#this is fun I should do it every year

[llycaons]

I may have watched only five new movies this year, but I started or finished at least ten new shows. what can I say, I'm a TV gal*

SHOWS I've watched in 2022 (scored but unranked)

Breaking Bad: 9/10

everyone was obsessed with this show in 2012 or whatever and my older brother still raves about it so I thought, what the hell. and what do you know, it was really good! it was funny! I watched in fascination as a story about an egotistical, immature maniac destroying his own life and the lives of the people around him continued to be a comedy for much of its run

definitely not perfect (treats its Latino characters horribly, kills off too many women, and it got a bit clumsy by the end plotwise) but overall writing is absolutely incredible. I may or may not ever rewatch

Better Call Saul : 6/10

this was a very well-written, critically acclaimed show that for various reasons, I didn’t like as much as I had hoped to. I found the main character whiny and insufferable, some of the scenes were incredibly boring and drawn-out, and some of the acting for minor characters was so bad as to genuinely disrupt the experience (looking at you, stacy). and somehow it took characters I really enjoyed from brba (saul/jimmy and mike) and made them so unlikeable as to be unwatchable

despite my personal tastes not really gelling with the show, I really loved seeing more gus, and new characters like kim, lalo, and nacho were a delight. rather mixed on this one, but I’m ending it with higher than a 5 because I think the ending was pulled off really well

Extraordinary Attorney Woo: 7/10

I’m only halfway through this show because I haven’t had time to go to the gym, which is where I watch it, but it’s a very beautiful story with a strong aesthetic and I’m enchanted by the main character

I‘ve hit a very slow series of episodes with cases I do not care about at all (the railroad through the town) and I’m finding it hard to get the motivation to continue. I’m neutral on most of the side characters. I do really like the love interest, though. and I think I’ll cry when I hit the ending....I saw some gifs and 🥺 I love you woo young-woo

I will have a more complete review when I finish it, but I think the fact that it’s scored higher than bcs is very funny

The Bear: 6/10

this show could have been so much better than it ended up being. ah, what potential! the concept was interesting, the acting and chemistry was great, the stress and misery of a kitchen disaster was very well-executed, the core cast was (mostly) engaging, the humor was (mostly) on point, and the plots were genuinely very compelling

what let the bear down was 1. having an extremely shitty guy in the main cast but not really dealing with how shitty he was beyond well, he sucks but he’s a good dad and he’s one of the guys! he gets it! 2. the ending. instead of an earned, bittersweet, realistic finale appropriate to the story of a man losing his brother and feeling tremendous guilt and responsibility over it, and struggling with both substance use and keeping a small business afloat, there’s this....fairytale wish-fulfillment at play in which all problems are solved through an implausible discovery of hidden treasure. like....what? there’s also  some minor character elements that I found were done clumsily, but these were the big two flaws for me

Interview with the Vampire: 10/10

ohhhh WHAT a show. yes, I’m ranking it higher than breaking bad. I think I actually personally enjoyed this one a little less than brba because I don’t love the storytelling structure or the themes of unreliable narration/storytelling/memory. also I was let down by the armand bait-and-switch and I don’t know why the show kept in louis’s family’s history of owning a plantation at all, but in this case I think that the rest of the show was good enough to make up for it

what can I say that hasn’t already been said? the bold reimagining of a racist old book series into a contemplation on race and identity centered on the experiences of a Black man in 20th century New Orleans, the explicit and very well-executed sexual and romantic relationship between the leads, the lighting, costuming, and set design, the research into the setting, the chemistry between the leads, the dialogue, the incredible acting of all cast members, especially JA and SR, the drama, the gore, the horror, the tragedy, the ending, the perspective from the future - wow! wow!

the best possible type of adaptation from a series with compelling aspects but many issues - I feel grateful to everyone involved that that this show was created and I cannot wait for season 2

Our Flag Means Death: 0.5/10

yeah, I did watch this show, and hated almost every minute of it. followers may remember me forcing myself to just get to the next episode because it was so popular and beloved, I figured there must be SOMETHING there and I felt bad for being a killjoy. TW’s comedy really doesn’t do it for me (I didn’t love WWDITS movie and never watched the tv show), I disliked the acting, the romantic dialogue was overrated and clumsy, and I hated the lead character very deeply

I ended up liking some things about it, but by the end some things were coming to light about the character that TW based the show off of and the most important consideration here is that it’s a rosy, ahistorical view of literal plantation owners and slave traders, and I hope it falls into obscurity as fast as possible. also TW is antiblack so I’m not going to be supporting any of his projects in the future anyway

Kinnporsche: 0.5/10

dear reader, do not watch this show

Can Lan Jue (Love Between Fairy and Devil): ?/10

ohhhh boy. this one is a challenge for me. the main character is a marvel. the humor is phenomenal. the set designs are rich and indulgent, and the costumes are varied and interesting - a feast for the eyes. in many ways, it’s a lovely and relaxing show to go to sleep to, and I have a lot of fondness for it

this current plot I’m in (shenanigans in the mortal world) has plenty of twists to keep it interesting, and surprisingly heartfelt dramatic performances from mainly comical characters

where I really struggle is the plot and character interactions. it had a decently paced beginning, but it slowed down afterwards, and at 23 (of 38) episodes, the plot is finally picking up again. I only watch this show once every few days, so the pacing probably isn’t as glacial as it feels, but it’s still slower than I usually like

the romance has had a very rough start, which I’m looking forward to improving, but which upset me so much that I quit the show more than once, because I find it difficult to be comfortable with couples who have such a history between them

also I want the leads not to date each other and instead get into gay relationships with the mortals they’re trying to set up. but alas. this romcom scenario will end in het marriage (or death? remains to be seen)

final ranking: we’ll see

Mó dào Zǔ shī: 7/10

I cannot remember when I watched this and my search function is failing me, but it’s going here

edit: I watched this in 2021 but fuck it, it was december so close enough

this is also a mixed bag because the first and third season were very strong, but the second season was so bad that there must have been some kind of production issue so I’m not going to hold it against the creators even if it was really comedic in how poor the quality was

right off the bat - I know the characters look like that and I don’t like it either, but you stop noticing after a while. I am much more bothered by the animal designs. like those rabbits??? kind of freaky. the in-show ads for cornetto ice cream were honestly quite funny so I don't mind them. they added to the character of the show

anyway, the donghua was mostly quite good and a fun experience. it captured a lot of the powerful moments from the novel while maintaining more of the original plot than cql did, which made it arguably more coherent than the drama. the animation allowed it to really go ham on the effects like glowing red eyes and flocks of green crows without looking incredibly silly like it would in a live action, which would have marred some of the dramatic tension

the music was absolutely stunning, the backgrounds were meticulously painted, it was well-paced (with exceptions), and the character dynamics were organic and engaging. although censored, there was palpable romantic and sexual chemistry between the leads, and it gave them a sweet ending with a slight twist on the novel. many of the choices for lwj surprised and pleased me (like smiling instead of getting jealous in that one scene). I enjoyed the characterization choices for myu and jc, and the added details for wwx, which were often quite charming (like when he welcomes little apple back with open arms saying how much he missed her, aww)

on the other hand, due to the faithfulness to the novel, some of the scenes come off as confusing or downright silly without proper context, and there are still several homophobic jokes and uncomfortable scenes. jyl is barely a presence, I feel neutral on wen qing’s different personality, and for the most part the characters outside the core cast where pretty blah. and as I said before, the second season is such a disaster that it really hampers the entire story. I don’t know how much sense the plot would make to someone not familiar with the story because so much was cut out and the rest was so rushed and clumsy. but it’s something I would watch again for sure (though it is unknown how much I’d like it)

The Great: 9/10

this one is wild. you really need to be prepared for a LOT (animal cruelty, burning people alive, gore, eye horror, abuse). it’s very good, and I enjoy the acting, costuming, plot, and humor quite a lot. but I haven’t finished it so this ranking is premature, and I feel strangely reluctant to do so now that catherine has actually gained power. it’s emotionally quite draining.

Hunter x Hunter: 8/10

please don’t ask me to talk about this show anymore. I’ve been doing it for over a year now. it was good and I liked it but it had some flaws. I will likely not watch it again. read the manga. that is all <3

*gender-neutral

[wuntrum]

a leyendecker homage for the first postcard of 2024!!

[whilomm]

oh okay heres one:

"sleepaway camp"= you go there for at least a few days, a week, sometimes several weeks, and sleep there, as opposed to a """camp""" where you go for the day and your parents or whoever picks you up afterward (those arent really camps, but like. idk when i went to "space camp" it was a weeklong but not sleepaway). in the U.S. at least, the typical image of a sleepaway camp involves staying in cabins, dunno how common it is/what it looks like in other countries.

for the first few i just mean like. not necessarily a stealth church camp, just like. idk, a camp where theres also an Assumption Of Christianity and just general vibes without being actually church camp. So, there might not be daily services and jesusy dedicatwd activities, but maybe theres still a prayer said over meals and shit. Which i assume might exist...

(oh and @reblogforsamplesize if u wanna)

[yangjeongin]

HYUNJIN BIRTHDAY COUNTDOWN (2024):  ↘ D-DAY | HAPPY BIRTHDAY HWANG HYUNJIN❣️

[benevolenterrancy]

Congrats, now all I'm going to be able to think about all day long is Chifeng-zun being stunned into silence by the sight of Meng Yao's braids, the same as if he had never left. His hand reaches out and clenches in mid-air, while Jin Guangyao stands shell-shocked and panicking, or blissfully oblivious to how Nie Mingjue's world is tilting on its axis. He could be mad, the rage that almost let him call the Unclean Realm home making Hensheng thrum: because what right does Nie Mingjue have to want him now, when he finally has a place he belongs? And why does want to quit it all for him?

Anyway, now you can share in my brain worms~

In that moment, something was communicated

unfortunately, neither knew exactly what it was

[sea-jello]

hong kong miku,,,

[whimsyprinx]

I feel like now is a good time to announce that I’m in the process of moving blogs! Im doing so for a few reasons, the main one being paranoia, so for that reason I won’t be saying my new urls publicly so like please dm me if you’d like my new url so you can follow me there! I’ll be reblogging this post a lot so ppl can see it (so sorry if you get annoyed by that)!

I’m also remaking my discord account as well so if we’re friends on there then feel free to message me for my new username!

friends and mutuals please do reblog so shared friends/mutuals have a higher chance seeing it!

[fritzes]

[seaquestions]

blake lets him keep it. this is a dire lapse in judgement on his part but they're just gonna have to live with it. (ids in alts)

[lucalicatteart]

A new sculpture! Finally... I feel like I never sculpt anymore since I'm always sick or have some 500 other things going on or projects to finish, but I'm trying to schedule time to do it more often this year hopefully..! Just a generic fantasy creature as usual, but did try making the eyes a little more sparkly this time.. hrmm..

[bonefall]

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

[moregraceful]

today i have been kind of like oh god the tasks are endless and consuming -- the tasks are not endless and consuming, the tasks just all involve detailed organization and aesthetic curation which are talents i was not blessed with and skills i have never cultivated so i've been staring at various shelves and boxes of art supplies like Now What all day. at least the art supplies i can kind of muddle through with the help of pinterest but the curios, which i've been stuck on for like two weeks, are like ok is it visually balanced to put two novelty barracuda pucks next to the laughing buddha. the barracuda don't really make me feel zen tbh. at least with christmas decorations i put off so long dealing with that now i can just put them up ig...not sure it's the best use of my money to buy a teal colored christmas tree but what if it is :/

[aquanutart]

I absolutely LOVE the Squirtle/Wartortle illustrations by kantaro in Pokemon 151!

The Squirtle jumping so joyfully from the rock into the ocean, the colors are STUNNING! I love the contrast of the Squirtle's aqua blue framed in the vivid orange sky, the soft bit of blue reflecting in its shell and its tail just catching the sun, how little and squishy its body looks as it launches itself towards the water with such tremendous excitement!

The lineless style of the background gives me the feel of a travel poster and I sense the tropical environment around it from the rocks and trees framing the corners, the waterfall splashing with as much energy as the Squirtle!

The layered blues on the surface of the water and the bubbles rising at the corner make me FEEL the liquid rising to meet the Squirtle--I can just feel how the next moment it's going to break through and be immersed in a cool island swim!

And the Wartortle running along the sunset beach, this is somehow everything I always imagined for Wartortle! I adore the way the rich purple melts into the warm red/orange sky, the matching purple clouds and shadows in the foreground, and how the dimming sunlight glows red on Wartortle's deep blues!

I love how the yellow and orange of the sky illuminate the lapping waves, I can just feel the gentle motion of the sea at dusk. The aqua color of the ocean matches Wartortle's ears and tail and sets off the red-orange sand, I just love how the colors are here!

Wartortle looks so round and squishy, I love its happiness as it goes frolicking through the shallows, chasing the bubbles caught in the setting sun! The shine and deep shadow on its shell give it an almost jewel texture like real tortoise shell; I love the silhouetted splash Wartortle leaves as it goes running across the shore. It's so full of energy and delight at the end of a gorgeous day! The colors in these are SO vivid and harmonized and the style is so cute and bursting with energy and joy. I just LOVE it (also Squirtle is my starter)

[vynegar]

"Albie" (main story 11-21)

At the end of Episode 11 (Part 1), we find out that "Albie" is simply a name that Vyn made up on the spot when Rosa asked. He may have been inspired by his own birth name, Vilhelm Richard Albert de Haspran.

In Chinese, Vyn choose the name "阿明". "阿" is a prefix used to form nicknames, "明" can be a name but also means "bright, clear". In Vyn's Romantic Rail Getaway card "Food for Thought", he tells us the meaning of his name:

You can see the character 明 appear in the word 明亮 ("bright"), although 明 is such a common character that I wouldn't say that this Chinese text alone is enough is sufficient evidence to show the connection between the two names. It's the way that the "Albie" and "阿明" happen to coincide in the name "Albert", which made me take note of Vyn's "careless" choice in name.

If the Chinese name was intended to subtly reference "Albert", I can certainly imagine imagine this as one way to preserve that reference through translation, even if it becomes more obvious. We do have an example of the translation preserving plot-relevant wordplay in a name: Lowe Leare ("Lowly"), originally 萧仁 ("小人", both pronounced "xiao ren" but with different tones). However, there's also an incident of a plot-relevant name being missed through translation, though it was in an event (not the main story) that probably foreshadowed a distant plot point and had infamously bad translation issues.

Anyway, it remains possible that "Albie" is a coincidence. However, after Vyn and Rosa wrap up their conversation about Albie's name, the narration makes a comment on the importance of that moment:

It isn't until the whole case is settled that you are surprised to realize something... You had briefly touched on the key to cracking the case at this very moment.

...which at least gives me enough confidence to not feel silly writing up a whole post about it. We've only seen part of this case, and there's a lot of mystery still surrounding Vyn's behavior so I don't have any definitive hypotheses on why Vyn might have chosen his own name for Albie. Is there something that made Vyn seen himself in Albie? Did the delinquent's attitude remind Vyn of the cruel, stratified world that he was born in? Is he reminded of how people who have imperfections will be tossed aside and abandoned? I guess we'll see when part 2 of this episode is released.

[bunnihearted]

🫖🐭☁️🍚

[shouldprobablybereading]

Cosmere Inktober Day 4: Frozen