREVIOUS TAGS?! Nobody is gonna bother to chase back the chain of reblogs trying to find where the mystery tags came from, friendos. That way lies madness.

(for the record, since some folks seemed to focus on this point solely, writing “previous tags” on a post isn’t inherently a BAD thing, but for anyone who actually is here for more than one-off shitposting, then it’s sort of a pointless thing in the long run. This wasn’t intended to suggest people who ARE here for one-off shitposting are bad or “doing it wrong,” but for people who might actually want to preserve that hilarious joke or insightful comment. People delete posts and entire blogs all the time around here. Links break. I get that the upcoming generation just shrugs at that and moves on with their lives, but heck... you don’t have to accept that all entertainment is disposable if you don’t want to. There’s a bizarre sort of nihilism plaguing us all about the impermanence of pretty much everything that feels like something we should be fighting against rather than buying into wholesale, even in our escapist entertainment. I’m just exhausted by the complete loss of joy in community.

*shouts from the peanut gallery* IT AIN’T THAT DEEP, JUST GET SOME FRESH AIR AND LOOK AT A PUPPY OR SOMETHING

Yes... yes it isn’t really that deep, but bigger picture in the state of reality we’re all entirely disillusioned with, are we supposed to just give up on everything, including the things we cling to because they bring us a tiny spark of hope that we’re not all just trapped in this dystopian nightmare and things might actually be worth living for?

*peanut gallery clinging to burnt husks of peanuts in a barren peanut field* but this is how we have chosen to cope

Okay... you do you... I feel bad for you but if that’s the case then this post is NOT FOR YOU. AND THAT’S FINE. I honestly do not care if you don’t care! I mean, I’m sorry anyone has to live in a world that drives them to that mindset, but I understand. This post is for anyone who might look at their lives and their choices and think “no wait, I unironically enjoy this and want more from the experience of that enjoyment than I’m currently feeling.” Everyone else can continue with their lives as usual.)

4. CONTENT THEFT IS NEVER OKAY. PERIOD. Things like “credit to the artist” or tagging gifs or images you found on pinterest as “not mine” isn’t actually credit. If you can’t source an image or gif set, DO NOT POST IT! We don’t REPOST (i.e. save an image and then create a new post with it as if it was our own creation). We REBLOG (click the little square arrows and reblog from the actual creator). That goes for gif sets, fanvids, screencaps, meta, fic... everything.

(hopefully everyone here already understands this one, but I felt compelled to include some “these are stupidly obvious” reminders anyway, since this is ostensibly some sort of advice column. This is the equivalent of the warning label on your toaster reminding you not to use it in the bath. Like... duh...)

5. Close kin of item 4 is SOURCE YOUR SHIT.

(for 100% disclosure purposes, I specifically discussed this one in this specific way because of an influx of anon ask messages I received in the wake of the finale. Literally the inciting incident for creating this entire post was what I can only assume was a joking ask about a comment Misha made at a con years ago. Someone actually bothered to take the time to type out those sentences to me. I have no idea what they were expecting in reply, or what could possibly motivate them to send this comment about something so entirely random from, again, several years ago. Just a joke? No idea, but whatever... it got me thinking that there might actually be people who are new to the fandom who MIGHT actually care about the fandom history, and maybe they just don’t know where to go for that info, or how to even begin searching through 16 years of history for things they might actually find enjoyment in, rather than just hauling random out of context garbage out on main and pointing and laughing about it now. People are actually allowed to care about things. It’s not cringeworthy to actually care about things, and you are not alone in actually caring, and there’s this whole big room over here full of people who are thrilled to share in that with you. This post is intended FOR THOSE PEOPLE SPECIFICALLY, so if that is not you, please just continue walking by.)

Yes, I know lots of y’all are new around here right now, but dredging up stuff from years ago that fandom has completely debunked and presenting it as TRU FAX again is just exhausting. We’re not trying to be party poopers, but seriously, we have seen it all and are mostly done with extinguishing bags of flaming dog poop on our front porches for the umpteenth year in a row. I’ve seen a lot of posts that have the same tone as “I saw Goody Proctor dancing with the devil” or “I heard kylo ren has an eight pack” and just... the information is there for anyone who cares enough to find it.

This goes double for “why is nobody talking about this thing I just discovered while watching the show for the first time?!” And, oh hon, we have talked it all into the ground over the last fifteen years. We’re happy you’re discovering it again, but I promise we talked about it plenty when the episodes originally aired. We have such a rich meta history that lots of us have worked really hard to preserve. I encourage you to seek it out, if nothing else than as historical artifacts. The way we have discussed the show has been a 16-year evolution. People have written literal doctoral dissertations on this show. Your shitposts are fun! We love reliving our own experience through fresh eyes, and seeing your wonder at experiencing it all again for the first time! But y’all didn’t invent this fandom in the last six months, either.

Meta Sources and Minerals provided by our friendly neighborhood fandom archivist, @lets-steal-an-archive

Academic books and articles about SPN

A collection of Meta Essays going back to s1 and organized by topic (all of this has happened before, all of it will happen again)

SPN Heavy Meta Archive (s1-3)

Mel’s Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-12)

Oranges8hands Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-15, with many similar entries to Mel’s... though ymmv on viewpoint in a lot of these too)

Anyone remember Fandom Wank? Not the concept but the actual LJ... No? Okay have a link to SPN topics that ended up there. Through 2013. We have seen so much... including several fandom containment breaches.

for all your art sourcing needs, please see @theroadsofararchive, the repository for so much fandom art.

need to find a gif of something? canonspngifs is a vast repository of gifsets of the entire series. If the gif you want to use in your post happens to be the first gif in the gifset, in the tumblr gif finder thingy just paste the permalink to that post from canonspngifs (which is easily searchable by episode, character, location, situation, quotes, and sometimes even color and clothing items the actors are wearing... it’s really well organized, especially for tumblr >.>) and the first gif will be automatically linked with credit to the gif creator attached. It makes life easy that way. It’s also convenient when trying to remember something specific but can’t remember what episode it’s from. I’ve used the site to jog my memory before going to the superwiki armed with more specific search results to find episode quotes and references. Or sometimes I just scroll through all the nice gifs for fun, too.

Need a screencap of something and know exactly which episode it’s from? Try Home of the Nutty. You might not find the exact screencap you’re looking for, but they have a complete set of caps of every episode, and it’s an incredibly useful resource for quick reference checks and the like. Just give pages a chance to fully load before clicking on the next one. The site is easily overloaded, but it’s still free to use (and again, with credit... Pretty much every screencap on my entire blog is from HotN unless otherwise credited).

As you can see, this is a fandom built on preserving our history. You absolutely are not required to engage with any of this if that’s not of interest to you, but I can only assume that there are people who would be interested in it if only they knew it existed and how to find it. Well, now they do.

6. A few more notes on tags, and how they work on tumblr. The first 20 tags on your ORIGINAL posts are searchable sitewide, so if you want to be able to find something again, tag that thing first before going on general tag rambles. The only place tags on reblogs are searchable is on your own blog. So you don’t have to put 50 tags trying to get a post seen if it’s a reblog. You’re just spitting into the wind at that point. If you have a filing system for finding things again, then by all means add those tags (again, in the first 20, so they’re searchable), but you don’t need to tag a reblog “destiel” and “deancas” and “dean” and “cas” and “dean x cas” or whatever. Pick one for your personal blog’s filing system, that’s all you need.

(this was only added because tagging and searching on this site is so very broken... I get that a lot of folks don’t care about ever searching their own blogs again for anything, so this one only really applies if you do often find yourself trying to find old posts. If not, then it’s not really relevant. It took me years to work out a decent tagging system, and at the beginning of my time here I never thought I’d end up camping out here for a decade and falling this deep into the fandom, and I regretted my lack of consistent tags only years later when I realized I actually wanted to be able to go back and find specific old posts again. So... for anyone who wants to err on the side of caution, working out a sensible tagging system really helps if you’re here for the long term. I personally tag content by episode, because some of my other general tags are so large as to be practically useless as a search term. But whatever system you choose to file stuff on your own blog, it really only has to make sense to you. And again, if this is pointless advice for someone who has no intention of settling here for the long term. Please feel free to ignore it. I just wish someone had explained it this way to me ten years ago and saved me the hassle of retroactively tagging something like 30k posts... especially now that using the mass tag replacer is the fastest way to get your entire blog deleted... oops? so yeah, don’t use the mass tag replacer either >.>)

7. Tags on Tumblr DO NOT WORK LIKE TAGS ON TWITTER. If you @ someone in the body of the post, it will show up in their notifications (if they’re the sort of person who even checks their notifications... not all of us do. For the record, I generally don’t...), but putting actor or ship names in the tags on a tumblr post does absolutely nothing. It’s not the same as tagging the actor’s twitter account in a tweet. Nobody’s getting notifications about you tagging a post about Jensen here as “Jensen Ackles.” There is a difference. Please learn it. (and don’t take headcanons and ESPECIALLY RPF or otherwise explicit art or fic from tumblr to twitter and tag the actors in it. That’s just... not okay.)

(I have seen the pearl clutchers getting all in a huff about the mere existence of RPF or even explicit content of fictional characters if it doesn’t meet their purity standards, but tagging those things allows people who don’t want to see it to actively avoid that content here. Nobody has a right to tell people their fictional content shouldn’t exist at all, or that creators of that fictional content somehow deserve harassment or threats for having dared to create such “immoral” content, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children... and no... you do not do that here. Don’t be the problematic behavior you wish to ban from the world. Learn to use tags to protect yourself from, as i have attempted to emphasize here, fictional content you are personally upset by. That’s a you problem, not a problem for the creators of potentially upsetting content that they tag appropriately for.)

8. General formatting stuff: If you’re writing long text posts, visually break them up so people aren’t faced with one long wall of text. The enter key is your friend. Also, if you put long text posts under a Read More break and send people to your blog to finish reading, please ensure that your blog is actually visually accessible (tiny text, or light grey text on a dark grey background, or a visually busy background might be aesthetically pleasing to you but nobody can actually read it. Loads of folks won’t even try. Which is great if you don’t actually care whether people are able to appreciate your content or not, but something to at least consider if you *do* actively want to encourage engagement with your work. Confirm how your blog looks on both mobile and desktop and make sure it’s actually functional in both, too).

And since I mentioned that most of my experience on fandom tumblr has been in the SPN fandom, here’s a bit of a reminder for folks who are new around here. With the reminder that I have been here more than a decade and still feel like a newbie myself sometimes...

This is an OLD FANDOM. There are many, many people who have been at this longer than some of you have been alive. The average age for creators in this fandom is older than you think (I think of my friends in their 30′s as young’ins okay? okay). With that understood, you are responsible for the content you consume and are exposed to. Curate your experience. Ship and let ship. YKINMKATOK. Don’t deliberately expose yourself to content you find upsetting for whatever reason. Tags and warnings are your friends, not targets for you to attack in some sort of purity war. People will ship things you do not like (or in specific ways you do not like), will say things you do not agree with, and will find their happiness in things you abhor. That is not your concern. Find what you do like, and support and engage with it, and ignore (or block, or unfollow) the rest. Tumblr has a feature that lets you blacklist tags so the content you’re trying to avoid won’t appear on your dash.

Remember the paradox of tolerance.

It is not your job in fandom to police how other people enjoy the fandom. It’s not *my* job to police how *you* enjoy the fandom, UNLESS your enjoyment is in actively harming other real human beings in the fandom. If you don’t like their take on the character or the show or the plotlines or their ships or anything else, you don’t need to engage with their posts at all! The necessary corollary to this is that clarifying misunderstandings or correcting factual misinformation is not “policing.”

(this is where the peanut gallery reminds me it ain’t that deep, and I plead with them to put down the social media and find just one (1) thing to actually believe in in this godforsaken life, find something other than disdain and cynicism and spite to live for. If those things motivate you to find a larger cause for yourself, then great, use them to your advantage, but use them to find something that makes you a better person or brings you a modicum of joy and connection to your fellow human beings despite living in a dystopian hellscape of a world)

I have seen a lot of posts lately that are founded on the sort of authority that comes with “I watched through tumblr for a few months and then watched the last three episodes of the series” and as such are just... missing the larger context of the entire show, and are unfounded entirely in canon. I 100% appreciate the new enthusiasm for the fandom that we’ve been living in here for years, and it’s wonderful to see new people enjoying the thing we love. Your headcanons are valid, you are valid, but recognize that your headcanons aren’t canon. All of us finale denialists have accepted this in some measure, so we feel you. We truly, truly feel you. But regarding actual canon, we have a resource for that: the Superwiki. Learn it, live it, love it, as Metatron would say.

(which you could discover he said in 10.17 Inside Man, thanks to the superwiki! accept no substitutes!)

(and again, there have been people who have been involved in fandom for years who haven’t engaged with canon in years, either! You can play in this universe however you choose, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CANON AT ALL, WHICH I AM AGAIN POINTEDLY SAYING MIGHT NOT BE YOU, READER, AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE WRONG FOR NOT WANTING TO ACTUALLY ENGAGE WITH CANON, but if you DO want to engage with canon, please have some useful resources. Why do people feel personally attacked by being presented a list of helpful resources? Absolutely baffling.)

(also: words have definitions. “Canon” is a specific thing, meaning in this case “the finished media product that aired on television.” Anything beyond those limits is secondary canon (think: john’s journal, which is not canon but canon adjacent at best...), word of god (i.e stuff said by the writers and showrunners), or headcanon (which includes actor commentary-- they may have helped create the show with their acting choices and whatever, but they are not in control of the story overall). If there’s something you dislike about actual canon, you can reject it and supplement it with your own theories or preferred outcomes-- that’s basically what fanfic is-- but that doesn’t make your theories canon (much to all our dismay, that’s just not how any of this works. This is not to invalidate how anyone engages with the show or the fandom, just trying to clarify what seems to have been a source of unintentional misunderstandings. Your theories do not have to be “canon” to be legitimate interpretations.)

***I am setting this section apart, and did make a separate post of just this following information, because this is where we go from being relatively chill about different parts of fandom choosing to interact in different ways and you do you and blog however you want, to “hey can everybody please understand that the way you are interacting with this specific material might be harmful for specific legal reasons, and stating that you do not care about the consequences of your actions does actively make you the asshole here...” Okay, now that we have that understood:

The spnscripthunt collective has been steadily acquiring new scripts (which are posted in full on the superwiki for everyone to enjoy, for free). The language around how some folks are talking about these scripts is... concerning. For very real legal reasons, actually, and not because we’re feeling precious about the collection and don’t wike it when meanies use them in shitposts.

-First off, these scripts are not “leaks.” They are all verified and legally purchased (or gifted, in some cases, but still acquired entirely above board. we didn’t whack anyone over the head in a back alley for these scripts, or swipe them out of someone’s trailer on set).

(in case anyone was unaware, these scripts are the copywritten protected property of Warner Brothers. So yes, how we use them and share them with the fandom could have legal repercussions. We present them as a collected resource of fandom history which SHOULD fall under Fair Use doctrine, but this is untested legal water. Insinuating that the scripts are somehow not entirely legally obtained, or that posting them for public access involved less than 100% transparent and entirely legal transactions is incredibly concerning.

Once again for the peanut gallery, if you don’t care about any of that and are just having a good time with it, at least be mindful of the work and expense a large group of people have gone through to acquire and present the content you’re all too eager to exploit for cheap thrills. Some of us do actually care and are not exactly comfortable with the fact that others don’t seem to care about burning it all to the ground. We can’t force you to listen or behave as we’d hope you might, but at least be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. All we’re asking is for you to not be the douchebag who sets the whole neighborhood on fire with your illegal fireworks display. Is that too much to ask for? more on that in a second, first... a psa)

-If you see a script for sale and are unsure if it’s legit (or believe it might already be freely available in our collection), please feel free to ask us for advice. Our goal is to make as much of our fandom history available to the entire fandom, and we absolutely do not want anyone shelling out money for stuff you can already find for free.

(seriously, we’ve seen a bunch of resellers cropping up selling printed versions of the scripts we bought and uploaded for everyone to enjoy free of charge, or scripts that are otherwise of dubious origin. We’ve been at this for years now and know what’s actually out there. We don’t want anyone to fall for a scam if we can help it)

-Also, the usual reminder that the scripts we acquire ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL SHOOTING DRAFTS. In fact, the majority of scripts in our collection are NOT. Changes are made daily to scripts, even during filming. Comparing a Production Draft (white pages, effectively the first “final draft” of what usually becomes a series of drafts before filming wraps) to a much later revision (say... green or goldenrod revisions, several of which we DO have in our collection for comparison) and how those earlier drafts often differ wildly from the aired version versus how similar a much later green draft is to the aired version, for example, can teach you a lot about the television writing process. The link above to the superwiki scripts page has a nice little explainer about how this process works.

Differences between our posted scripts (many of which are white drafts, aka FIRST complete drafts, which will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before filming even begins) and the aired version of the show are not all “acting choices” or a director or editor just cutting whole scenes on a whim. It’s insulting to everyone involved in production to suggest that’s the case.

(and yeah, fine... whatever, make any sort of posts you like regarding how those changes came about, but at the very least understand that it’s not actually the truth about how any of this works. Don’t care that that’s not the truth and want to make the posts anyway because shitposting is fun and that’s the extent of your sense of humor? FINE! You’re entitled to do that! But at least you DO know the truth now, and hopefully so do the people who engage with your posts. Deliberate ignorance isn’t cute, smooth lions notwithstanding)

There’s probably a whole other post to be made on fandom tagging etiquette, but again I don’t really use the tags enough to know what’s going on with that whole situation. I’ve also probably left a lot of stuff out, so please feel free to add things I’ve overlooked.

Thanks also to @trisscar368 and @thayerkerbasy for help compiling this, too. They were kind enough to escort me through the park to feed these pigeons. Now I need to take them out for ice cream. :’D

So I guess welcome to the neighborhood. Make yourself at home, but like... try not to trash the place while you’re here. Some of us live here by choice, lol.

#this blue hellsite (affectionate)#fandom problems #kinda wish i'd made this post six months ago but here we are i guess lol #long post #now edited for the people who are actually personally invested in the fandom #thanks for participating in this little experiment and I hope this version is actually informative to those who are interested #meaning there's a lot more links to stuff and explainers and whatnot...#and one last reminder that for folks just swinging through for laughs absolutely none of this applies to you #if you are legit interested in fandom history and preservation as we move to the post-canon world then hopefully this is useful to you

382 notes · View notes

praphit · 3 years ago

Text

A message from Reverend Candyman

Before I even entered the theater, I was mad. I was mad due to certain people on social media stating that this film is "too woke", "super-woke", "BLM propaganda", etc, etc.

I'm not saying that they're right or wrong, at this point, but how did those people not know what they were getting into? Did they not watch any "Candyman" films before this? Do they not know of Jordan Peele's previous film productions? Have they never seen any of Key & Peele? It's mostly race stuff!

Some of them were probably only hate-watching. There a re a handful of pundits I like to hate-watch. Sometimes, getting heated by their takes fuels my work days. But, I know what I’m doing to myself... *smh* but these people.

I didn't stay mad for long though, because Nia DaCosta, the director of "Candyman", is on point! This whole movie, strictly from a cinematic view, is very cool. How bout that?? "The Rambling Praphit says Candyman is VERY COOL." :) She'll be working on the next Capt Marvel movie.

Most people did not like that movie (I'm excluded from that crowd). Marvel is so scared of the public's dislike of that movie, that they're not even calling it "Capt Marvel 2". It's just called "The Marvels"; leaving the first movie's "captain" as far away from the title as they could. I bring this up, cuz after watching "Candyman", I have high hopes for "The Marvels".

In the trailer we see some shadow puppet type action going on to tell Candyman's story.

So, if you haven't seen the 1992 film, you can get mostly caught up. A creative way to knock out exposition.

They still didn't get into why Candyman rocks a pimpish coat. Or why he's called "Candyman". I mean... they address the name, kinda... (Razor blades in candy - also seen in the trailer) but there's a bit of a hole in the timeline of that story. Plus, how would Candyman (a vengeful spirit) even have the time or patience required to put razor blades in hard candy? If he were an actual pimp named "Candyman", it would make more sense... but anyway...

The main character (Anthony, played by Yahya Adbul Mateen II)

needed more of Candyman's story , so he went into the depths to find more horror, and he found it. Now, there's a white woman, who's the main character in the 1992 version, who does the same thing, and... let's just say things end poorly for her, and Anthony is foolishly following in her footsteps.

He's a broke visual artist, but thankfully he's got himself a suga mama (played by Teyonah Parris) ,

a not-so-broke art gallery director named Brianna. Lesson number one, you broke artists - gym membership.

Follow the path of Yahya. He’s the only hard candy mama needs! Keep that suga mama money coming to fuel your art.

I appreciate this couple though - a lot of times (in movies) we see black couples where the woman is struggling to feed the kids with like 3 or 4 jobs, while the man juggles cheating on her, being involved with drugs, and dreaming of one day being the greatest rapper there ever was. We've been there and done that with black movie couples enough.

But, Candyman can't allow this couple to be too happy, so the killing begins!

Say his name 5 times! He dares you! After the fifth time, he appears to brutally kill you. What kind of game is that? I could see if it was a 50/50 chance - win some money or die, but straight up 100% death? Who would play such a game??

"Let's go to the top of a snowy, slippery mountain. Let's slide down it with crazy speed and immovable objects in our way." Who’s game?

(white people)

"Let's take a detour through the woods, at night, right pass the area where those teenagers were murdered, LAST NIGHT... I don't think they ever caught the perp. Oh, well... let's go!" Who’s going?

(white people)

So, who will play the candyman name game? - white people, of course :)

I heard someone say that Candyman is only killing white people. That’s not true #1, but #2 - they’re the ones mostly playing this game.

No, this isn't just some movie about a black, pimpish, man with a hook, killing white people. We've got story as well.

Three parts to this story, actually:

The look -

Which I mentioned is great! The gruesome horror elements and the killings are well done. In fact, the kill scenes are so good that I wanted to see more of it. A lot of the kills effectiveness come from NOT showing you the gore. There's plenty gore as well, but the balance of times when you have to imagine what's happening as people scream is also dope.

The horror part to the film is kinda slowed down though by the social commentary. part to the film: The 1992 film has this as well, but it's more subtle, and flows with the story better. This... well, I can see why some hyper-sensitive conservatives might cry "wokeism!" I disagree with their sentiment, but I get it. If this movie had come out before 2020, perhaps the feeling would be different. There's a scene that's directly addressing gentrification. It's a group of four people (three black people and a white dude) talking. The movie shows how the seemingly enlightened and likable white dude was involved in the convo, but still didn't really get it. Perhaps that's how they see a lot of their audience with this, cuz there's no subtlety going on here at all. It's more of an "F U" at times. It's effective hate-watching though.

Lastly there's the psychological part to the movie. Something has clearly gone wrong inside of Anthony, and no one seems to be taking it all that seriously.

Something is also wrong outside of Anthony as well.... as seen in the trailer, he gets stung by a bee. One of those Candyman Bees! (Not a thing, but it should be) It's... maybe... infected (they never really explain), and gets worse and worse. Why doesn't anyone demand that he go to the doctor?! Not even his suga mama says anything! You know damn well, that no matter how sexy one may be, if you've got some sort of creepy Candyman infection, that's gonna mess up that sexy-suga-money flow, y'all feel me?? And if there is some sort of ghostly infection, shouldn't we be more scared of the bees than even Candyman? He only appears when you say his name! The bees on the other hand...

I guess it's kinda real though - I could certainly see people these days getting "the candyman infection" I speak of, and saying proudly "It's not real! And I will NOT be treated!" while waving a flag, with their clearly infected hand.

These three parts collide, sloppily. It's funny, cuz the film, as I said, is heavy-handed with hot topics, but the story (particular in the third act) will confuse you. I mean, I get it, cuz I saw the original film, but had I not... ??? There's a scene when Candyman is summoned and he proceeds to kill a bunch of cops. THEY didn't even summon him! They said “Defund the Police” not kill’em! Idk if Candyman had been listening to nothing but Louis Farrakhan and Marvel’s Kilmonger nonstop during 2020, and it's all spilling over or what?? Some people are overachievers. Then he says "Spread my message" What message is that?!

Imagine if you say my name 5 times, and I appear in your kitchen, drink all of your beer, walking into your living room, and pee in the corner... then I say to you, before disappearing "Spread my Message".

You'd be like "What the hell?"

Despite this movies' flaws, I still enjoyed it. The social commentary really is important to the times we're living in, and should still be discussed, and not just discussed, by acted on. Plus, I truly am impressed by director Nia DaCosta. I do recommend that you see it, but you should probably watch the 1992 one first. Or who knows what message you'll leave with :)

Grade: generous B-

I doubt that there'll be a sequel, but if there is one, i really do hope that we can finally get to the bottom of this name thing. With Candyman, I'm still thinking drug dealer. It's not that scary of a name. Maybe CandyHOOK! Hooks wielded by maniacs are always scary.

No? Yeah, it does make me think his hook is made out of candy.

With the bees involved, perhaps "Bee Guy", or "Bee King", but... they're not really his thing. Plus, that's lame, and kinda sounds like he's buddies with Ant-Man. That could hurt his street cred. The 1992 film gets into a honey type of scenario as to the etymology. But, then, it should be "Honey Man", right? - that sounds kinda like a gigolo though. But, perhaps this is a good thing! That gives me an idea that could add some surprise to this whole name game thang! Call his name 5 times and either receive drugs, murder, a confusing sermon, or sweet, sweet lovin. Now, that's a game!

#candyman #john praphit #praphitproductions.com #Horror Movies #Movie Reviews #praphit #the marvels #captain marvel #nia dacosta #gentrification #white people #cops #blm #yahya abdul mateen ii #teyonah parris #gigolo #jordan peele

13 notes · View notes

sitp-recs · 4 years ago

Text

I never expected to be tagged in this game but the lovely @the-starryknight was generous enough to mention my reclists and at the risk of sounding pretentious I will accept this kind invitation! Thank you for thinking of me 💜

I wanna tag each and every creator on this hellsite but I know some of you already did the thing (pls ignore if that’s the case!) so I’ll tag @bixgirl1, @lqtraintracks, @the-sinking-ship, @shealwaysreads, @prolix- @dracoladon, @cibeewastaken, @veelawings, @p1013, @lazywonderlvnd, @l0vegl0wsinthedark, @maesterchill, @slytherco, @drarrytrash, @quicksilvermaid, @fluxweeed, @magpiefngrl, @punk-rock-yuppie, @andithiel, @phd-mama, @xx-thedarklord-xx, @lettersbyelise, @teacup-tai, @tinyhistory, @writcraft, @ohdrarry and anyone else who’d like to do it! No pressure whatsoever, of course :)

Top 5 of 2020

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (ish) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

1. 1k milestone celebration: I like this series because it was a statement. I’m really proud of myself for coming up with a mix of drabbles and self-indulgent recs on that week - not only I got to spread love for fics usually overlooked because of their length, I also established my blog as a safe space for all kinds of ships and kinks, which has always been my priority due to previous fandom experiences. Knowing that authors feel seen and appreciated for fics that aren’t mentioned often (if at all) is so rewarding. Hopefully this has inspired everyone else to adopt DL;DR and kinktomato in their fandom lives, as well as encouraged both authors and readers to indulge themselves more often 🙌🏼

2. Drarry for Beginners: I’ve always been a bit hesitant about making anything resembling an ultimate/must-read/classics reclist. I’ve been in the fandom for a long time but there’s so much I haven’t/won’t read and to me, reccing is still something extremely personal. I’d hate to think someone feels like they should read everything I put on my lists, because they limit the fandom and bend it to my personal tastes. It’s only a small portrait that doesn’t convey how big and diverse the Drarry universe is. That being said, I’ve received some generous and wonderful feedback about this project which makes me so very happy and relieved because I’ve worked really hard on it. I tried to put myself on a newcomer’s shoes at all times, and made sure to include different takes and styles - in fact, I selected some popular tropes then set some ground rules hoping to avoid the trap of only reccing my favorite stuff. I’m thrilled to know it’s actually helping people navigate this huge wonderful fandom, that’s all I could ask for 🙌🏼

3. Smutty reclist: another self-indulgent little thing I did recently. It was a bit insane to put all those lists together and publish two per day but I’ve had so much fun doing it! I’m quite proud of myself for accepting that I wouldn’t be able to write reviews for each fic, and understanding it would be okay, they would still be personal and special. I also like that I decided to make this something more “me” - I brushed BDSM aside and included fics with Blaise and the Weasleys because I’ve been into them lately - and the fact that people still enjoyed it was really nice :)

4. Old gems reclist: I loved this one because it was super fun to track all those old goodies down. I’m a nostalgic hoe in general and this list made me look back at the 00s with fondness and think of my “first loves” back when I was starting to read works in English. I keep telling myself I’m gonna revisit some of them when I have time but ughh they’re all ass-long epics and where’s the time to properly enjoy it 😭

5. Finally, my fave single recs! I’m particularly proud of the one I did for Modern Love - after reading the fic I thought it would be impossible to put my incoherent thoughts into words but in the end the process was pretty smooth. I knew right away what I wanted to use as the banner motif (which is usually the hardest part because I’m a pretentious shit when it comes to those) and from there everything felt so natural! I was thrilled to know one of my all-time favorite reads was written by my friend @tackytigerfic and somehow that excitement made writing down my thoughts so much easier because for once I was writing them for Tacky and not the readers. It’s one of the most emotional recs I’ve ever written and hopefully it resonated with other people! I also have a soft spot for my rec for That Old Black Magic by @bixgirl1, which I did back when my blog was still a smol baby and my commentaries were way shorter with less rambling lol. That banner is my ultimate fave, I find it so pretty and I think it captures the mood I was going for, evoking the ending’s gentle atmosphere.

#top 5 2020 #meme tag #thank you the-starrynight 💗#drarry

71 notes · View notes

softfeelingsandangstywriting · 3 years ago

Text

Whumptober: I’ve Got Red In My Ledger

Leonardo spun forward, slicing his blades down on anything that came near him in a deadly dance. Behind him, he could hear Raphael doing almost the same, anything that dared attack violently killed. He was enjoying himself, too.

Donatello and Michelangelo were definitely doing just fine, too, used to these enemies. Leonardo was pleased, glad to see them finally independent in battle.

Above them, Karai provided support, suddenly taking down an enemy that was getting a bit too close with a throwing sword or kunai, lunging down and stabbing one in the head before returning to her previous position, keeping herself both helpful and available.

Their enemies, the Kraang, were cleared out quickly with an ethic like that, nothing but metallic corpses left around, still and unmoving.

"Was that it?" Raphael called, sounding vaguely disappointed.

"It should be," Donatello chirped back as he picked around one of the bodies.

"I hope it was," Leonardo looked his swords over. Darn, he really needed to get back into the care routine he had before the space thing that happened, however he was supposed to explain that. One of the blades was chipped.

Michelangelo engaged in a game of catch with Karai, using a head as a ball while the rest of them poked around for anything useful, shouting taunts to get her off guard.

A pillar moved.

Leonardo would have brushed it off as a trick of the light, but, being as paranoid as he was, he found himself moving towards it instead.

He could have sworn he saw it move, in the far corner of the room, even if it was just a slight shift to the right-

It moved again, the cracks between plates that seemed like an artistic trend in anything made by Kraang widening.

"Guys?" Leonardo called, the panic in his voice showing as he took a few very large steps back.

The pillar was definitely moving now, slowly expanding as plates moved to reveal bunched up limbs that grabbed at whatever solid support was near to move itself upward.

Oh.

Well. That sucked.

The creature that stood before him reminded him of that one robot samurai they had to fight that one time. (He never remembered the names of the things they had to fight, but he was fairly certain that one’s name was Chrome Dome or something like that).

Behind him, banter and play stopped, everyone bracing for… Whatever Michelangelo planned on naming it.

Then it lunged.

And God was it fast. It moved fast enough to force them to try and keep up, struggling more and more by the second as they had already been coming down from their previous battle. Their mistake. Weapons bounced off its metal plating unless you were specifically aiming for the gaps between its main body and its limbs. Even then, that was risky, close range, and not likely to work. After an especially rough blow to the plastron that he was sure broke his ribs, Leonardo was not too eager to try that again.

Still, they had to have put an emergency shut-down in there somewhere, just in case it went haywire. The Kraang were probably just as hesitant about fighting as they were, right?

Shifting to a more evasive fighting style, Leonardo began to keep an eye out for something they could use as a weak spot, anything that would help them take it down. Already, he was hurting, and he could see that the others were too, blood dripping from various injuries caused by an arsenal of weapons.

It always had a weak spot, there was no way that this one didn’t have one too.

There, on its shoulder, and of course it was somewhere that it could reach.

Leonardo considered, for a moment, that he was getting too old for this, even though he was only just getting into his 20s.

But Karai was in a good spot to hit it, it would really only take one hit, and it would all be over.

“There’s a shut-down on its right shoulder,” he pointed out, getting a couple glances from the others, “Try to grab it if you can!”

With that pointed out to the others, he glanced up to Karai, looking to her for assistance.

And she, noting that he needed her help, catching his glance, paused to look the battle over, then smirked and back out, taking their entry to get out.

Freaking he-

Leonardo ducked down and snaked backwards to avoid getting hit, and heard Raphael yell something after Karai that he didn’t catch. It probably wasn’t that important anyway. What was important though, was actually paying attention to the task at hand.

Gliding over to Michelangelo, Leonardo nudged him, signaling from his chains to the robot (had Michelangelo named it already? There hadn’t been a lot of commentary this time around). It seemed to click almost immediately, and Leonardo stepped back to avoid getting in the way as Michelangelo threw the weapon in a curve, then darted around to grab it and wrap it around the metallic soldier.

Going round and round until he had it secured, Michelangelo bounced back to Leonardo, struggling to hold it and silently requesting assistance. While the oldest and youngest grappled the chains, fighting to hold it still, a sai went flying over their heads and into the hand of Donatello, who promptly adjusted his grip on the weapon and went clambering up the enemy’s back, sai raised to-

It- It collapsed.

The chains slackened as it crumpled to the ground, unmoving, and Donatello hopped off to avoid falling. For a long moment, everyone was silent.

“Did- Did you get it?” Michelangelo asked tentatively.

“No-” Donatello almost shrieked, looking it over.

“So it just shut down on its own?” Raphael eyed the body suspiciously, as if it might get up and start moving at any second.

“I don’t know Raph, it just suddenly fell, I didn’t do anything to it!”

They all paused, still watching, still waiting, just in case it got back up. Leonardo tightened his grip on the chains and pulled back slightly to tighten them. That way, if it did try again, they would already have it down. He’s restrained large creatures before, it wasn’t like he couldn’t do it again.

Seconds turned to minutes without any sign of life, and slowly, they relaxed, gathering up weapons and turning to leave. It wasn’t up anymore, and they had finished up everything else they needed to do, so there really wasn’t much point in staying anymore. After all, they were injured, too, they needed to take care of those. Donatello could only work so fast in the middle of a fight, so any stitches he had to give while they were out of sight were hastily done.

On their way down to the sewers, Raphael rambled about the stunt Karai pulled, clearly angry at her. Leonardo silently lamented as he still didn’t trust their sister as he talked, bracing for raised voices and insults.

“Raph,” he began, trying to keep his voice soft, “calm down. You’re getting worked up over nothing.”

“I’m getting worked up over nothing ?!” Raphael whirled on his heel, snarling at Leo, “She left us in the middle of a fight, Leo! I’m not going to calm down! You brought her here, this is your fault!”

“It was probably a misunderstanding, Raph. She’s been on our side for a long time now. Please just lower your voice, at least.”

Raphael was still wound up from the battle, Leonardo could see it in his face and in his posture. Tense, squared up, jumpy. His adrenaline was still going, and it probably wasn’t the best idea to agitate him further.

And he was staring, he was silent. Raphael wasn’t usually silent when he was angry, what was going on-?

Leonardo reeled back when Raphael lashed out at him, but not fast enough. There was a sharp crack, and he realized that there was blood dripping from his beak long before the pain actually registered. There was blood on the hothead’s knuckles, too, but he looked like something had suddenly clicked and he was definitely regretting what he did.

Leonardo, however, could not find the energy in himself to really care.

Raphael almost immediately began feverishly apologizing while Donatello tried to peer past Leonardo’s hand at his beak, scolding Raphael for striking out like that. Michelangelo yelled something along the lines of “that was uncalled for”.

“Leo, move your hand,” Donatello ordered, and Leonardo obeyed, pulling his hand away and seeing red. Oh, great.

“Well,” The resident doctor announced after a long moment, “I’m pretty sure it’s broken, but we’ll find out once we get home. Raph, when this is over, we are going to have a very long talk.”

Leonardo “hmm”ed softly as they started walking again, wiping blood off his face. The pain was, in the moment, actually manageable. It wasn’t too terrible, he really didn’t understand what the big deal was. Faces were easy to break anyway, he was fine as long as it didn’t really affect anything.

%%%

Once home, Donatello approached Leonardo with the first aid kit, clearly wanting to go to him first since he possibly had his beak broken.

But one glance over Donatello, and Leonardo knew that he should probably get some care first.

“Don, take a look at yourself, first. If you’re bleeding all over the place you can’t take care of anybody else.”

The purple-clad opened his mouth like he wanted to argue with him over that, before realizing that no, it was not an argument he was going to win. He lingered for a long moment, then turned away to deal with the others first. Leonardo smirked, knowing he had won, and turned his attention to cleaning his katanas and figuring out the best way to repair the chip in the blade.

Eventually, when Donatello returned, bandaged and looking a little more than annoyed, he grabbed Leonardo’s face and made him look at the genius before slowly bandaging his beak. Leonardo said nothing, although the movements jostled whatever was broken and made it sting, he refused to wince or hiss over something so small. While Donatello went on to cleaning and bandaging the other injuries, he confirmed his earlier suspicion.

“It is broken.”

Raphael flinched, like that was the worst thing in the world (Leonardo knew it was guilt, but didn’t say anything about that).

“Oh,” he said, mulling it over. Like he said, it wasn’t too bad, it was only his beak.

“What do you mean oh?” Donatello’s voice raised slightly, almost into a screech.

“I mean, it's not really that bad, right? It's not gonna, y’know, affect anything, it just hurts.”

Everybody blinked, astonished, before it clicked that of course Leonardo would be so unbothered by it, he was just Leonardo, he didn’t really have the energy, nor the will to care about things like that anymore.

Donatello scowled and Raphael still apologized anyway, Michelangelo was silent across the room, staring at Leonardo.

Leonardo had to cut Raphael off. It was fine, he was angry too, he knew that they still didn’t fully trust Karai, it was fine, it was fine.

He could still tell that Raphael was beating himself up about it, though. It was always clear, the hothead was like an open book.

%%%

It was two in the morning.

Raphael groaned and rolled over to slap the hand shaking him, presuming that it could only be Michelangelo.

Instead, the hand he grabbed was far more callused from endless hours of training, scarred from brutal battles that were long past.

He paused, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he tried to get his head working. They had to fight blind plenty of times, they all learned to recognize each other just by the feel of their scales and hands. There was only one person who trained enough to get his hands that rough, free of childish innocence and soft skin.

“Leo?” Raphael mumbled, slowly sitting up and yawning, “What is it?”

“I need you to come with me, we’re supposed to meet up with Karai,” Leonardo whispered in the dark, still invisible to Raphael. They were-

“What?”

“Mhm. She texted me like, an hour ago. She wants to explain to the two of us. You, because you were so upset and me because, y’know.”

“Oh.”

Raphael blinked a few more times. His eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, and he could see a burning gaze fixated on him. It was almost creepy. After all, Leonardo always managed to be the stealthiest of them, so it was like those horror movies, just seeing a shadow, then bright eyes reflecting dim light and just. Staring.

He grunted and kicked out weakly to move the older of the two before he crawled out of bed, yawning again and stretching. “Alright, alright, let's go.” He didn’t even have his mask on yet, but this was clearly something that Leonardo wanted to get to quickly, and considering that Raphael planned on getting back to sleep immediately, he wasn’t too eager about getting his gear on for this event.

As they got going, he kept his eye on the bandages over his brother’s beak. Frick- He did that? Why? What was even his point? Instead of asking if Leonardo was angry, what came out was:

“Why'd she only want us to come?”

“Me and her are closer and you're more distrustful. Don and Mikey are just neutral towards her, she assumed they’d be less angry about it.”

“Oh.”

“Oh is right. Move faster, we'll be late at this rate.”

“It's the middle of the day for humans, Leo.”

“And? She will leave if we take too long.”

They neared what Raphael could only assume was the meeting spot, the roar of water getting louder until it was almost deafening. By the waterfall, Karai was leaned up against the wall, and Raphael’s rage flared up. That little-

He paused for just a second, trying to take deep breaths and soothe his anger. Something bad had already come out of it, he didn’t need anymore guilt on his mind.

Still, she smiled at them like nothing had happened, and didn’t even move to stand up straight. He wanted to wring her neck because of it. No apology? Nothing? No “sorry for abandoning you when you needed help”?

“What’s up?” she greeted casually, like nothing happened.

“You know what’s up,” he snarled, unable to help himself from snarking at her.

"Raph," Leonardo whisper-hissed, "Don't yell at her." After a moment to compose himself, the eldest met Karai's gaze evenly. "Still, we do want to know: Why?"

"Yeah, about that," Karai began, rubbing the back of her head, "I didn't really, y'know mean anything by it. I just knew an easier way to take it down quickly, and well, it'd be faster to do that, too, so…"

As she trailed off, Raphael shrank where he stood.

Oh. It really was a misunderstanding.

Leonardo nodded as if he understood what she had done and why she had done it. He probably did, too.

"Sorry, it uh, it probably looked like I was just leaving, huh? And uh, you're all definitely worse for wear."

Leonardo thanked her for apologizing, and Raph felt nothing as his brother did. that was not what he needed to make his night better.

Before he realized it, Leonardo was poking him, telling him Karai left a bit ago, he was waiting for Raphael to process, and they needed to go. Raphael nodded stiffly and walked in a daze, head down.

"You were right," Raphael mumbled at some point, getting a look and a "hm?". "It was just a misunderstanding. Sorry about- Y'know, about hitting you."

Leonardo stared for a long minute, leaving Raphael in uncomfortable silence for a bit before smiling, "It's alright, I already told you that, Raph.”

And there he went, just accepting the apology like it was nothing, because he was Leonardo.

Raphael turned on the TV when they got back, switching the channel to the news before settling down, unable to sleep. Leonardo, apparently, had the same idea, sitting down next to him. This time, silence was far more cozy. When they fell asleep there, nobody said a word about it in the morning.

#whumptober2021 #no.5 #tmnt 2012 #tmnt leonardo #blood tw #blood #again yes i know

5 notes · View notes

supercalime · 4 years ago

Text

Running With Lions Commentary pt. 1

Guess who’s back with another commentary that no one asked for? You’re damn right it’s me! I found this book kinda on accident and I decided to give it a try. Here’s the first part, hope you enjoy my rambling!

Chapter 1 to 10:

- Oh it’s present tense. Alright, I don’t thing I ever read anything like that. This should be interesting

- Hey, comparing feelings to Katy Perry songs is very valid. “Teenage dream” is an eternal bop and shall not be disrespected

- How many pop artists are gonna be mentioned in only the first chapter, cause I already lost count.

- I like the dynamic between Sebastian, Willie and Mason. There’s no toxic masculinity, we love to see it

- And we stan ally and father figure Coach Patrick as well! What a team!

- I’m really interested to know what happened between Sebastian and Emir. I bet I’m gonna have some ✨drama✨

- Dude, I know you haven’t seen him in years, but the gay yearning is breaking the charts, chill out

- “Do you need a little alone time?” Look, I know boys are gross, but still, ew

- So many characters... I know I’m gonna get them all confused. Just bare it with me okay

- “The gays approve” indeed, indeed

- Oh no. Grace, sorry, my bad, GrEy is “not like other girls”. Can we throw this trope in trash and light it on fire? Thanks

- I really want to like Grey, but unless she’s got a good reason to refuse anything feminine, it makes it so weirdly misogynistic. Cause, newsflash, you can like girly things and still be a strong, independent person who gets shit done. But I don’t want to be to harsh on her character yet because it can go ✨somewhere✨ interesting. Like, maybe the character is trans? Let’s wait and see

- Who’s gonna tell our protagonist he’s got a big fat crush on emir? Cause even I’m noticing and I’m the most oblivious bish there is!

- Of course emir has a British accent. Why am not surprised

- Mason is a whore, haha

- Emir just had a gay panic, oh sweetie

- “I promise it won’t get us arrested this time“ this book is funny 😆

- Sexuaaaaaaaal teeeeeeension

- Look, I don’t feel sexual attraction and I don’t have a penis, so I can’t speak for those two things, but like, do y’all just get b*ners this easily? Is that really a thing? You can’t just not make it happen? I’m honestly asking cause I don’t buy the b*ner plot device

- As a former catholic, i can assure that Rivera is very relatable when it comes to using the religion in vain, haha

- How old is Grey supposed to be? Idk if I should be uncomfortable shipping her with the other characters or not

- Why does this book hates women? What did they do to you?

- Drunk antics are only fun in fiction huh

- Way to ruin things, ZACH!

#lety rambles #book commentary #running with lions #julian winters #rwl #soccer #contemporary books #ya fiction #Sebastian Hughes #emir shah

11 notes · View notes

literaetures · 5 years ago

Note

omg ive never met anyone who likes the medici show!!!!! pls share ur thoughts

you must be new here bc i Love the show! it’s one of my all time fave period dramas (coming from someone who knows nothing about the actual history of the family other than the one (1) page history that was given in her high school history textbook and sporadic wikipedia diving when watching the show— i just love period dramas) and i often quote this post by @hotniatheron when talking about this show (because that’s literally. the whole show)

the cinnamon topography, the sets, the characters the costumes, the d r a m a, the storyline! i love it all! i’ve written a few posts on the show as well that i’ll link here if you want some memes (and usually gifsets i rb are filled with commentary) but if you really care about why i love the show, i’ll try to give you as much of a summary as i can (w o w so this got long because i have a lot of feelings so i’ll leave this under the cut but tl;dr i adore this show and i think about it more than once a week and have tons of half-written meta posts sitting in my drafts fjwkjfewn)

i watched s1 when it first came out and immediately fell in love, watched the whole thing in one day (avoiding a paper i had due lmao) and completely fell for it. i loved the morally ambiguous leanings of everyone in that season— no one was quite Good™️ or Bad™️, they all did things with their own ambitions and their own ideas of what a good future may look like in mind— i loved all the scenic shots and the duomo (the true protagonist), i loved the characterization of “the banker that wanted to be an artist”, the attack and murder of albizzi and his son! in the forest! in slow motion! while the duomo is being consecrated! the mist of the forest combining with the smoke from the lamps! still gives me chills! i hated every moment cosimo wasn’t respecting his amazing wife who rode in oh horseback! in the signoria! just to save his ass! and he completely shunned her for it! i loved lucrezia’s depth they gave her towards the end that was later extended in s2 (where you could Tell contessina took her under her wing and gave her the single braincell of the family) and even more, i loved the multi layered storyline of the season— the coming of age story of cosimo, the murder mystery of who killed his father, the PLOT TWIST of who killed his father!!! (i kept forgetting in my first and second rewatches of the season and every time i forgot it felt like i experienced it for the first time all over again!) but most importantly, i loved the narrative of not knowing what to do in life, that every decision you made is a gamble with outcomes that are both good and bad, but there will be people around you who support you and get you through it

and then. s2. by far the better written of the two three seasons with a more clear plotline and timeline that allows you to really take in the characters and the plotline at once while allowing for more nuance and depth in a way that we didn’t get in s1! here we have the distinct battle between Good and Bad which was shocking after the morally grey complexity that we saw in s1 but made for a fresh new season that i instantly enjoyed! b u t!!! it did not go! where i thought it was going to go! as someone who knows nothing about the history, i went into it completely in the dark and solely began crafting possible endings in my head. i thought. i had pictured. that lorenzo and francesco started off enemies, francesco realizes his uncle jacopo (sean bean) has been manipulating him, switches to the “good” side, hears the acts of betrayal, and instead of falling back into his uncle’s plotting and manipulation, i thought! i assumed! that francesco was playing him! i thought! that francesco would see through the manipulation and the abuse and was in a double agent scenario where he was plotting the “pazzi conspiracy” but he told lorenzo and giuliano about the plot and they’d catch jacopo in the act, give him a trial, and give him a prison sentence! i thought this WHOLE thing! even at the end of ep7! even after the hugs (i thought the extra squeezes was francesco signaling to lorenzo and giuliano that everything was going according to plan (because remember the whole Good and Bad clear divide? i thought this was going to be the grey zone of s1 to remind us of moral ambiguities)) and even when ep 3 “mass” was going. i was sitting there in my clown paint waiting for francesco to get! his! redemption arc! because i forgot! that this! was a historical period drama about real events! and it wasn’t until lucrezia’s scream that i realized “OH. it’s not going to get better” you can imagine. my pain. but i think that’s what made this season so good? anyone could have watched it and fallen in love with the storyline and good narrative they presented that allowed you to get lost in the characters and the story

and as for s3. i’m withholding as much of my thoughts as possible because i will be watching it when it finally airs on netflix and i want to properly give it the binge watch that i’ve given the past seasons to really sit with my thoughts to have fully formed thoughts and onions on it!

in any case, i love this show. so much! i cannot wait for the renaissance project to happen with seasons about all the artists, but g o d am i going to miss this disaster family so! much! (and all those scenic duomo shots)

i love contessina and francesco (those are my two fave characters from the show) and there’s honestly so much more that i can say but honestly you can scroll through my series tags and see me cry about it because i’m rambling so much i know— if you give me a chance to tell you my thoughts on my obsessions! i’m so sorry in advance!

but i’m sure this is. not the length that you expected, but i hope it’s at least a bit entertaining! thanks for letting me talk about my obsessions for a bit!

#messages #anonymous #thank you for letting me talk about something i love for a bit!#i really enjoyed it!#and sorry if it's overwhelming

10 notes · View notes

clueda · 4 years ago

Note

⭐ (😍)

Reblog this if you want readers to come into your ask box and ask for the “director’s commentary” on a particular story, section of a story, or set of lines.

Or, send in a ⭐star⭐ to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

CW: SELF HARM

Hello anon! So, I am going to talk about chapters 8 and 9, which comprise the conversation Mike and John have early in John’s time at St. Bart’s where Mike tells John about Sherlock’s troubled past at the school. Y’know, the living in the roof and all that.

Firstly, the reason I chose to talk about these two chapters is because they plague me to this day. I have gone back over this fic a couple of times over the years to re-read and change little things here and there - punctuation, wording, etc. But I have been back over these two chapters more than any other parts of Juxtaposition combined because I never feel truly satisfied with them. I think it’s because they are such a huge but necessary piece of exposition, which is by its very nature a very difficult thing to pull off with tact, but I chose to do it in the most cliché/tactless way possible - a character verbally telling another character some important backstory. I think if I were to go back and write this story again, I’d go about this bit in a different way, which is why I am never 100% done editing these chapters.

That aside, there has been one major change to these chapters over the years. When I first published these chapters, Mike originally found Sherlock on the roof not just with track marks from needles, but also with self harm injuries, too. That, or he saw razor blades around Sherlock’s mattress in the attic, I can’t quite remember. Either way, self harm was very much a part of Sherlock’s backstory. But there came a point, I can’t remember when, when I decided to take that out of these chapters. I think I made that decision because I had re-read them and felt that it wasn’t necessary, and also that it was very, very clear I was projecting myself too much into the story. At the time I wrote these chapters someone very close to me was struggling with self harm, and I guess I had used chapter 9 in particular as a way to sort through my feelings about it, to process a particular incident I had gone through. There isn’t anything inherently wrong about using one’s own trauma to fuel a story, or using art as an outlet for difficult feelings - in fact, these can be good, healthy things. But looking back over these chapters, I must have decided that I didn’t need this story to do that for me. That these chapters were not the place for that for me. Perhaps they were when I first wrote them, but when I re-read them, they no longer felt helpful to me; they just felt gratuitous. So I took it out.

Something a litte more light-hearted related to these chapters: someone stole them! I got a message sometime after posting these chapters from a reader who had noticed that another AO3 writer had copy-pasted these chapters in particular into their own work. I read that work, and they hadn’t even been subtle about it - they had just changed the names and a sentence or two here and there and added a ‘this work is inspired by Clueda’ in the author’s notes. It didn’t make me angry, it kinda just bewildered me. Anyway, the reader who had informed me of these goings-on had left a stern comment on the work, and maybe I did too? I can’t remember. But as far as I am aware, the writer took it down. There is no such thing as originality, and the best artists get away with daylight robbery, but this instance of plagiarism was so blatant, so unsubtle, that it left me slack-jawed - and kind of impressed by their confidence.

Finally, as with a lot of the locations in St. Bart’s, the Doyle attic is heavily based on the attic of my old boarding house. It will surprise no-one that I attended a boarding school (something something maybe this whole fic has too much of me projecting, actually, something), and the first time I went into my boarding house’s attic, I was like, okay I am writing something about this space. It was creepy as hell. Dilapidated, crumbling, full of weird old shit - in chapter 9 Mike mentions an eyeless rocking horse: that was in there, as were the decades-old textbooks. It was once used as bedrooms, I think, which blew my mind. To think that so many people before me had found a home in this ancient nook at the top of the building, now unloved and used as storage. I could be misremembering, but I think you could even get out onto the roof - yes! I think I just remembered that some of the older pupils used it to sunbathe! Me and my friends had a great time making each other jump in there, scaring each other with old, creepy objects. So that’s where the attic came from. We weren’t allowed in there (I think I only went in twice, and each time was thrilling because of the danger of getting caught), so I wonder if any pupils know about it now, or if the knowledge of it has been lost as those who did know about it left the school.

So that’s my ‘director’s commentary’ on chapters 8 and 9. This has been a really fun trip down memory lane. Thank you, anon, for letting me ramble about these two chapters. I hope you enjoyed reading about them! xx

#asks

1 note · View note

advernia · 5 years ago

Text

i’m amazed that i’ve been active for at least a couple days straight??? is it the effect of lesser fe3h playtimes + the silly coworker writing challenge at the workplace??? oh well ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

since i remembered i was trying to make work commentary a thing here, more rambling / author’s notes under the cut!

jul 6th // ikerev

push your way through the cracks is the first edgar/mc i’ve written here and while i’ve mentioned there that edgar is my fav out of the cast, i fear that i’ll probably take me a very long time to write another one bc... he’s my favorite. i noticed i have the tendency not to write much (or have finished works) about ships i really, really like despite... you know, liking them. hopefully not - shipping aside, i like exploring the characterizations of enigmatic types like edgar.

about the fic, i pretty much like it save for the second part bc i think i could’ve done something more with it - not exactly change the setting, but expounded a little further on it. i don’t know, it feels lacking somehow in comparison to the first two.

there are a lot of flower-related descriptions tossed here and there, but i think i succeeded in not being so purple prose-y? hopefully! this was pretty descriptive, i guess.

with this edgar fic present, that means i have 2 more red army doods to write about, namely zero & jonah. i was really aiming to make edgar the last one tho haha.

jul 12th // ikerev

weave me into your web is canon based, specifically pt. 24 of sirius’ route where they say ‘goodbye’. note those quotation marks.

i think i wrote this after a discussion i had with a friend about sirius & his route - she read some posts commenting on the route and she wanted a nearby opinion. we got into an agreement: while we do find sirius to be indeed husbando material, his route would’ve risked nothing if they gave him more / emphasized his flaws. his flaws, not mc’s, gosh.

no, seriously. in my opinion, mc fretting so much about being immature sort of blinds her from the little things that prove sirius is not so composed as he appears to be. it gets even worse when she realizes she’s fallen in love with him, and while i enjoy the black army going kira-kira rabu support team + seth being hopeless suitor, i’m going 50/50 on mc. she’s written to be indeed very single-minded come the war phase and while that’s not necessarily bad since she gets to broaden her perspective as she always does, i think i would’ve appreciated it if she came to most of the realizations on her own by reflecting on them based on how the events around her are progressing; and not simply by sirius / someone else pointing it out for her. no wonder she’d think she’s immature in comparison - it also irks me a bit that she keeps on fretting about her feelings for sirius. this is what i’d be sad to see again in other routes: the romance overthrowing the potential / present character development.

side note: i understand that in relationships with a notable age gap, maturity / perceived maturity can be a problem - i just wished that the route downplayed on this bc honestly, there are other things more interesting to explore than that angle, like, say; isn’t she from another culture or world or something????????? will those differences affect our potential relationship??????????????

on sirius himself, i recall reading on reddit that one person didn’t pick up ikerev for the reason that the cast is too perfect. that’s a fair opinion. i think i can relate this to sirius himself: while throughout the route you do see some flaws in him, he’s still overall the dude you’d write home about + that dude you’d dream introducing to your parents complete with that suave voice (thank u junichi suwabe). no, i’m not saying that he has to have some unlikable or quirky trait / wangsty backstory, it’s just that in my opinion he’s desirable but not exactly relatable. let him struggle, let me see him rise up from it. show me his humanity. there’s the scene with him and lancelot, but i want more. tho him being afraid of being alone is what i find extremely relatable and endearing about him, very nice. otherwise... well, maybe i have to reread the route again or smth.

anyway. the fic emphasizes actually on his character trait of self-control / restraint. did u know too much is bad for u??? it can reflect that since you hold yourself back too much, it could mean that you’re masking your true feelings, for example. there are various psychological studies on that. *stares at sirius* hMMM.

i took care to be quite descriptive on that kiss scene and at the same time, not to be so emotional on it bc it’s still sirius lol - i believe he’s not one to lose himself completely to his emotions, but he’s not that afraid to succumb to some of it - especially if he actually wants to feel them.

... this turned out to be a rant portion rather than a fic commentary now didn’t it

aug 24 // ikerev (i’m seeing a pattern here)

a beginner’s guide to waltz was seriously just some formatting experiment, then it blew up to something larger. i actually like it tho, it’s cute.

writing oliver is actually fun, not bc of the reason that i can be rude. he is rude, but he’s not like that for just the sake of being so. as seen with blanc, it’s probably a result of habit. why exactly he chose to be verbally aggressive is something i’d like to know in his route.

i have no idea how the relationship shift is portrayed either, but i do hope it’s a mortifying revelation on mc’s part lol. like, lookie here, that little kid with his wee shorts and pretty hat that you hang out with all the time and don’t care about acting so ladylike around was that hot hunk who saved you before! oliver’s so amused and never letting her live it down.

for the line ‘i’m not interested in asking you about a decision you’ve made since you arrived here’: the decision mentioned is mc’s promise not to fall in love & to go home. i think oliver would be one of those routes where he falls for her but wants her to go home anyway, but the difference in his route is that he’s very adamant to make her leave. maybe thinking along the lines of ‘i don’t want you to end up like me’ or something. idk. idk what i’m trying to type at this point, lol.

just some random thought, but i do hope ikerev artist tcg someday draws mc in the game outfits / hairstyles bc she’s actually rly pretty. the description of mc’s outfits / fashion of part 4 of the fic was out of me just staring at the my closet portion of the game. don’t ask - i like the hc of oliver & mc having elegant wardrobes / fashion sense, and since i’m too lazy to check up 19th century london fashion trends...

sep 28 // collar x malice

haunted by something still alive was the result of me thinking about guns. don’t ask me either. maybe it’s also a result of me wanting to write something else that isn’t from my horrendous drafts folder lol.

these were actually nice drabble practices, and the first one i clearly had i mind was shiraishi’s. i honestly think it would be fitting, probably around the start of the route where they haven’t got to know each other so well.

from there on i tried to do the drabbles in the route order i did when i played the game, which was mineo - sasazuka - okazaki - shiraishi - yanagi. but tbh when i was writing it became shiraishi - mineo - yanagi - sasazuka - yanagi again - okazaki, lol. i rewrote yanagi’s and okazaki’s three times.

subtitles have their respective mathematical operations on it - i find it kind of cool and funny that those are their symbols (amnesia had the card suits), but when you do think of it properly, it does relate to their characters.

... never forget that hoshino ichika is canonically good with guns.

sep 28 // ikerev

in absence of glass slippers as stated was a part of one of my first ikerev drafts. still a draft until now, but the portion i posted is one of the ‘finished’ sections of the fic.

i don’t headcanon mc as a respectable lady from a equally respectable house or her being a well-off girl, but i like the concept of her being a self-taught lady of society aka she learned stuff like manners, dancing, and etc. out of curiosity or for more practical reasons like fitting in. 19th century london is still the victorian era, so social class and propriety was still a thing.

her taking off her shoes to practice dancing with ray is a sort of a challenge, actually... his measure of improvement will be based on the times that he steps on her feet / how many blisters her feet would gain by the end of the session, lolol - that’s why she says that stepping on a rock is the least of her problems. pretty hardcore, isn’t she?

thus the title actually - glass slippers (mary janes actually) are pretty delicate, but don’t you think a lady’s foot is much more delicate?

with ray’s fic up, i’ve officially written a piece for all of the black army men! nice.

sep 29 // ikerev

neither heaven or hell is holy shit, an mc-centered fic! hella rad - i was half thinking to classify it as a drabble, but since i decided that drabbles are pieces that i may get back on, i kept it as a full fic instead since i’m happy with how it turned out.

all of my screamings are in the tags, so i don’t have much to add besides that lol. however, the writing here is pretty different, and that’s because i was trying to do a three sentence fic challenge kind of thing. buuuuut it became three paragraphs with three lengthy sentences instead lol.

also, there’s some stuff highlighting mc’s london-er/english-ness. washing powder is the british term for laundry soap. 19th century roofs for royals were usually panels, and wooden beams for commoners. different as chalk and cheese is a british expression. i’m certainly not british but i just like emphasizing the fact that mc is of another culture/world, thus there should be differences in how she perceives things / her mannerisms & actions / her way of speech. i’ve been conscious of that in all of my fics involving her.

actually, i do make it a point to watch her way of speaking. i really like the polite way of speaking of 19th century britain (and also of today), so i try to integrate that despite the fact that i’m not british myself lol. it’s hard to fully convey it, but i try with hoping that it doesn’t seem too off. i should probably look for more references to practice it.

this was a very spontaneous piece with actually minor editing involved, and i’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

#rundown.txt #oh this is certainly longer than i intended it to be #oh well thank you to those who reads these ramblings of mine tho!

2 notes · View notes

i-want-my-iwtv · 6 years ago

Note

How has the purge affected u?

[Apologies in advance for the Wall of Text™, I feel like longposting, sorry for the dash coverage, I didn’t think I had this much to say about this… And I probably shouldn’t do this, probably should have kept this to a flippant “It sucks!” with a VC meme, but I haven’t shared much publicly lately… now feels like a singularly poignant time to do so.]

NO CUTS WE LONGPOST LIKE MEN

It’s strange. I think running and participating in the @vcsecretgifts exchange (not finished yet!), and backing up that blog and this one for preservation (not finished yet!), helped take my mind off it! I’ve been busy with @wicked-felina coordinating substitute Santas, so I haven’t had much chance to indulge in it like a participant yet, but I did see that my recipient liked my gift, and that was heartwarming! I’ll reply properly when I have the peace of mind for it (yes I could be doing it now but this is the gear I want to be on right now), and I haven’t had a chance to read the gift from my own Santa, I’m saving that as a treat!

I did the #Log/ffProt/st, that helped. The purge is/was creatively stifling, somewhat, too, bc even though I don’t produce NS/FW stuff myself (I WANT TO, THO), I do reblog it, and support it, I see other artists and writers affected by it, and I felt and still feel helpless, unable to protect them. One of our VC fandom members who draws slash art has been shadowbanned, that I know of. It’s frustrating that the morality & purity police seem to have won this battle, but they haven’t won the war. We’ll take our garbage underground if we have to.

How crushing to wake up to one’s blog(s) just canceled w/o explanation? We were given 2 weeks’ notice? To pack up our “nasty” stuff and leave?

[X]

There’s nothing wrong with NS/FW stuff, adult ppl should be able to talk about it, fantasize about it, make art and write fiction about it, have kinks and explore them. I never bought the “if you like it in fiction you support it in reality!” argument, just like with all dangerous things we like in fiction but wouldn’t want in reality.

“… Fiction is how we both study and de-fang our monsters. To lock violent fiction away, or to close our eyes to it, is to give our monsters and our fears undeserved power and richer hunting grounds.” - Warren Ellis [X]

But I’ve fought those battles and there’s no point in engaging in unwinnable debate with ppl who are committed to misunderstanding me and twisting my words into a strawman they can easily knock over.

It’s baffling that it’s an unpopular opinion that minors should be allowed to learn about sex, as much as they learn about how to (eventually) drive a car, manage alcohol consumption, defend themselves against violence, handle medication or recreational drugs, all these things that are potentially and not inherently dangerous to them, that they’ll be faced with in the Real World. I remember there were religious rituals in my youth where children could taste alcohol a little bit, it was exposure to an adult thing in a safe space, among other adults. Is this really all about Protecting the Children? Really? Or is it about mental domination? What it looks like to me is a self-proclaimed Particular Authority who wants to keep minors (and adults) submissive and reliant on that Particular Authority, it’s so much easier to keep them submissive and reliant to that same Particular Authority as adults. It’s always been about power.

And I’m seeing that the communities most affected by the purge are AFAB ppl and LGBTQIA+. It’s misogynistic, LGBTQIA+-phobic. The fact that tungle reportedly blocked archivists from saving blogs before the NS/FW purge is just pouring salt in the wound.

I’ve started following these refugee/evicted tumblr ppl where they’ve migrated to. I’m trying to keep track of them. I’m in the @fiction-is-not-reality2 discord server, keeping my eye out for the next alternative platform.

Leading up to the purge I considered blasting a bunch of smut as a last hurrah, and I did reblog some Controversial™ stuff, just in case my blog was going to be deleted, but then, I lost steam on that. Why put in extra effort and get deleted anyway? Why poke the bear, and deliberately get deleted for it? Most of my blog is SFW, anyway.

I preserved my blog, the gifts blog, and just for archival purposes I should have been doing that all along, so it was good for my own historical safekeeping… so much good commentary and fanworks here, in the past 5+ years! Collecting the scraps just like I’d done in 1994, when there were articles about the IWTV movie and I wanted all of them, I especially wanted the illustrations and caricatures in the magazines (which was really validating of my interest in some way, fanart that was published, essentially!). And I had my folder of Deviantart I liked, of course. So I packed up my blog here to preserve it, it’s on wordpress now, iwantmyiwtv.com, with a lame layout, but I’ve got the tags showing, where fanart that’s blocked here can still be seen on WP.

I’m rambling.

The purge reminded me that all this, as we know it, could and will be gone someday. Purges have done that before, especially to our fandom, attacked by its own canon author. We’ve survived this before.

I’ve been on tungle since July ‘13. I’ve made and lost some wonderful friends here, some have moved on to other fandoms, or we’ve had partings of the ways. The fanart in this fandom, my memes, have been spread all over, I see them on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter. When this blog is deleted, either by content flagging or by tumblr finally keeling over, our stuff is going to outlive us all.

Who even made this one? One of the vintage memes. Maybe their watermark was long ago cropped off, or maybe they hadn’t put it on:

^It was used in a meme here, but I don’t think that was the OP, it’s gotta be more than 4 yrs old. Pretty sure the “JUDGING YOU” in Impact font was around Twilight time, which came out in 2008. This meme is still floating around, it’s still amusing to ppl all these years later. Someone’s stroke of inspiration, and we may never know who it was, but we enjoy it, it’s part of the worn fabric of the fandom.

Will ppl remember me when/if I’m gone? I don’t need to be remembered, it’s enough that I was here at one point, and encouraged ppl to make fanworks, that I helped bring ppl together. I don’t need them to know it was me, specifically, or know much about me, this blog was never meant to be about me. Those I brought together might remember how they met. There are those who have seen behind the curtain and I hope to hang onto them as long as possible.

If/When this all disappears, I want ppl to know how much I enjoyed interacting with ppl through asks, the chat feature. I’ve missed answering asks, and I’ve missed the feeling of seeing new ask alerts without having to brace myself for Discourse. I’ve missed seeing that anon icon as a friendly, but shy, human being, rather than a living person who’s in pain, somewhere else in the world, throwing bricks through my window. Someone who’s suffering bc they’re not getting the attention they need, truly, someone who deserves to be loved, someone who needs validation for their opinions on things, and wanted mine, but I couldn’t give it. I’m only human, too. I made this blog for 15 year old me, who couldn’t find enough VC fanworks, so I set out to collect, make, and encourage them, but all in the spirit of optimism, bc that’s what I got out of canon. 15 year old me drew self esteem from those books. That’s the only person I ever wanted to please with this thing and that girl is still my priority.

We’ll survive this purge, we’ve done it before. Hold onto the ppl who you’ve made connections with. I’ll be here as long as I can.

Most importantly, I’m not letting the morality & purity police tell me what ’m allowed to learn about, make fanworks about, or enjoy in published or fan fiction, etc.

#Anonymous #ask #note from the addict #long post #NO CUTS WE LONGPOST LIKE MEN #vintage meme #problematic #darkfic #dark fiction #warren ellis #quote #adventures in tumblrland #advice #on fandom

24 notes · View notes

ozcarpin · 6 years ago

Note

*Canon balls into the asks due to ungodly amounts of sugar* OKPARTONE,NOWLETMETELLYOUABOUTYOURCHARACTERISATION- It's awesome. There are little bits where you can improve but I'm no literature teacher so haven't a clue how to word them and as such I shall focus on the good parts. The way you write Oz balances out all of his character beautifully, the way he gets slightly bashful when Qrow flirts and the way he's got an easy confidence when it comes to handling tough situations-

Part two- or Tai trying to adopt everyone first. Even in non verbal exchanges such as the one I used as an example you manage to find the right shots and use them to your advantage to get across the wanted mood. Your commentary in the tags are absolute gold and can be applied easily to either yourself or a jovial Ozpin. The way you write both Ozpin with his easy confidence and Oscar with his shyness in one space makes for a wonderful read-

Part three- The way you write both Ozpin with his easy confidence and Oscar with his shyness in one space makes for a wonderful read and the way you personify each of the prior Oz's even without all that much information on their characters is wonderful to read. Another thing I love is how you've integrated Arthur into your writing, his thoughts and opinions bleeding over onto Oz in certain occasions as well as giving him his own space to talk when curious anons want to know more-

Part four-or you just want to explore his character on your own. If I'm entirely honest I'm a little envious of your skill even though I'm pleased with where my own writing currently is. Even if you leave our little community of shy dorks and introverts, keep writing if it makes you happy, because not only the way you write existing characters but the way you write your own characters and the scenes they're in is a gift to the world and so many people adore your writing. Bit longer than intended

How am I doing with my character?

Oh my gosh, THANK YOU for sending me these! I just sat here in an utter state of stupefaction as I read them through around five times. I really can’t say how much it means to me to get asks like these, that people do enjoy reading my stuff enough that you could actually write all this just for me. Its flattery like I’ve never really known before and it never ceases to astound me.

And you’re right. There are definitely parts that I can improve on (some days it feels like those far outweigh anything else, but that’s just part of the creative process) and I’m definitely not going to shy away from that. I feel like the moment we think we have nothing more to learn is the day we should simply give up.

That said, I am very pleased with how my portrayals have developed, and it truly means the world to me when other people say that they enjoy them, that they are believable and distinct because I do try very hard to achieve that. I put a lot of thought into my writing, especially when working with a situation like this. Balance is a very good word for it: trying to keep all the different personalities separate, while still maintaining that common thread between them, that ‘like-mindedness’, these are the sort of things that I as a writer thrive on because they are very challenging to get right.

Balancing things like age, experience, relative maturity and of course the effect that the situation has on each member in any given moment is something that I always try to put consideration into when I’m writing a scene, or doing a plot. I love all the different elements seeing as I’m a person that tends to overthink things just as a natural course, so working in a situation that requires an amount of consideration really works well with me personally.

I absolutely LOVE that people seem to be enjoying Arthur as well. To be honest, I never really thought that he’d take off, he’s always been a part of my blog, tucked away in his little insert in my about, but I never thought there’d be much interest in him, especially since people already had Oscar to focus on for all them ‘host’ feels. Arthur, for me, was in many ways something that I felt was necessary to develop when working with Ozpin, because I do believe that his host has a massive effect on him in any given life, so for me, developing Arthur, making his backstory, giving him his own goals and wants and personality, was also developing Ozpin as the headmaster, giving me larger insight on how I wanted to approach more emotionally complex scenes, more human scenes, especially before we learned his proper backstory. It doesn’t hurt that coming up with past lives for Ozpin is probably one of my favourite past-times (though these usually only make appearances in dream sequences cause if I went into all of them this blog would really nosedive into canon divergence).

And thank you so much for enjoying the little non-verbal exchanges! As a proud frame-hunter with far too many reaction images, it definitely makes me feel a bit more valid that my expansive collection is being enjoyed!

I’ve rambled massively with this response, but I’d still like to end it with this. There’s really no need to be envious at all. You should be proud of your own writing, and really, the thing that I’ve found has helped me most of all with how mine has developed, is I’ve just let it in a way. I don’t always like my writing. Sometimes I find it far too excessive, or wordy or far too focused on some areas while lacking in others, but I keep writing. I write, and I try to push myself on my abilities and I dive headfirst into challenges like this blog and really seeing how far I can push my limits without getting down on myself when I stumble.

As artists, really that’s all we can do. We try, we practice our crafts, and we love our creative outlets, our muses, embrace the things that inspire us. Enjoying another’s work is integral to this, but things like envy will only get in the way. If there’s something you like in my writing, incorporate it in yours, do this with all the people you enjoy and work it all into your own style until its impossible not to love what you’re doing. Love your work, and even if that’s hard, love the process, love how far you’ve come and that you’re still trying.

I’ve had my ups and downs in this community, for sure, but I love writing Ozpin. I love writing Oscar, and Arthur, and Ozma and really all of them. There’s so much here for me to work with, and to work on, and I have such amazing peers and mutuals and partners that all just inspire me every day to do better and keep at it. This blog keeps me writing, it keeps me creating in everything from little things I see on my dash, to anons in my inbox and lovely wonderful people like you that interact with me. I’m grateful for all of you, and I love writing for these characters. I’m so thankful every day that other people enjoy it too, and I hope to stay here for a very long time.

#mun #really I can't thank you enough for this #it means the world to me #long post #<3 <3 <3 #chocolatecustarddanish

10 notes · View notes

marshmallowgoop · 8 years ago

Text

Rushed to the post office today to pick up some Kill la Kill books I’d ordered! Now maybe my Kill la Kill book collection is starting to get somewhere...

Anyway, I talked some about the manga a while back, but with even more books now, I’d just like to ramble briefly (lol) about the two Talking About Composite books, The Complete Script Book, and (kinda) The Art of KLK Volume 3.

Lots of images under the cut.

Talking About Composite

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any western Kill la Kill discussion on these books, but basically, they’re short little volumes that go over some of the special effects and design choices in the series. At the end of each volume, there’s a segment dedicated to “Talking About Composition” with Toyonori Yamada, Kill la Kill’s photography director, and two others from the industry (the first volume I believe has Yamada with Ryosuke Tsuda and Tomonari Katou, but I can’t quite identify the others in Volume 2).

Both books run pretty cheap for this market ($10 - $15), and I’d heartily recommend them to any Kill la Kill fan if they were available in English. The visual aspects of storytelling are often overlooked even in such a crafted, artistic medium like animation, and I love that these books are all about giving this absolutely crucial element of anime more attention (as it deserves!) Making a good-looking show takes a lot of thought and work---and, as someone who has taken too many film classes---cinematography is more Serious Business than most people realize.

But that said...

The books are almost impossible to glean much of anything from if you don’t speak Japanese. So, in practice, they’re unfortunately just about impossible to recommend to anyone outside of Japan.

Still, there are some fun things in the composition books that you don’t need to know Japanese to enjoy. I find those back covers really neat, for example!

On top of that, though:

Kill la Kill uses what it calls “J.J. Abrams’s style lighting” a lot. There are multiple pages dedicated to talking about this lighting style in both volumes. And that name is great.

Lighting was evidently super considered in the series. Not only does “J.J. Abrams’s style lighting” get multiple pages devoted to discussing it; there are also pages for “cross back lighting” and, of course, pages about Satsuki’s and Ragyo’s lighting. (When the two are first seen together in episode 13, the cut is described as a “Battle of light.”)

Even “Dark Satsuki” has her own lighting page dedicated to her.

One example of “cross back lighting” is this cut from episode 3, where Ryuko and Senketsu glow with power. I found this inclusion a bit curious because in the final version of the episode, a lot of the effect is removed for not fitting with the narrative: Ryuko and Senketsu are only supposed to glow for an extended period like that when they are in perfection synchronization, which is a feat not reached until episode 18.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen the effect removed; a similar situation happened in episode 15, where the TV version erroneously included a glow and the Blu-ray/DVD release amended the issue. Still, I find it a bit funny just how much the artists wanted that glow in there. They had to wait ‘til Ryuko and Senketsu were ready for the full effect.

And then there’s just some naming stuff that’s interesting. Both volumes include a page for the “ocean of light” that bursts out of Ryuko in the series; Volume 2 (pictured above) features Mako swimming through the “ocean” to save Ryuko and Senketsu from their berserker state, while Volume 1 features Senketsu in the "ocean” after he helps free Ryuko from Junketsu in episode 21.

On that note, Ryuko getting drenched in her own blood at the end of episode 21 from tearing Junketsu off is referred to as a “rain of blood.”

I feel like this is symbolic or something but I don’t know.

Aikuro’s, erm, glow is called a “sexual flare.” (There are multiple pages for this in both volumes.)

The translation of 神衣変身 (“Kamui Henshin,” or “Kamui Transformation,” or “God Clothes/God Robe/etc. Transformation”) to “change in clothes of god” I find really amusing.

Ryuko is God. (And so is Satsuki because she has a page like this, too.)

So, overall? The composition books are super hard to recommend if you don’t know Japanese, but I love the idea behind the books and hope I can parse out more stuff from them with my extremely limited Japanese because they seem really, really interesting.

If you would look into getting one, though, I would recommend Volume 2 over Volume 1, as it is much longer and has more content.

The Complete Script Book

Okay, I’ve had my eyes on this book for years, and I finally took the plunge and got it.

And, gotta say: it is really nice in person. For a book with practically nothing but pages and pages of text, what a pretty package?

And boy is it thick! I guess that’s expected when the thing has scripts for every episode of Kill la Kill, every Drama CD, and all the episode previews (as well as additional commentary), but it really is big! I never realized how big it was from pictures; it’s over 450 pages long, and the font is pretty teeny-tiny!

Unfortunately, the script book is another one of those books that I would love in English and would absolutely not recommend it at all if you don’t know a lick of Japanese because there ain’t even really pictures in this one, but gosh does it have so much good stuff in it. The scripts put in the book aren’t exactly the final episode scripts; there are minor changes here and there and even entire removed scenes.

@h0saki discussed this more here, but for another example, pictured above is a scene from episode 5 that isn’t quite the same in the final episode. In the final episode, Ryuko breaks down her giant Scissor into something that will fit into her pocket, Senketsu notes she’s getting cocky, and then the two bicker when Senketsu reveals that through being worn by Ryuko, he has access to a lot of information she might not want him to know. Mako applauds Ryuko for having such a “funny comedy act” of what looks like having an argument with herself.

In the script, Ryuko bickers with Senketsu before she breaks down her Scissor, and Mako’s dialogue is slightly changed. Something I found amusing is how there’s an extra line of “thank you” when she interrupts Ryuko and Senketsu’s squabble, as though she’s thanking Ryuko for “entertaining” her.

Are these big changes? Of course not. But it’s interesting to see the little differences that come up in the process of making a show.

On top of that, since the script is a script, you get more than just dialogue; you also get description, and more insight into the character’s emotions at the moment, and all that good stuff. And that’s just really fun to me as someone who looooves character analysis to death.

Probably what excites me the most about the script book, though, is that it has all the scripts for the Drama CDs! I am so pumped to dive in deep and really try to parse out more of what’s going on at some key moments with the help of the script.

I cry every time at this moment. I cry even more at the mention that Ryuko is “delirious” here, in plain text.

The Complete Script Book is probably one of my favorite Kill la Kill purchases I’ve ever made because it just has so much great content in it! I just wish there were a viable market to have this kind of thing localized...

The Art of KLK Volume 3

I think I’ve been exposed to every image in this book before buying it, but like the script book, it’s really nice to have this in person. The drawings look so good on a real page in your hands.

I really do think these title pages are the only ones I haven’t seen, though.

Just having this book all in one place in person brought a lot of stuff to my mind to talk about, but this post is long enough as it is, so I should probably save that for another time.

Still, I will say that I really find the cover design for this volume sweet. The three covers for these “Art of” books are in a sequence, and there’s something nice about how they started in Volume 1 with the sisters raging and then ended with them smiling in Volume 3.

I guess I’ll wrap up this long post by saying that buying stuff from Japan when you don’t live anywhere near there can be a hassle, a lesson in patience, and expensive, but it also has its quirks? My books are always categorized as “gifts”---even though I never specify they are---and then I get cute stuff like this.

Also I guess they are gifts because they are gifts for me.

#kill la kill #talking about composite #klk script book #ramblings #hiroyuki imaishi #sushio #toyonori yamada #shut up goop #go to sleep goop #(also funny story about the klk zine)#(i actually -wanted- the ryuko but i guess i ordered it so soon i got the more-premium satsuki by mistake instead?)#(i tried contacting the store about the issue but got no response...)#(so uh anyone wanna trade a ryuko for a satsuki eh?)#(it's really unfair i got it tbh because i didn't pay for it!)#also wow i probably have -the- most random assortment of klk books lol

93 notes · View notes

exodussoftware · 7 years ago

Text

Reflection on Indie Dev

Game development is a very hard thing to pin down. About a year and a half ago I started my first attempt to get into the industry as an indie dev. A year and a half later I finished my first game, Guardian. I started a company, comprised of only myself which makes me wonder if I should even call it that. I put the game on Steam and so far at least, nothing much has happened.

I decided a few days after release that I needed to make a much larger effort, or more accurately any effort, to interact with the community and get my ideas seen by people. That idea is how I came to this blog. It's an idea that you read about in plenty of places, but I was never sure I'd have much of anything to say. I decided that I have to try something however and so here we are. The hope is that I will post here regularly about the development of my current projects or if I have some odd revelation relating to the industry. I don't plan to elaborate or go into my personal life or have commentary on the sales of my games etc. I'd like to keep this strictly about the games I am in the progress of making to hopefully generate some amount of interest in them, as well as maybe give people a, however brief, look into the world of indie game dev. The plan is in the future to also sprinkle in some pictures or gifs because who doesn't like pictures, also game dev progress is far easier to show via photos, and let’s face it code is boring to look at.

All that said this first post will actually be dedicated not to a current project, but to the one I just finished. It's far too late for any sort of marketing angle, but I feel that this project was a learning experience. There are plenty of posts around the internet that warn of the dangers of being an indie dev and the pitfalls you can hit but I'd like to throw my two cents in the hopes that maybe it will save someone else a bit of trouble. If you are an indie dev and you are making your first game or just getting your feet wet I suggest you keep reading. I blatantly ignored articles like this and I feel I'm far worse off for it.

The most important thing to remember is time, it’s at the core of everything you will do as a dev. That’s a broad idea but to put it simply game dev takes a lot of time. If you are just getting started get ready because it’s a long arduous task from idea to completed product. If you are in the middle of development stick with it, you’ll be happy you did when it all comes together.

As any game takes a sizable amount of time you are likely going to hit problems. I had multiple instances while working on my game where I was just sick of it and wanted to be done. The best advice I can give is to work consistently, but not to the point of exhaustion. Take breaks but keep them short, a day, maybe two to decompress. If you work endless on your project you will burn out, which will lead to a long break where you tell yourself things like “I got so much done earlier, I can afford this”. It’s far better to work at a moderate pace, if a bit slower, pace. Maybe more importantly, if you work yourself to the bone you are far more likely to make mistakes and not fully comprehend the systems you are putting in place, which leads to my next, and probably most painstaking, point.

When I look back at the creation process behind Guardian there are many things I can point to as problems, but the biggest was sweeping changes to the game’s systems. When I started making it the game was set to be something akin to Metroid or Castlevania. A few months in I decided this would be hard to do, maybe too hard for one person, so I changed gears and decided to simplify the game down to something like Megaman X. The games are somewhat similar in concept, but the more linear level design of a Megaman game seemed easier to create. Several more months went by and my game took another turn as I realized a Megaman clone wasn’t really what I wanted, instead I wanted to make a modern take on the Metroidvania genre, making the combat quicker and adding dodge rolls and dashes.

All of these were terrible ideas and I should have stuck with the original. I would get excited to add new systems and start down this new path without thinking about what the long-term effects were. As I said before it’s good to give yourself time to breathe, and really think about what you are doing. To make an analogy game programming is like constructing a building, the foundation is the most important part. Without it everything will topple over. I’ve seen many devs, myself included, get very focused on an idea and it leads them to create entire systems before they even have the basics squared away. In short, look at the big picture and have a solid plan before you get into the details, it’s probably the most important programming tip you could take from this post.

The next thing to say is something that many probably won’t consider because it’s taken more as a given. I was the only one doing the programming behind Guardian, but I needed two others to help me, one to make art assets, and another to make music and SFX. To do this I hired two freelancers to fill the roles. My musician was fine, but before I found the artist who is credited in the game I hired a different person. At the time, I’d never hired anyone so I didn’t think too much about what I was signing on for. As an indie dev, and really any dev, you have to remember that money is probably your most valuable and scarce resource.

The first artist I hired abruptly quit after a little less than a month, claiming he didn’t have the time to continue the project. This caused me to have to hire someone else and start entirely over since the art I already had wouldn’t match the style the new artist. In short it was a waste because I was eager to get started and I didn’t fully look into and vet my first artist. If I had I would have realized there was very little chance he would finish the project. I wasted time and money doing this. The thing to take away here is before you hire anyone, be it into your company or just a freelancer, make sure they are as dedicated to the project as you are. In the grand scheme of things, I got off easy, a months’ worth of time and money, but imagine if he had worked with me for half a year before quitting. The cost would have been astronomical.

I could go on but this post is already long so I’ll close with one last thing relating to time. It’s very common for any indie dev to program first and advertise later. After all I imagine you got into game dev to make a game not advertise it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is the worst possible way to think. In a sense, a game is only as good as its marketing. It is an unfortunate truth but in the world today there are countless things trying to grab your attention. Even over the course of reading this you have probably been interrupted at least once by an ad, text, snap, tweet, email, or who knows what. In a world filled to the brim with content that is readily available you have to make an impression.

Personally, I made a twitter account and tweeted four times about my game over the course of development. Aside from that I made the typical Steam trailer and screenshots, and my game was on the Steam store for two weeks before release, as it has to be. I sent out a tweet on release day as well as some free keys to streamers and figured it would gain traction somewhere, probably. This might have been my biggest blunder. The fact is no one knows you or your game exists unless you tell them, or happen to already be well known on the internet. Even if you made a masterpiece no one will care unless you tell them about it. Like I said you didn’t get into game dev to advertise, but you have to otherwise your game, bar a miracle, will just be lost amongst everything else.

Do anything, tweet (more often than 4 times), make a blog (but not after the fact), post on reddit, post on indie forums, whatever. Talk about your game to the point of being obnoxious. I think many people myself included think most people don’t care what they have to say, or they are embarrassed to show what they have been working on and afraid of criticism, my fear was the latter. In many ways putting your creation out there is like asking out a girl (or guy) you have to put yourself out there if you want to ever have a shot.

Alright I’ve made way too long a post, if you made it this far, kudos. Assuming you have enjoyed this at all I plan to start rambling on here about the next game I am making soon. I’d consider doing more posts like this in the future if people wanted more insight into this sort of thing but the plan is for this blog to be more dedicated to talking about the dev process and what I am doing.

The link below goes to the Store page of Guardian in case any are interested. #ShamelessSelfPlug

http://store.steampowered.com/app/676850/Guardian/

#gamedev #indiedev #game development #development blog #guardian

0 notes

wolfganglupos · 8 years ago

Text

So My Friend And I....

This is my take on today’s world. It’s designed to be rambly. The Narrator rambles on going from one point in their life to another until the end.

I hope you guys enjoy. Also, I wrote this when I was baked out of my mind XD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So my friend and I were walking down to the pier. Nathan, my friend, was trying to get us to hurry up. He was quite frank and honestly a little rude. However, I paid no mind. We had been friends for years. About 13 years to be exact. We had met when we were 6 and we both started school together. He was from the lower class housing area and I was from Uptown. His parents managed to get him into my school on a scholarship. He is very talented as an artist. At six years old he was drawing Banksy-like portraits….as a warm up practice! Well, naturally Nathan and I became the best of friends! Our most obvious common interest being art, specifically the kind you use a skilled hand and years of practice to create. I became more interested in the financial side of art as Nathan became more in touch the creative side.

For fun, when we were..oh I’d say 12? 13 maybe. Nathan would sketch on a standard print paper. After he would finish it I would then try to guess how much it would sell for. I would take everything into account. His reputation at the time, the subject matter. How the general population would react to the subject matter. You had to be very careful about what you let the world see. Usually, the general public would make hurried and uneducated assumptions of the subject matter and the message the sender was trying to communicate to them. You have to remember to always see what exactly the subject matter is trying to say. It could be a reference to something you have no idea about and should reference. Instead,you might misunderstand it and jump to an extreme the material satirically or not referenced to.

Once, Fancy Pigeon came out with a marvelous new lotion to soften and moisturize a woman's skin. With this brand new lotion came a new art piece showcased all over the world! Fancy Pigeon commissioned a great artist to represent the new lotion. The great artist and his apprentices craft a piece on which was depicted three women of different colors, all clad in towels. The darkest was on the left, the lighter one stood glamorously in the middle as the third and brightest on shined on the right. The artist also decided it was a genius idea to put behind the women, an example of a woman's skin before using the new lotion on the left and then another representation of the women’s skin, however, this time it depicted her skin after the use of the lotion. It obviously doesn’t work on men. Fortunately, Fancy Pigeon came out with a men’s version.

The general public became so enraged at this, that even the lesser public had to turn the attention from the ever growing riots and public unrest in the country of Russia and it’s neighboring countries. Just to show the general public that they agreed. Fancy Pigeon could have done something slightly different. And yes the slight over sight of the placement of the before and after depictions was obviously fueled by alt-right extremists and the entire Fancy Pigeon company is corrupt and racist. Not one company has ever come out and opposed the overly sensitive general public directly. One particular CEO, Wendy I believe her name was, revolted in a most humorous way. During public debates, of which not many were actually useful or constructive in any way. They mostly contained arguments over nothing important or discussions of cats. Every Time someone would speak out against Wendy and her company in a humorously un-intelligent way or any way really where she could humorously retort back, she would….as the kids say….”burn” Them.

My favorite had to be when one ruly member of society shouted at wendy saying: King Burger shall win!

Wendy politely retorted: Win what, my dear sir? Possibly a participation trophy, I highly doubt it!

Reading and using Wendy’s humorous commentary in our own ways, helped me and Nathan throughout highschool of which we dropped out. By this time, with my help, He was selling enough art to sustain us. We were quite happy together. He’d work on his art. I would create funny and sometimes helpful shows for everyone to watch. We lived in a small flat in the center of the city we loved it there. The size didn’t matter to us. What mattered was that we had each other. Eventually, we had to move to a larger flat. Nathan started to turn his art sessions into their own shows and shared them with me and anyone who cared to watch. With this new combined wealth, we were able to afford this new flat which enabled us to create more ambitious ideas! It was a glorious time in our lives.

At first, we couldn’t declare our love for each other. The country had declared that people like me and Nathan could be married. We didn’t in the fear. Religious Extremists were running a muck in the world. If they found us. No one could or would dare to save us. Sure the government would do something about it. But nowadays? I doubt it.

When we finally did declare our love. People were rejoicing! Hundreds of thousands even millions would flock to our shows. Some to mock and harm us, but mostly to support us.

We had earned quite a loyalty with the people who enjoyed our shows. Those who supported us outside of the show. Even those who may not attend but respect us and our shows.

The high is unfathomable. You feel the warmth of so many caring souls.

We had their trust and love so much so that we had to watch what we said.

Even on sad and drooly days, as if the devil himself just went to the john on all of us. We would force a grand and empty smile. Never did we want to offend any of those loyal to us. Never did we want to hurt them. Ever so often we would speak of our feelings and opinions on a subject that is conversed all across the world. But if at all too controversial, we would only mention it in a small and very polite way. Even if we so dearly wanted to express out selves on the matter.

Our government took note of this. We weren’t the only ones with such a large following. Everyone had their favorite show.

When it came time for the new officials to replace the old ones. We and many others like us were hired to push a particular officials message to our audiences. Could you guess which ones? Well, the ones we favored of course. We never knew how angry our audiences got. They grab their pitchforks! Surround us! Every word we uttered was analyzed. Nathan’s old art was cut up and put back together in another way to depict a much different message. Those who opposed us or profited from out pain and suffering were extraordinarily skilled at this.

The general public seemed to forget everything after a fortnight or so. Even some officials forget very important details. Just the other day. An official poorly attempted to recite an event were two religious extremists were arrested as a massacre. I don’t remember any killing. In Fact, the talk was that they were arrested before they could massacre anyone.

As you can see, the world Nathan and I live in is quite confusing and immature. I look up as Nathan tells me to walk faster for the 100th time. We’re only a block away, I tell him. Look! They haven’t even started boarding. Fine, Nathan said. But I want to get something to eat before we leave, we won’t have normal food for a while.

Good point, I said. Let's go there. I point to a restaurant across the pier.

While we were enjoying our lunch. I chuckle when I glance up through the window at the sign on the pier.

It read: Pier #1337 Shuttles to the Farnsworth Space terminal Farnsworth and great (x30) uncle: Getting You The Fuck Off This Planet.

By: Wolfgang_Lupos

#Story #Short Story #Futurerama #Comedy #politic #political comedy #life #world #weed #washighwheniwrotethis #story time #i #don't #want #to #live #on #this #planet #anymore

0 notes

recentanimenews · 8 years ago

Text

FEATURE: 10 Anime to Watch if You Loved 'Yuri!!! On ICE'

The word is out: Yuri!!! On ICE was officially crowned Crunchyroll's Anime of the Year at the Anime Awards. The show’s combination of thoughtful character drama, thrilling performance sequences, and goofy comedy made it a deserved breakout hit. Will there be more? Maybe, but it won’t be for a long time yet. So what can all of us do to occupy ourselves in the meantime? Watch more anime, of course!

Yuri!!! On ICE was a unique show, but if you loved something about its specific blend of strengths, there are almost certainly more shows out there for you to enjoy. But recommendations are never a one-size-fits-all sort of thing, so I’ll be tackling this one piece at a time. What specifically about Yuri!!! On ICE spoke to you? What sort of show could see yourself enjoying, even if it doesn’t have precisely everything Yuri!!! On ICE? Well, let’s start with the easy ones, and see where we get from there.

First off, if you loved Yuri!!! On ICE, you probably owe it to yourself to check out some of director Sayo Yamamoto’s other work. Yamamoto has been renowned as a distinctive directorial voice in anime for years now, having even worked as an episode director on esteemed projects like Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy. Her own works exemplify the forward-thinking perspective that made Yuri!!! on ICE so unique, and so my list of recommendations will start right there.

1) Michiko & Hatchin

Michiko & Hatchin is a rambling road trip starring a lawless woman and her orphan companion, who seek their destinies in a country three steps removed from our own Brazil. If you like Shinichiro Watanabe’s style of episodic adventures (Champloo, Cowboy Bebop), but feel they could probably use a badass heroine topping the bill, it’s very worth a look. Yamamoto herself has described this one as a show she hoped women could come home to after a day of work, cracking a beer and enjoying the show.

2) The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Four years after directing Michiko & Hatchin, Yamamoto returned with The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Though this show takes place in the general Lupin III, master thief universe, it’s both relatively self-contained and very unique in its focus. As the title says, this show turns its eye to Lupin’s eternal femme fatale Fujiko, who is given her own rich story in Yamamoto’s capable hands. Couple that with the show’s gorgeous art design, and you’ve got another series that’s definitely worth checking out.

Before I move on from Yamamoto, I should mention that her highlights aren’t just limited to the full series she’s directed. Yamamoto preceded Yuri!!! On ICE with the clear stylistic predecessor Endless Night, a beautiful skating-focused short from the Animator Expo program. She’s also renowned for her work on show ending songs, having directed the endings for shows like Attack on Titan, Space Dandy, and Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. Yuri!!! On ICE’s tight schedule and breakneck pacing didn’t even necessarily allow all of Yamamoto’s strengths to shine, so I’d definitely give her other work a chance.

But of course, shows are more than just their creators. While Yamamoto has directed some very exciting productions, if you’re looking for something that feels like Yuri!!! On ICE, you might have to look elsewhere. The thrill of competition, the camaraderie of a broad cast, the fundamental optimism of pushing beyond yourself to succeed—all of those things are fundamental to sports dramas like Yuri!!! On ICE. And fortunately, Yuri!!! On ICE actually hits us during something of a sports anime renaissance, where we have a wide variety of recent sports hits to choose from. As far as those go, check out the next recommendations (in no particular order).

3) Haikyuu!!

Starting off our sports roundup, Haikyuu!! offers a satisfying and reasonably grounded take on high school volleyball. Featuring some terrific animation and a wide, likeable cast, it just recently finished up its third season. It’s light, fun, and brimming with energy. Even if Yuri!!! On ICE made you fall in love with figure skating, you might want to leave a little time in your schedule for volleyball after this one.

4) Cross Game

Cross Game sadly isn’t available streaming, but is still widely in manga form. As a personal fan, I had to include this one in my list - a story about grief, family, and the competitions that bring us together, it’s one of my absolute favorite manga. Focusing on a pitching prodigy and the team that rises around him, Cross Game offers a more sensitive and character-focused approach to sports stories, following its cast as they grow from children into young adults.

5) Kuroko’s Basketball

At the more sports-as-superpowers end of the genre, there’s the intense and often beautifully directed Kuroko’s Basketball. There are no overt romantic relationships in this one, but Kuroko’s Basketball is still deeply invested in the internal worlds of its characters, and the relationships that form between them. Plus, who doesn’t like shows about characters with basketball teleportation magic?

6) Ping Pong the Animation

Finally, the tremendous Ping Pong the Animation brings a unique visual sensibility and terrific character writing together to offer one of the strongest shows in any genre. Starring a dynamic cast of young talents, it both celebrates what makes them unique and also examines the fundamental nature of competition. Every competitor has their own style and reasons for playing, and Ping Pong brings all of its heroes to life.

7) Free!

I’d frankly be negligent in my duties if I moved on from sports shows without mentioning Free! Free! is actually a less dedicated sports drama than those picks above, and more of a slice of life/drama blend, but it’s still funny and beautifully animated and full of cute boys. Definitely worth a look if you’re seeking something a little lighter.

Of course, Yuri!!! On ICE wasn’t just a thrilling sports show - it was also a mature and satisfying romance, a queer drama with a very thoughtful approach to its cast. If you’re looking for more shows like that, I’ve got a few picks that are just the thing!

8) Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Focusing on a few artists practicing Japanese theater across the twentieth century, Rakugo presents a striking story of passion, legacy, and awakening to your own sexuality. Performers find identity and redemption on the stage, all while weathering a Shakespearian hurricane of tragedy and personal sacrifice. It’s sensitively written and beautifully directed, and its second season is airing right now.

9) Wandering Son

Wandering Son tends to show up on any list of LGBT-focused anime, and for good reason. The show is a beautifully intimate story of two adolescents coming to terms with their gender identities. Featuring another great ensemble cast and a warm, almost watercolor-styled visual aesthetic, it’s a sensitive and often heartwarming production. Wandering Son embraces the complexity and validity of our sometimes contradictory feelings, celebrating the value of every member of its charming cast.

10) Yurikuma Arashi

If you know Kunihiko Ikuhara, this one’s probably not surprising - he directed the standout adolescent drama Revolutionary Girl Utena, and all of his works are rich in visual metaphor and social commentary. His latest show is actually his most direct, though that doesn’t make it any less exciting. Yurikuma Arashi tackles the realities of same-sex oppression, portraying not just the difficulty of being yourself in a hostile society, but also the various ways we all become servants of such systems. And it does this all through the wonderful framing device of... predatory lesbian bears.

From ice skating champions to lesbian bears seems like quite a trip, but there are all sorts of things to draw from our favorites. I hope some of these shows sound appealing to you, and please sound off with any of your own recommendations in the comments!

-----

Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now, and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

1 note · View note