#this is one of the rare cases i actually thank the youtube for showing this up in my algorithm. dashboard. whatever

[sharlmbracta]

STUDY

excerpt(16:26) :

What's relevant here is how this distinction shows how fluidly infantilization can go from the ableism my audience describes to the self-infantilization that oppressors utilize - it's the same thing, it's dehumanization. This is what Freity speaks about when he says the oppressors and oppressed must both be liberated. They are both engaged in the process of dehumanization. The oppressor seeks to gain power from this dehumanization. The oppressed are abused in this process and left powerless. Neither are allowed to be fully human in order to maintain the structure of power.

(edit: i just watched the entire thing and the realizations this gave me -> this is very important especially for people like me)

[azmstea]

[COSMO - RARE TWISTED]

Okey, I KNOW some people already made this idea (found out while I was working on this), but I really wanted to make my version of it so let's go!!

Well, I decided to rework a bit Twisted Cosmo because I personally never understood why he is a common one to begin with. And also explain how his ability would work!

This will be a PRETTY long blog with a lot of yapping, so if you're actually interested in the "AU", keep reading!!

ASKS ABOUT HIM ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!

Alright, let's start by explaining a bit about him.

"He believes he's helping others, but his healing method doesn't work like before. This twisted, separated from his best friend, walks around looking for people to heal with hearts that block any healing items and causing random effects for a few seconds. Be sure to never be spotted without full health!" - Research description.

During a blackout, Cosmo got lost and was forced to separate from his best friend Sprout and had only one heart left by the end of the process. When arriving at the elevator, he noticed Sprout having a hard time with a twisted, and he also had one heart. Knowing that his stamina was low at the moment, Cosmo does something he never did before: He used all his strength to remove his last heart and give it to Sprout, saving him from a fatal attack. Sprout made it to the elevator, but Cosmo couldn't say the same. (I want my Fruitcake angst y'all, or else I'll cook it)

We aren't sure how exactly toons became Twisteds, but for the sake of this "AU", Dandy decided to use Cosmo as a way to test something new: An ichor heart in a non main character toon. This heart made Cosmo stop from dying, but it causes him A LOT of pain, since his chest is opened and the ichor causes physical pain. He still has some conscience inside of him, but the ichor stops him from acting like how he used to and makes it more difficult to talk. His body and head are full of bites, like the twisted that was haunting Sprout tried to eat him before. His arm is way bigger and heavier than before, but he doesn't mind much because he is pretty strong around his arms, but it surely brings some extra pain for his right side.

Deep down, he just wants to help other toons, but he can't realize how he isn't capable of doing it in a positive way anymore thanks to the ichor.

Yes, I know, only main characters have sounds to show that they're nearby, but I want to add that if Cosmo is extremely close of you (in the same room or in the next room), you're capable of hearing his ichor heart beats, which are fast and loud. Like this, players can escape from him in case they are in a dangerous situation.

ABILITY:

(I saw a video called "swap au" on YouTube and took a bit of inspiration from it, but I changed it to make it a little more interesting!)

Twisted Cosmo's ability is inspired in his Toon's active: Heal others, but with a reverse effect.

If you have all your hearts, Cosmo won't follow you or harm you, he will keep walking because he doesn't want to hurt anyone (something like Glisten) and because he knows you won't need any heals. At first, it's like he won't even do anything at all.

However, if he sees you with 2 hearts or only 1 heart, he will grab his ichor heart from his chest and start chasing you, with the intention of throwing a heart at you and "help". His attention spam is a little longer (3.5 s) and his speed increases from his canon twisted form, but his eye vision isn't the best since he doesn't have one of his eyes, so he can't see you from extreme distances like Shrimpo.

If he catches you, your empty heart slots will be filled with a weird "ichor heart", similar to main characters. As his description says, the heart will block any kind of healing, so things like Teagan's active, medkits and bandaids won't work at all. Along with that, you'll get a random effect for 10 seconds from the I category (like "Confused I", "Slow I", "Tired I"). After the attack, Cosmo will no longer follow you because he thinks he finished his job there. (Distractors you're all screwed🔥)

And plus, you can avoid his attack if you heal yourself BEFORE he can heal you.

Another ability of his is being able to know when and where a player got hurt. Let's say you have 3 hearts, but you got a hit from Shelly in "x" spot. In this scenario, Cosmo will immediately go to "x" spot no matter how far he is from the place. If you manage to leave where you were before he arrives, good! If not, Cosmo will chase you to give you an ichor heart. Sounds "inoffensive" at first, but depending of the situation, it can make your life pure hell.

If you have 1 regular heart and 2 ichor hearts, Cosmo will no longer care about you during that floor because it's impossible to get another hit without dying, leaving you in a vulnerable situation for any complicated twisteds like Pebble or Goob. That's why I like to call him the very first twisted that won't kill you directly! I wanted to play with the fact that he's a supporter as a toon, so why not make a "supporter" twisted whose job is make your gameplay harder?? Maybe a new type of twisted?

"Will Cosmo also follow you if all machines are done like Glisten?" I'm still unsure of it, but to keep his "support" role, I suppose he would just accept his fate of being alone, because at least he can "help" others. (I WANT FRUITCAKE ANGST!!!)

How do you remove the ichor hearts? Again, still thinking about it, but just like Shelly's "Confused" ability, the effect should be gone once you reach the elevator. I thought about leaving the effect for 2 floors, but I dunno if this would be too OP or anything, so you can decide on this!

Now congratulations! You know who is twisted Cosmo and how to survive to one of the most annoying Twisteds ever!! /jk

I suppose that's all for now about him! He's still in development, but this is the main idea of him and his abilities!

And don't worry, I will be sure to cook some good old angst with this concept. Hope everyone enjoys it!!

ASKS ABOUT HIM ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!

[bubblewrapjunkie]

ok. so. about the passiflora of it all. if you are so naive as to think that that collector crowd have any actual genuine care about tobias and not simply the value of their collection, i just have to laugh. but sure, just for the heck of it, let’s break it down.

1. no one has ever been able to validate that tobias has EVER said anything about not wanting people to hear passiflora. this “statement” has only ever been circulated by people who own the record, with the compelling source of “trust me, bro”.

2. tobias himself uploaded passiflora to myspace back in the day - that’s how we have “house of affection” (which - coincidentally - have been sitting comfortably on youtube for years without any action taken from “tobias’ legal team”). it just didn’t gain any traction, and he eventually deleted it. he might find it a bit cringe (like he does with so far noir and y’all seem to be gobbling that one up regardless of how he feels about it) but it’s not like anyone’s exploiting him if they listen to it. if that were the case, wouldn’t the people owning a copy of it destroy it, to make sure not to traumatize tobias? or are they maybe not THAT concerned with his wellbeing after all…? which leads me to…

3. the huffing and puffing about respecting tobias’ wishes is especially rich coming from the same crowd where someone (we all know who) amongst other things have shown up to a copia m&g dressed up in tobias’ old jean jacket that i don’t even wanna think about how they got their hands on. tobias has, on multiple occasions, asked his fans for ONE thing. don’t break the fourth wall, i.e acknowledge that him and papa are the same person WHILE he’s in papa mode. he gets very self conscious and weirded out when his own image and person gets attached to ghost (especially the live shows) that way. there is so much of that man’s past (photos, notebooks, etc) that is now public information that he has had NO SAY WHATSOEVER in if he wanted seen by other people that collectors have gladly published online without any regards to what tobias may or may not feel about it. maybe he’s totally cool with it, but spare me the hypocrisy, please and thank you.

4. “tobias’ legal team have been notified”. no, someone messaged richie - head of tour security for the last leg of the impera tour - on tiktok. these are… two very different sentences with very different meanings.

5. tobias doesn’t lose any money if passiflora leaks because he was never going to release that album and make money of it anyways. do you also have this kind of energy for people listening to ghost’s cover of “it’s a sin” on youtube? you know, the track that was only supposed to be available for you if you purchased the prequelle exalted box? how about the people listening to “here comes the sun” who haven’t bought the super rare japanese single that had it as a b-side? the ONLY people losing money are the people who bought the cd, and guess what? it’s not as if ALL the value disappears. it’s still a super rare collector’s item. the meliora box sets regularly sell for like $500 even though you can absolutely listen to zenith online.

6. the threat of violence was unnecessary though, however much of a joke it was. it’s the internet, someone will always say something clumsy and dumb.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

AUNTIEEE, YOU WERE MENTIONED IN THAT HADES VIDEO :O Timestamp is already included but in the case it didn't add is 1:17:57 CONGRATS, NOW YOU'RE A NICHE CELEBRITY 😎😂😂

It's not because I was mentioned there but hoooly damn, guys watch this video!!! I am a Greek talking about this stuff all the time and yet I was pleasantly surprised with how many things he mentioned and much new info I hadn't thought about - like the Greeks descending from the gods in our cosmology, and why Greek gods are actually ethnically Greek. (One point I used to disagree on, but he convinced me otherwise)

I disagree with him on some stuff he says about god depictions but from what I remember (I saw the whole thing a week ago), I agree with nearly everything else. I think it's a great and extremely detailed video overall, and the first of that popularity discussing how Greeks and Greek culture are absent from the media which is supposed to include them, and it profits greatly from that supposed "inclusion".

He also covers many other subjects regarding the treatment of Greek heritage by the west, and he does it in a way that I could listen to that video for 10 hours straight. Dear LambHoot, I don't know if you will see this, and perhaps we disagree on a few things, but I'd like to say you made a darn good video. Your μεράκι in making it shows, and I am sure every viewer will get something great from it. Bravo!!!

**************

I'd also like to thank @anistrange for bringing this great video and my mention to my attention! It was on my to-watch list but towards the bottom - because I am a kalikantzaros hoarding youtube videos for the rare day I'll have the energy and time, and also because I couldn't imagine it would be that good! You start the video and two hours later you want it to continue!

[no-psi-nan]

@jkgnggj I definitely ship it!! I am ringing a cowbell in the town square constantly extolling the virtues of Aikechi while the masses pointedly look the other way lmao.

I think what first got me thinking about Aikechi is that one artwork of the Psychickers polycule at the beach in black and white where Aiura kisses Akechi. I reblog it all the time and I always add it back to the queue lmao. Once I started thinking about their potential relationship, I started realizing how good it is and it all spiralled from there lol.

Basically I love everything about this ship lmao. They're both incomprehensible in different directions. They both have a strong drive to help people. They both are extremely perceptive in different ways. They're both extroverts who love gossip. They both reject the shame that society tries to force them to feel – Aiura for her rejection of traditional femininity & her sex-positivity, Akechi for his incontinence/disability and general disregard for taboo. Akechi would be a great partner to Aiura, attentive and romantic in a way she definitely hasn't experienced before (or else why would she have gone through so much effort to seek out her soul mate?). And Aiura would be a great partner to Akechi with her similar attentiveness, her greater people skills, and her powers. They would love to help people out together (especially trying to defeat death marks), they'd both enjoy trying new things together (like axe-throwing or trying out new fashion looks), and they'd both enjoy chilling and cuddling and watching YouTube poops / listening to music from around the world / parallel playing on their phones etc. They would just be such a disgustingly happy couple <3 The kind that is regularly commiting PDA crimes and are so annoying to talk to lmao. You know they're giving each other pet names and being too lovey dovey and referencing a billion inside jokes and it's just so cringe <3 I LOVE THAT FOR THEM!!!!!

All of my opinions for this ship are technically unpopular because the ship is unpopular lmao. I think one problem might be that Aiura is clearly allosexual with a high sex drive while Akechi seems pretty dang ace. I guess my unpopular opinion is that it would not be a problem in this particular case. LISTEN... In my experience, there are broadly 3 types of asexuals. Those that find sex repulsive, those that literally could not care less about sex, and those that find sex fascinating like on a conceptual level. I think that based on his noted interest in dick and general lack of shame about bodily functions, Akechi probably falls into the third category. In fact, I posit that to Akechi, sex is a game you can win, something which is both normal to want and possible to achieve. His powers of observation, natural curiosity/willingness to experiment, and patience make him ridiculously good at showing his partner(s) a great time, even though he himself is rarely interested in getting involved. It fits with his evil nice mastermind characterization to be able to "control" someone in that way, and it keeps the funniness of his character because who in the world would think MISTER PISS is actually a world-class lover?? Anyways, he can definitely satisfy Aiura, though I still generally like her to have other partners so the game remains fun for him and doesn't become tiresome. Power to the polycule, etc lmao.

Thanks for the ask, I'm SO brainrotted about them <333

[ Ask game ] <- still open for these!

[nothingtherefornow]

Sadly and furiously, there's worse teachers than Bustier and Mendeleiv, and worse principals than Damoclès in real life

I've just read stories and testimonials from people about their years in primary and secondary school in France, And I've realized that, in fact, there are really so much worse cases than Miss Bustier, Mrs. Mendeliev, and Mr. Damocles as teachers and principals in real life :

Teachers and principals who aren't just enablers, but bullies themselves. Teachers who select one of their students as a scapegoat to vent all their frustrations, often punishing them unfairly, and ignoring or making fun of their difficulties, humiliating them in front of other students, etc. To the point that it also encouraged others students to bully the scapegoat student. One testimony particularly schoked me :

"I had a teacher who found all possible excuses to punish me, when we had presentations/assignements to make, the others in my class had 1 week to do it... I had to do it for the day after. She very often deprived me of recess, prevented me from going to the toilets, but above all, she couldn't see me so much that she very often sent me to the principal's class to do my punishments. She and the director were very good friends, and the director also had fun punishing me and saying mean things about me in front of her students. I was the student not to become. And this had quite a repercussion since the class of the director attacked me physically and also mentally during the lunch break (the only recess I had the right to because I had to eat), which , over the months, had rounded up all the other classes who came to harass me too (except my class, being aware that I did nothing wrong). And the harassment was even sometimes sexual and I confess that I do not understand how no supervisor could see what was happening."

it's terrifying how Miraculous actually only shows a fraction of school bullying and what a bad teacher is

Fortunately there are also testimonials on teachers who have helped students a lot.

A favorite youtuber of mine spoke of a teacher in a large kindergarten section who had traumatized her, and led her to withdraw into herself and never participate in class again. Then in CP, she had a teacher who was the exact opposite, fair, kind and attentive A teacher who helped her heal the wounds of the previous year. as kindergarten and primary shared the same canteen, the bad teacher and the good teacher already knew each other, and one day the youtuber witnessed a conversation between the two teachers of which she was the subject. The good teacher complimented her student and expressed her joy to have her in her class, while the bad teacher dared to ask "are you sure she is not mentally retarded?" about her former student, and she added that "according to science" students who are too well behaved hid a vice, and that one should not hesitate to often punish them, even if it means going as far as corporal punishment. The nice teacher replied that if she were to come across a teacher punishing his students this way, she would report them to the rectorate, slash their car tires, and set their house on fire. Then the good teacher asked to her colleague "I sure hope you're not that kind of teacher, right ?" Karma is rare in real life, but when it does its job, it's a jubilant moment ^^.

This story may be exaggerated, but I found it interesting to cite it

Myself I had an immense chance to have a schooling which took place without aplomb despite my autism thanks also to the presence of my twin sister (my parents always and rightly arranged for us to be in the same class) and I have always had relatively good teachers.

But reading and listening to this kind of testimonies really makes me realize that there are still a lot of bad teachers who do not just enable but also participate in the bullying of one or many students. Those kind of "adults" are the shame of teaching, people who shouldn't even have the right to teach nor approach children.

SPOILER WARNING ABOUT MIRACULOUS SEASON 5

That's why the episode Confrontation had me starting to despise Caline Bustier and Denis Damoclès a lot less, because it's better to have a teacher and principal regretting their past bullying enabling actions and misleading, and wanting to make up for it and become better, rather than teachers and principals who do enjoy abusing their students and never get caught

[juniperhillpatient]

for the fandom questions, let's see... B, N, O, Q :)

B: A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind: Hamm idk ‘cause I’m always open minded to almost any pairing! you opened my eyes a little more to some rare pairs with Ty Lee/Zuko in the Burning Ring series & Mai/Aang in White Lotus Gambit & you also introduced me to the idea of Azula/Katara/Yue ❤️

Non ATLA @missjessefantastico got me onboard with Heidi (the hyena) / Vamp Willow with the amazing Paper Stars series & also they got me into Willow/Tara/Oz as a throuple ❤️

N: Your favorite fandom (for the people; not the thing you fangirl over): hm tough one! I would say it might be Buffy because sure it’s got it’s issues but I’ve been there for years & the fans never stop coming up with amazing metas & thoughtful analysis & funny memes & great artwork & fics & it’s pretty awesome to me that this is the case for a show from the 90s. Some of my Buffy mutuals I’ve been mutuals with for like 10+ years

O: Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of? I went to my most recently listened to song on YouTube music & it’s “Breakfast” Dove Cameron (love her so much.) I literally don’t know what ship that reminds me of as it’s more of a girlboss anthem 😂 Hmm maybe a Cordelia/Xander song? Lmao

Q: A ship you’ve abandoned and why: Mmm this is a tough one???? Usually I don’t so much abandon ships as I get new hyper fixations & there’s always the chance to come back to them?? Okay okay I know! My most shameful truth: when I first watched Buffy (bear in mind I was 14 before you judge me too harshly) my OTP was Buffy/Xander & I now realize I was insane for that of course.

Oh, & when I first watched ATLA I just assumed I would be a Zutara truther because I’d seen the fandom & just based on tropes I usually like I went into the show with the mindset “so, obviously this will be my otp” but I’m not sure that one counts because I actually just never got into the ship. But I was sooo sure I would lol 😆

Thank you for playing along 💞

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Hello,

I love your writing so much. For the ask game could you answer some or all of these up to you. Number 18, 20, 24, 43, and 74.

Thank you, sending lots of love and good vibes your way.

Hello lovely!

Thanks so much! I'd be happy to!

18. Do you enjoy research?  Which fic of yours required the most research?

Not especially. There are some times that I'll start digging into research because I want to get some tiny detail right and it will derail my writing for the day. I actually did a significantly larger amount of research when I was writing for the Sherlock fandom- Through Fire was a case fic, John was a Doctor who was practicing medicine, Sherlock was a recovering addict, there's a whole lot of processing abuse (and trying to get what's happening psychologically with them correct). That fic took an eternity to get right (and I still didn't in a lot of reader's opinions.) I think in the drarry fandom it's actually Hobbies (which is currently a WIP) because I watched a lot of youtube videos and read quite a bit about actually making pottery beforehand.

20. Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Something that's a little in between I think? I rarely want to write stories that include the epilogue. When I do, it's really to point out how fucked up they were as teens to have that outcome happen. But I also like my stories to be grounded in the HP universe; the Dursley's abuse (and the subsequent abuse by the other adults at Hogwarts) is really central to Harry’s character traits for me so a lot of my fics revolve around that vision of who Harry is. In conclusion, I don’t like the super Alternate universe where nothing is the same, but I also don’t want the epilogue.

24. How do you choose whose POV to write in?

Hard to explain. 🤔 Usually when I start writing something there’s a pretty clear *moment* in the fic that I’m aiming for (an emotion, a line, a scene, a park bench, or whatever else the muse has thrust in my path) and that usually has a pretty clear like character vibe? If that makes sense?

Once in a while, if the fic is like crumbling apart and it feels like nothing’s working, I’ll switch perspectives and write it from the other’s POV and that’s the cure. Or I’ll realize partway through that I’m working too hard to have one of them tell the other something that I could show in a better way if it was from their perspective instead.

Usually, I have a pretty good instinct for which perspective I’m writing from but once in a while it just feels like I’m inside the wrong skin while I’m writing the story, so I switch. 🤷🏼‍♀️ no idea if this answer will make sense to anyone but me. 😂

43. Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

I’m a little hesitant to put this out there, honestly because I’m not sure when I’ll get to it. 😬

This is a pretty big ‘category’ but I would like to get into writing kink. For me, reading kink is about exploring boundaries, consent, trust; exploring the belief that someone can hold you in their hands and not break you (or break you and put you back together again). Ceding control, surrendering, and letting go are things that I love to read about- things that are really hard for me in real life- and seem like a beautiful thing to explore in the safety of fic (in the confines of a safe, loving relationship).

I'm hesitant because I have been very fortunate to avoid all of the nasty top/bottom discourse that I've seen affecting other writers. Also hesitant because I've had the experience of people vocally wishing I would cater to their tastes in sex and it burned me out of my last fandom.

74. Do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

Not really, honestly. I'm always shocked by how much love I feel like I receive on my fics. The comments, the kudos, the reblogs (and wonderful tags). I just feel very seen and heard, and very lucky to be a part of this fandom. <3

Thanks so much for the fun ask! <3 Sending all of my love right back to you.

See the list here. :)

[ay-chuu]

Hello there! Can I get a twisted wonderland matchup? Starting off with my appearance I'm chubby and 5'1 with long ginger hair. I am a short king :). Regarding mbti I'm an ENTP. Also, with my personality my friends would describe me as "bubbly, weird, smart, honest, and kind". I asked em for traits for random internet quizzes so that's what they told me lol. Despite being a bit of an extrovert I also highly value my alone time to the degree I can become quite introverted. Moving onto hobbies I like playing video games, watching YouTube videos on random topics I'm interested in, listening to music, and reading. My favorite games tend to be RPGs. My fav games are probs Dragon Age, Skyrim, and Tomodachi life. I love to create characters in games and explore, and I especially enjoy building houses in games. Idk why but building houses gives me such joy. My favorite part of Skyrim is unironically the dlc that lets you build a house. I love to build that house and then get a husband and some kids. I consider that my end game goal verses the main quest which I've never actually finished despite putting 200 hours into Skyrim. For movies well I don't rlly watch movies much but my favorite series is probably star wars. Especially the prequels because I enjoy the characters more in those films and all the lore it adds. For music I kinda listen to everything, but my favorite artist is probably Hozier. The only genre I dislike is screamo probs. For things I hate uhhh I guess I dislike bugs, being put under pressure, and small spaces as I'm claustrophobic. Finally, going onto favorite idol I am going to go with a hisotrical example as I also love to learn about hisotry. I have many examples I could pick for figures I admire, but I'll go with a more famous example, Oscar Wilde. Just in case you don't know, Oscar wilde was a famous Irish author and playwright during the late 1800s. He was quite controversial for his opinions on art and morality, and he was a gay man at time where that was illegal. All of this lead up to him eventually getting arrested and jailed. I admire him because he didn't care that society thought he was wrong and immoral, he lived his life and gave his opinions despite it. Anyway that's it thanks!

You're very welcome! (´���`)♡

I match you with... (っ＾▿＾)💨

ACE TRAPPOLA (pls ignore the gif i only could find that T^T)

I always thought ESFP and ENTP were one of the most compatible couples! Because the feature that some cannot provide against life, the other provides both for theirself and for their partner <3 I think Ace is very supportive in general, but because he is a tsundere, he only clearly shows it to someone he is very close to. he loves your life idol and way of thinking!

You used to make fun of each other a lot at first, but then you suddenly fell in love with each other and Deuce was like "🧍🏻" between you LOL SDFKGLSDFJGLJDF While you liked his secret softness, supportiveness, sincerity and liveliness in general, he loved your intelligence, funnyness, kindness and self-confidence. Opening up to each other was thanks to Deuce, but the moment you did it, you both realized that you both completed each other.

If there is going to be a problem in your relationship, I think it's because Ace is too sarcastic when he's angry sometimes and you can't stand it and annoy him even more with clever answers. Usually this ends in fights and the fights are quite childish. After about a week, even though you miss each other, you can't break your pride. As a result grim and deuce will be together and reconcile you somehow because GOD you are irresistible you love birds LMAO.

Finally, some moments I dream of for you two: Entertaining each other while studying the lessons you have difficulty with, a sweet Ace who tries to comment on what you read to him even if he is not smart enough, you mess up and end up in Crowley's room while trying the action in the youtube video you watched, one of the rare and weird but cute moments you experience expressing your love for each other in words and kissing - grim saw that kiss he says its remains traumatic JKLASDF - and finally, when you realize that you will support each other no matter what in your life, you hold your hands tighter and look at each other and smile <3

[kathleenkatmary]

Western Wednesdays: Grim Prairie Tales (1990)

Not at all what I expected, but I found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Since this is a horror/western anthology, I was kind of expecting horror more along the lines of something like Tales from the Crypt, just with a western setting, but Grim Prairie Tales is doing something very different. I read that the cast and crew felt that they were making a strong feminist piece, and I can absolutely see that in the final product. This really is a very thoughtful piece of genre filmmaking, and the horror really does feel more like the kind of spooky stories you might hear around a campfire, at least more so than the kind of horror I think a lot of people expect going into this, judging from many of the reviews (and my own experience).

The middle segments are the ones that really have that feel of a somewhat bold feminist take. The second segment is about a man who meets a troubled woman while traveling through the western plains, and digs into ideas about the ways vulnerability in women is often framed in sexual ways by horror stories and really, a lot of men in general. The third story is about a family making their home on the frontier, with the "Little House on the Prairie" sheen slowly being chipped away to show what a monster the father really is. There are no supernatural elements in this story. The horror comes from just how monstrous, and sadly real, especially for that time, the father's actions are, and the sadly honest reality of the excuses the women in his life will make for him, even as he's abusing them. It's so interesting to see a movie from the early 1990s, especially one that's both a horror film and a western, be so frank in addressing these kinds of issues in terms of gender dynamics, and particularly in the way men and women are framed.

The first and second stories aren't about gender dynamics or women's issues, but they're still thoughtful pieces about respecting different cultures and the horror of violence. I don't think they have the same narrative heft that the middle two stories have, but they still work pretty well. The final story in particular has a wild animated segment, and one of the most frightening images of the whole movie. So they're still incredibly effective.

And the framing device here is also interesting and effective. It's Brad Douriff and James Earl Jones, two strangers who end up camping together and swapping stories, and in so doing end up ruminating a lot on the nature of stories. It's the rare case of the framing segments being just as interesting, if not more so, as the stories being told. Both actors are electric and have a really fun chemistry. They both do a really incredibly job of making their characters feel distinct and identifiable, and that makes their interactions really crackle, because you can really understand where each one is coming from.

Of course, it's not by any means perfect. I think it did take a little too long to get going, and that sort of issue with pacing extends for the whole movie. The stories all feel like they have wildly different pacing, making some feel like they're moving way too fast and some feel like they're moving kind of slow. The scares are also minimal, which I don't generally mind, but I do feel like the movie would have benefitted from slightly better building of atmosphere. The beginning has some atmosphere, largely I think thanks to the fact that the darkness of the western setting at night kind of inherently comes with atmosphere.

This movie was actually shot by the great Janusz Kaminski. It was one of his first jobs as a cinematographer. There are some shots where you can see the skill he'd become so well known for, some beautifully framed shots of the western countryside. Unfortunately, Grim Prairie Tales doesn't seem to have ever received a DVD or Blu-Ray release, not do it appear to be available anywhere streaming. So the only way to watch it is on youtube, where it's been ripped from the VHS release. Which means that it's presented in 4:3, cropped and pretty rough quality that makes everything look very dark but also washed out at the same time. So none of the shots are presented in the way they were originally lit and framed. It's hard to really comment on or criticize any of this stuff as a result.

I really do hope this gets a Blu-Ray release at some point. It's not a masterpiece, but it deserves to be seen by more people, and in its originally intended state.

[sillysurrealwriter]

Vivi teaches some jerk, a lesson!

I could not sleep.

I couldn’t sleep for a long while. The heat was rather excessive to say the least, even though the AC was going on full power. It was currently 1 AM and the night was clear. Stars were shining and were rather bright, watching over the small town.

Like the guardians they always were.

It....was rather depressing, though.

See, this town had its best days long behind itself. It was located in the lower part of the country and ever since the main economy collapsed, it affected most of the major regions. Including this small town.

We used to actually have a working industry here.Well, more than one actually. We had a mine deep in the woods, which we used to mine rare goods, you see. And tons of factories, manufacturing all kinds of sweets. Chocolate, gummy bears, licorice, you name it.

But thanks to a strong inflation, the economy suffered under it. It was so hard to buy even a slice of bread. Now, it’s 9 times more expensive and our currency is quite worthless too. What a shame.....

I was one of the many workers, who were let go because we couldn’t get paid. I just dropped out of school too, because I had some trouble with the law here and there. Even though I didn’t get, why people were upset with me selling drugs to kids. It’s a vital business strategy. Pure capitalism, baby.

Because my father was a local judge, I was let off the hook and was forced to work at the factory there, as a way to atone for my non-existent sins. The work was actually fun there, not gonna lie. Manufacturing candy was quite fun and the work atmosphere was relaxing too. I actually felt at ease there, unlike here.

Mother was in the hospital, still in a coma. Doctor said she may not make it. Not that I really care, to be honest. Unlike my dad, my mother was a loser. Seriously. All she did was clean, clean, clean and just clean the house. I had to make money, because that bitch didn’t have a good education. And no, a history degree doesn’t count. Who needs that shit nowadays?

Not me, I’ll tell you that much. Thanks to her being not a good wife, my dad divorced her and fucked a much prettier girl. Big boobs, fat ass...Just thinking about her, gives me a big fat boner.

My father was much better though. He was strong and rich. Because mom wasted all her time at home, I spent most of the time with him. And learned what it’s like, to be a real man.

To be strong. To be successful. And to dominate every bitch, you see.

I still have yet to find a bitch to fuck though. I am 22 and I am still a virgin. Guess those virgins are more into those woke femboy bitches. Eww.

I turned to the side and tried to close my eyes again.

No....damn it, it was so frickin hot.....There’s no way, I’d fall asleep like that...

I got up and checked my social media stuff.

0 followers and an account strike. Just because I pointed out how that one guy was a fat fuck and got no bitches. Is it bad to speak the truth?

I checked YouTube. My favourite pundits did not upload anything yet. I wanted to see them bully naive young college men/women. And only those. Especially those fucking pronoun freaks, who are all extremely fat, have tons of coloured hair and are gay too.

Did Jesus Christ die for this? Really?

Well.....Guess I’ll turn on the TV. Maybe they’ll air that one show, with the sexy woman that looked a bit like a man and had some facial hair. Eh.

I moved myself off my bed and the ground shook, as I placed my feet on it. Grinning, I grabbed another big chocolate bar and pushed it down my throat.

Yum. 10% less sugar too.

I stomped and eventually went downstairs, because the house was just so ridiculously small. Urgh.The upper floor just had two bedrooms. Mine and mom’s. And I am sure she used hers in the past, to fuck with woman while dating dad.

She really deserved all those beatings.

In any case, I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I changed through the channels, but most channels were shut down on maintenance. And my usual porn channels were having some strange issues, as static was shown there.

Weird.....

After finally scrolling through the program, I stopped bewildered.

Dreamy Eden.

The hell? I never saw that channel before.

And what I saw confused me even more.

A whimsical intro music played, showcasing a small town with all kinds of strange creatures. Furries of all shapes and sizes doing mundane activities like walking, talking, cooking....

Was that a kids show? At 1 AM? Geez, if they wanted to entertain kids they should do it throughout the day. Not at night.

I was about to switch to another channel, when I suddenly saw the title of this show appearing on the front. The animation was quite old and stiff in general, like the first season of the Simpsons.

Before that show got ruined later, for being dragged out too long. And for encouraging men to not be men and to kiss other men. Eww.

Just watching that, made my boner perk up in disgust. What else?

But the title.....

“Vivi’s Garden”

“What kind of shitty name is that?”, I asked, as I stared at the colourful title. It was awful, really. I could barely make out the letters of this show. They were too many colours, ranging from rainbow, to....

To......black?

Weird.....

The scenery changed and then I saw some girl on screen. And her appearance was....odd.

Her hair was all orange and long and wavy, reaching down her hips. She was wearing an oversized white coat, depicting smiley faces, flowers and other strange stuff. She was wearing yellow clown shoes and her hands were rather thick too.

But the creepiest part....

Were her eyes...

All of those furry characters had classical cartoon eyes. You know, white circles and black circles inside of them.

But...not with this character....The black circles were much, much larger. Not only that, but there were several white circles inside of them.

What was that thing supposed to represent?

The character waved.

“Howdy, lousy mousies!”, she exclaimed with a shrill and super excited voice, as if someone had taken too much heroine. “I am Vivi Vicky! And welcome to my garden! Isn’t it wonderful? I LOVE GARDENING!”

She jumped up and down at least 90 times a second (Don’t ask me how I counted) and the screen actually shook so much, which caused me some headaches. That...Vivi girl then suddenly ran towards her garden and indeed those flowers looked........colorful.

I’ll be blunt. I have no idea, what those things are. Those were little balls and shapes in all sorts of color. It reminded me more of candy you’d buy from the store and not....flowers.

Vivi did a backflip and giggled.

“ARENT MY FLOWERS BEAUTIFUL!?”, she asked happily. “But I couldn’t do this alone! No, no! My dear mommy made this garden to begin with! Mommies are the best!”

“Bs.”, I muttered annoyed. “Mothers are useless worker bees. Only properties and waste of space.”

“That’s not really nice mister!”

Surprised, I stared at the screen and Vivi was frowning at me, shaking her head.

“Mothers take care of you. Of all of us. Of the kids. They are wonderful.”

“Yeah, but they barely make money.”, I shot back annoyed. That little bitch-

Wait, why the hell was I arguing with my TV? This was stupid!

So I aimed my remote at the TV and switched the TV off....

...to the p*rn channel.

Much better. Staring at those girls making love was so hot. God...my fat pot belly was....

But suddenly, the channel changed back to the stupid kids channel. Vivi pouted annoyed.

“Mister, it’s not nice to leave. We were-”

“Shut up.”, I muttered and changed the channel again. I drooled, as I saw those lesbians have coitus...

And then, the channel switched again. Vivi glared at me even more.

“Hey! Why are you so mean?”

“Shut up, f*ggot.”, I mumbled and changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

...I said, I changed the channel again.

...I changed the channel again.

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...I changed the channel again.

!!!!!!!!!!!

But no matter what I did, it wouldn’t work. The TV wouldn’t turn off. Vivi shook her head angrily.

“No Mister, we’ll talk. Whether you like it or.......”

All of a sudden, she stretched her arms out towards the camera. I laughed at her, finding her too stupid to be terrifying.

And then suddenly, a large pair of hands emerged out of the screen and grabbed me. I tried to free myself, but the grip of those massive hands was too strong. Vivi laughed from the inside.

“Don’t worry, it won’t take long mister bister sister!”, she exclaimed and her laugh distorted, as my ears bled and the hands began to drag me into the TV. I gritted my teeth.

Hell...No!

I bit the giant hand, only to feel all my teeth breaking upon impact. Terrified and bleeding all over the mouth, I was dragged deeper and deeper into the TV...

And then the next moment I awoke. With a smile, I got up and smiled outside. I really needed to see my mother and to make sure that she is all well and good. Maybe she woke up yet?

And I also needed to talk about dad, as to how he treated women. They deserved better. And maybe I should ask that man out that I’ve been crushing on for weeks.

I had so much to do!

So, with a huge smile and all colorful clothes I stepped out into the world, aiming to improve the world.

I may not have any teeth any more...

But who cares, if I can help people and protect women?

Right?

RIGHT?

R I G H T?

RIGHTEOORIJOR§NROHN§O§NF”I=!!”===!=!=§!==!=!=!==!§==§!=!!=!=

:)

[tanadrin]

#istg I thankfully live in a different world to all the people complaining about this#don’t get me wrong I am absolutely not doubting anyone’s experiences#I’m just so utterly baffled that I don’t share them given that I very rarely use the internet to order things#I use it for research - very often or particularly niche topics#and I have not noticed a decline in quality over the last however many years at all.#I was discussing this with a friend recently who also shared my confusion about these reports#we were wondering if there was some difference between America and other countries/continents#particularly (bc relevant to us) whether there were some EU regulations preventing it from being so bad here#I know I have also seen other posts about The Kids These Days not knowing how to do searches properly#bc they grew up not having to be so careful about picking key words and using AND OR and excluding certain terms etc.#and could just type in a question as a normal sentence#(which I rarely ever do)#I have no idea how much veracity there is to that#or even how plausible it is as an explanation tbh#suppose I could try and google it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#otoh I DID notice recently when someone sent me a link to a YouTube video for information purposes#(a crime in itself)#the tags on the video became increasingly irrelevant#like it’s for a B2 language exam#so the first bunch of tags are shit like ‘b2 writing exam’#’b2 speaking exam’#’b2 TELC exam’#but then there are a few in there that are ‘b2 Bomber cost per flight hour’#’b2 stealth price’#correction they’re not actual tags but just a long list of SEO terms dumped at the end of the video description

The context for this is that I live in Germany, but do the vast majority of my internet stuff in English; and in this particular case I had a very specific question I wanted to find an answer to, about how to approach a certain physics problem involving the force on a paramagnetic body in a magnetic field. There is plenty of information on Wikipedia on electrodynamics and magnetism and such, but the technical aspects are written for a much more technical audience than me. What I needed turned out to be simple--a rough approximation using Curie's Law and the equation for dipole attraction--but I had to rely on tumblr ppl (thanks again, guys!) to point me in the right direction, and even then I couldn't find any worked examples to show me how to solve a question I had involving units.

Search results other than Wikipedia were overwhelmingly SEO bait sites that copied text from Wikipedia while messing up the formatting, or which were designed to show up in any search involving terms like "magnetism," and had only trivially simple information in them. Beyond these search results, there were only pages in which one of the search terms showed up in a vaguely related way, usually as a branding term for an unrelated product or service.

Individual sites often remain useful for queries, if you know where to go, but the second you have to rely on general search for something, you're hosed. Maybe my question really was arcane, but it doesn't seem that way to me, and I feel like this is a pattern that has held for a lot of things I have tried to search for recently, even if they're not physics topics.

I really cannot begin to express how choked with SEO slop the internet is the second you are trying to find something that is not a mass produced consumer good you wish to buy from a major retailer. I hate it so much.

There used to be a couple of things--programming questions, for instance--that were still okayish to have to dig through Google for, but now even those are often very irritating to try to find answers for. We built this cunning device that could put all of our civilization's knowledge at our fingertips, and then we turned around and made it completely fucking useless.

[galactic-pirates]

For the fandom ask game: 13, 17 James Watson, 20 Sanctuary, 24 John Druitt, please. 😊

Oh yes! Such great questions, thank you so much!!

13) What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day? Oh, many. You should see my ideas list for drawing - it's long. There was a Star Trek prompt event and I got ideas, and the Year of the OTP event and I got ideas. So yes several for Star Trek (B'elanna/Seven, Kira/Dax, Owo/Detmer) and I really can't forget Janeway and Amelia Earhart. I will be bitter forever at the missed opportunity not to have her join the crew. It seemed like such poor characterisation as well. Would Amelia Earhart really have turned down the opportunity to pilot a starship??

17) What's a book, movie, or show you think James Watson would like? I don't think he would like crime/mystery media to be honest as either they don't play fair, or the answer is so obvious and the characters so slow to get it, that it's annoying. I think he'd probably check out the various Sherlock Holmes adaptations out of interest (and also to be guarded against any teasing), but I don't think he'd exactly like them.

To be honest I can't really see him watching much TV outside of documentaries. I think he might like movies a bit better as they are basically like plays. I think he might be interested to see examples of modern films out of interest for how they are made (hasn't technology come so far type thing) but I don't think the plot of most would grab him.

Books would definitely be his media of choice, and call him old-fashioned for that if you like. I don't know why but I wonder if he might enjoy a good old archaeological thriller. You know hunting for lost treasure and definitely on the more ridiculous side. I think he might be more willing to put up with inaccuracies if it obviously isn't taking itself too seriously (kinda like the Uncharted games).

The only actual title that springs to mind that I think he would actually like is The Princess Bride. Not sure why but I think he'd think it was clever and well done.

20) When did you first join Tumblr? How long was it between that and finding Sanctuary? Around April/May 2016 I think? I'd been lurking (aka reading specific blogs but not signed up) for several months before that, sometime mid-2015 I think. Anyway, I finally got FOMO and wanted to join in.

I first started watching Sanctuary... I can tell you, let me scan the blog archives. I think I tried to find it August 2020, and watched a bit via YouTube as I wasn't confident I would like it. I got the DVD in September and I think I was... mid season 3 (mid-October I blogged about having reached the Hollow Earth arc). You can tell my obsession really ramped up in October as clearly I did a deep dive for ALL the gifsets.

Amusingly one of my initial posts said that Tesla made a lousy friend (I'm laughing, boy did my opinion change) - hey! I never remember this stuff when I get asks about opinion changes. I remember my opinion now and rarely what came before.

Anyway I wrote my first novel length multi-chapter (Our Darkest Hour) that November before I finished the show. I actually stopped watching for the month in case the show messed with my outline, which it would have because Normandy jossed my Helen/James headcanon but oh well. It was kinda fun, a bit like capturing a fraction of the experience of if I had been creating when the show was originally live.

24) What's your favourite thing about John Druitt? I feel bad about this but the honest answer is his cursed nature. Without it, he's still a compelling character (as I wrote purely in Choosing Fate) but that agony of what happened to him, and the trauma to those he loved/who loved him just grabbed me. It's TRAGIC, and I like to fix things.

It's the whole Winter Soldier "it wasn't you" "but I still did it" type thing. Blame and judgement and guilt and darkness, and forgiveness, and how people can move on - it's fascinating. I see discussions on it on tumblr sometimes about redemption for characters. How far is too far? Are there some things that are unforgivable? Does it depend on outside factors - like being cursed - to mitigate blame? People have opinions. This can get controversial and I don't do conflict.

I remember Teal'c talking to Tomin on Stargate, saying that life didn't have to end, that he could never be forgiven but he could still do good in the world. I think of Regina who willingly walked down the path, but was pushed and manipulated by others (and a lot of pain). When I have written Regina I've talked about people being more than what they have done, that people have the power to choose, and she chooses to do better.

With John it's not really a choice (at least in my headcanon) while he's a host to the parasite. However, once it's removed - how can he move on? It wasn't him, but it was still his hand on the blade. He remembers it being him. I think it would warp his sense of morals too, after a century even if he wasn't a host anymore. Finding his sense of self, and his own moral code, would be a challenge.

Also his relationship with James. Coming of age in a world where it was punishable by death (or 10 years in prison and societal ruin). That too.

[just-messing-around]

YouTuber: *Poking fun at Velma's (from the show Velma, the one that almost everyone hates) bad personality*

Me: *Also thinks Velma is a bad person* Heheh

YouTuber: *Starts body shaming her*

Me: Well, I mean...I think her physical appearance is kinda cute, but her lack of inner beauty does kinda ruin it a bit in my eyes. But, yikes, that's kinda mean for people with her body type...

YouTuber: *Starts body shaming other characters, even just the background characters who's personalities seem fine*

Me: ...Aaaaaand...*clicks the thumbs down button and never watches their reviews again*

Yikes... I watched a few videos, thinking they'd get less...insulting...with time. But they just kept getting worse. I can only handle that for so long before going "okay, I can't stand how this person is behaving and it seems obvious that they're actually just like this, not just being caught up in the anger that Velma's personality might bring out. I never want to hear this person talk again".

I'm all for poking fun at Velma's unlikable and mean personality, but I don't like it when people shame her physical appearance. Like...her personality is made up of the things she does and says, the decisions she makes while her body is just what her genetics decided for her. And a bit of her diet, based on some of the scenes I've seen, but it's mainly just her genetics and her body shouldn't be shamed. And when they brought background characters in and started body shaming them, despite me not having enough information on the background characters to make judgments on the type of people they are, that was it for me. I mean, even if I thought the background characters were bad people, I wouldn't like the body shaming, but it just feels worse when they're just...characters. Not doing anything but existing and being normal high schoolers. In this case, the one I'm thinking of was just a band geek that was bragging about being able to eat three slices of pizza to his friend.

And then the YouTuber fat shamed him... Accusing him of actually eating way more than three slices or manipulating the words like how a slice can actually be any size and is just dependant on where the cuts are.

Like...yikes, dude! Just in the videos I've watched giving that YouTuber a chance made me dislike them. Not just for the body shaming, either.

Like...I can't tell if they were trying to joke around and my difficulty understanding social situations made me think they were being serious or if they were actually serious with all the things they said, but either way...I do not like that YouTuber... And, uh...for me to make a vent post over a YouTuber is pretty dang rare, so...yeah...got really upset from watching them...

If people wanna poke fun at a character for their bad personality, that's fine with me. I do that. But their bodies? They have control over what they do and say, but their control over how their body looks is way more limited, unless they have a bunch of expensive surgeries or develope eating disorders and I feel that a character shouldn't be shamed or made fun of for something they don't have much control over.

Side note: that's also why I'm not a big fan of the 'hahaha Fred has a tiny dong' humor. Fred can't control when his dong grows to it's adult size, so it's not something I would find amusement in shaming. Plus...he's a teenager. So...talking about his dong at all is uncomfortable. It's also the reason I'm thankful that they use steam to censor the shower scenes and why I'm glad Velma didn't take her clothes off while dancing on the pole-

HOW DID HER AND FRED GET LET INTO THAT STRIPPER PLACE!? I CAN UNDERSTAND FRED'S DAD GIVING BRIBES TO LET HIM IN, BUT WHY WAS VELMA ALLOWED TO BE BROUGHT IN BY HER DAD-!?

Anyways... To me, "haha, this character is such a bad person, let's make fun of their personality until they go through some character growth or something" = very capable of being funny, but "haha, this character's body is ugly and they can't do much to change their appearance" = please don't use this humor in front me.

[fromthestacks]

You know what I am gonna rant about this. Long-winded ramble under the cut.

2016 Ghostbusters was a good movie- it kept the spirit of the original Ghostbusters intact, and it was funny. The ghosts were kinda creepy and fun without crossing into full horror. The cast was STACKED. But because whiny nostalgic manbabies let their misogyny and racism show, it tanked. And it’s not just that these guys (and let’s be real, it was mostly guys) watched the trailer and said, I’m not interested, oh well. No, they took time out of their lives that could be spent doing literally anything else and actively bombed it on YouTube and IMDb. Side note, clearly no one has ever told these people that simply shutting the fuck up and ignoring something you dislike was an option. You don’t have to engage with media you don’t enjoy. This isn’t your online class that requires a certain number of comments.

People were out here acting like a Ghostbusters reboot was gonna somehow erase the original movie from existence. That’s not how it works! Your movie is still out there, and you can still watch it and love it! Female Ghostbusters do not diminish the original movie. And we see this shit time and again with reboots/sequels/etc! ESPECIALLY the ones that dare to include women/POC/LGBTQ+ characters in the cast and story (see also: Star Wars). And it goes well beyond the sequel issue, look at Captain Marvel! It made a literal billion dollars but there was so much review bombing on Rotten Tomatoes (which I personally think is a dogshit site but that’s irrelevant here) that they actually changed the info you see for each movie.

BUT I DIGRESS. Making movies from beloved franchises with more diverse casting and stories doesn’t take anything away from the original movies! Expanding a movie universe in a way that makes more people fans IS A GOOD THING. If little girls watch the 2016 Ghostbusters and love it, there’s a good chance they’ll eventually watch the 1984 one and dig that too. AND THAT IS GREAT! Stop fucking gatekeeping fandom like this, who cares if you see the 2016 one first. Whatever gets you into a franchise is cool, because the more fans something has, the more likely we all are to get more movies! Which means WE ALL WIN. And dammit, the more people there are in the world who wanna bust ghosts, the better!

We need mirrors AND windows in media. Everyone should be able to see themselves in a book, or a movie, or whatever. But we also all need to see people who DON’T look like us. Little boys need to see that women can bust ghosts just as much as little girls do. That’s how you get grown men who don’t throw a fucking tantrum over a MOVIE.

I spent my whole childhood attaching myself to the one (or in rare cases, two) female characters in a lot of my favorite shows. If I wasn’t a straight white woman, my representation would have been even worse. I’m both jealous of and psyched for all the kids coming up in the world who get to see themselves reflected in media. If the fullness in my heart when I first saw the movie A League of Their Own is what other people are feeling when they connect to a character, then I want EVERYONE to have that feeling. That movie made me feel normal as a kid when I didn’t. We all deserve that.

I wanna be clear, I’m not saying the 2016 Ghostbusters was perfect. It didn’t redefine the genre or anything, but it was FUN. Sometimes that’s enough. If you haven’t watched it yet, give it a try! And more importantly, if you watch it and still don’t like it, that’s fine, but don’t ruin it for people who DO like it.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

I saw Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and I really liked it, but I’m getting real fuckin sick of the 2016 Ghostbusters erasure.

[rivalsforlife]

I watched the 1991 soviet adaptation of the fellowship of the ring, also known as Khraniteli, which according to wikipedia was broadcast once on tv and then lost for thirty years to only resurface last year. which is a miracle. imagine if I never got to see this clip. (sound on for the experience). so thanks marit for letting me know this exists, if you're reading this!

it's in two parts and it's on youtube here and here.

this is actually a very faithful adaptation of the fellowship of the ring. it includes a bunch of stuff the jackson movies cut out, like the old forest, tom bombadil, and the barrow-wights. In exchange for this, it is the most dull movie I have ever watched. I don't have trouble focusing on movies but I was playing video games while watching this second half because I just couldn't bear it anymore. it was the longest hour of my life. the special effects are so awful I'm convinced that the budget of this movie was $10 and someone's cheap gold ring.

changes (that I actually noticed because I was paying attention at these rare moments) in this adaptation include:

frodo at the prancing pony, instead of having the ring slip onto his finger, danced with a lady and everyone stared at him and he got so embarrassed he put it on deliberately to escape. which is incredible.

we don't actually see gandalf die. which is a shame because I was so looking forward to the balrog. they run out of moria because there are orcs, there's a scene of aragorn pretending he's about to fall off of the bridge, then they run outside and they do a headcount and...... gandalf is gone. he "died defending us". I can't believe they robbed us of what a balrog would look like in this. Or maybe we did see him die and I'd stopped paying attention.

galadriel's temptation by the ring is so weak. like she takes the ring for a little bit, there's a flashforward (?) of her just sitting around and crying while holding it, and then she comes back like. I passed the test! WHERE'S "ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR". THAT'S THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE BOOK. anyways she's a "seer" in this and there's no celeborn.

aragorn has a huge scar across his face and also is I think the only character approaching this with enthusiasm. don't think him being a king comes up at all, but in fairness this is just solely a fellowship adaptation so it doesn't matter much.

I don't believe Legolas or Gimli speak at all. and I think Legolas is played by a woman? Not sure if that was a case of they switched Legolas's gender for #feminism or she just was a better legolas than everyone else. for the... two seconds legolas is on screen.

glorfindel still doesn't show up. he just CANNOT catch a break. has he actually been in any lotr adaptation or is he just too cool for movies.

they make the hobbits look small next to tom bombadil but I guess the technology they used to do that was too much or they realized it looked so bad so they didn't do this with any of the other characters, so it just looks like bombadil and goldberry are giants.

almost forgot. pippin is described as "AS STRONG AS AN OX" in this one and he's bigger than the other hobbits, which is funny. the subtitles keep calling him "pin" too. not sure if that's in the original or a translation thing.

some beautiful examples of the special effects in this:

gandalf's beautiful fireworks

these guys are just dancing underneath saruman while he's speaking. and he looks like this.

excuse the youtube bar but man this whole scene was very incredible

just look at how tiny they are!!

THIS IS CARAS GALADHON GUYS. DEFINITELY NOT SOMEONE'S OLD DOLLHOUSE.

there's more but I actually don't want to go back and rewatch any of this. it was that boring.

I was going to put this on the list I have of the other adaptations but I genuinely can't figure out how to rank it, because it was pretty faithful to the book in terms of the sequence of events, arguably even more so than the jackson films, but it was so incredibly boring and poorly made that I couldn't bear to even put it above the shadow of mordor video games, because at least those entertained me? so I'll leave it out for now. I'll decide what to deal with it later when the wounds are not so fresh in my heart.