#this is so well written and so infuriating and so groundbreaking

[matt-lifesage]

Matt’s 2023 Visual Novel Tier List

Another year, another tier list/countdown of all the visual novels I read!

(two-thousand words of inconsistently distributed visual novel rambling below the cut)

Honorable Mentions:

I read a couple mobile game stories via youtube videos that are worth talking about but don't really belong on this list. Anyway, I’m slowly on-again off-again catching up to Arknights (almost halfway through it all the last time I checked), and it's been solid, my personal favorite story being Guide Ahead. But the real honor goes to FGO’s Lostbelt 6. A triumph from Kinoko Nasu and the folks over at Type-Moon. One of the best high fantasy epic novels I've ever read, hidden away three hundred hours into a gacha game for extra emphasis. A genuine highlight of the franchise, and if it was eligible for my own list where I make all the rules (hey, wait a minute...), it would be somewhere in S-Tier.

D-Tier

The Humbling of a Holy Maiden

Kicked off this year with some nukige. I’ve been meaning to check out more of the genre to have proper expectations and to know what I’m actually talking about if the subject ever came up (also checked out more of the genre for the obvious reason, but shush!). Frankly, not a good start.

Our tagline is basically, “What if the degrading corruption arc of the holy maiden archetype was consensual?” Nothing groundbreaking but still potentially enjoyable. Shame this game’s execution couldn’t muster even middling entertainment. Between erotic scenes, the game repeats the same meandering attempt at a philosophical conversation between the flatly written leads, who both never feel like even they can take what they’re saying seriously. It wouldn’t be too bad if it happened once or twice, but it’s *every* conversation. They did this a dozen times. Even in a visual novel as short as this, it was mind-numbing. Unfortunately, the erotic scenes aren’t much of a relief. I didn’t share the priorities/kinks of the creators, and even if I did, I would probably find the sex a samey and dull representation of them. This game was a chore to sit through. I don’t recommend.

Also, the heroine’s ‘slutty’ design looks like two clashing sets of lingerie worn on top of each other, and it’s wildly distracting.

Coffee Talk

I’m noticing an annual trend of me reading VNs that assume I have a far more positive connotation with coffee shops than I actually do.

So… I don’t want to make too many comparisons to a certain cyberpunk bartender simulator, especially when those opinions would be based on six-years-removed, nostalgically-charged fond memories of a game I desperately need to reexperience. I went into this Coffee Talk acknowledging it's a pastiche but willing to accept its own identity and terms so I could give it a fair shot and hopefully enjoy myself.

With that being said, I kinda hated this.

Its characters and drama range from enjoyable to mildly unfortunate, mostly nothing too interesting but nothing too egregious either--with Freya, the most frequently appearing character, being our infuriating exception.

The game touches on some mature themes and topics, but more often than not, Coffee Talk’s hokey one-for-one urban fantastical allegories are weighty in the same way that inflatable dumbbells are *technically* weights. The game is so obsessed with these close metaphors that the setting fails to feel remotely believable. And because real-life identities or struggles are recast with the likes of vampires and orcs, it falls into many of the common and frustrating insensitivities of the genre.

Shout out to the art team, though. The game’s presentation is top-notch.

C-Tier

Cute Demon Crashers [reread]

I read this like eight or so years back when it first came out and wanted to see if it held up, so I slapped it on one random night and went through it all again.

Didn’t really have a good time. I’m not the target audience for this. Comfy vanilla might as well be the name of the game, and it’s very, VERY, targeted to an audience looking specifically for that. Full power to them. I can’t complain because it’s literally free. I just didn’t expect to be so immediately bored by it, even if it’s not really doing anything wrong.

Who is the Red Queen?

A quick read with some good stuff, but it didn’t stick around in my head for long after reading it. It feels weird to complain about a free indie game created by people more skilled than myself, but a chunk of the art didn’t sell the Wonderland aesthetic for me. It was fine, but I might have preferred it if it was just a text game so my imagination would interpret the world as even more ethereal and dreamlike in a way generic fantasy backgrounds didn't reflect.

If you're specifically looking for a free-to-play Alice in Wonderland-themed Yuri visual novel, it's a good one. Maybe give it a try.

Coffee Talk Episode 2

Ever read the sequel just to be a more informed hater?

In all fairness, this was a big improvement on the first game. The sequel starts with some basic world-building. There's still obvious parallels in play, but there is a little work to paint this as a separate world this time where similar issues arose, something the first game barely even tried. It doesn’t always work, but it does try, which makes it less open for me to interpret uncharitably.

A second improvement is new mechanics. I don’t think the first game fully earned its last-minute twist, but Episode 2's additional gameplay verbs, plus more significant story deviations to incentivize replay and trial-and-error, does a better job at selling the fiction that the barista has an actual effect in the characters' lives.

Finally, the characters and drama were overall improvements. It's more interesting, less cliche, and there’s a stronger thematic core to tie the desperate arcs together. The highs are higher, and the lows aren’t as low.

That said, while the execution was improved, it never escaped the same foundational approaches as the first game. The urban fantasy allegories are better, but it's still hit or miss. There's still the ever-prevalent issue of halfway through a lovely scene with likable characters discussing their interesting drama, all characters involved will turn to the camera and start speaking in the unnatural cadence of a monologue in an afterschool special. Today's very important topic: Social media harassment! Garth Marenghi would be proud. However, even that element is much better handled than the first game which literally had a character smugly declaring all of this was a one-for-one allegory to our world, JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT.

After my distaste for the first game, I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel. It avoids the grating mistakes of Episode 1, but it's still too sanctimonious and I'll never vibe with its brand of gentrified twee.

Sweet Home ~H na Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?~

Our final nukige of the list is Sweet Home. No, not the 1989 video game. No, not the movie that was based on. Not the webcomic either. (Gosh, there’s a lot of media sharing this title, huh?) 

If bland 'self-insert'-kun moving back in with his stepmom and having braindead sexy times with her roommates (plus some stepcest thrown in for spice) sounds like something you’d enjoy, then this one’s pretty a’ight. Mileage will vary if smut intended for the heterosexual male audience is even palatable to you. The game’s a quantity-over-quality situation, so you'll get plenty of it in this package for better or for worse. It got on my radar 'cause I dig how its artist, Kiriyama Taichi, drew ladies. I like their product. Probably wouldn’t have liked the game if a worse artist had been in charge--just to give you a taste of how shallow my enjoyment was lol. Consider any other game they were the artist for somewhere down in my TBR somewhere.

Ironically, for a game that’s whole fantasy is fucking (slightly) older ladies, my favorite route was the same-aged tsundere, probably because ‘childhood friend who's been repressing feels’ has more angst to it than 'new roommate wanted to see my dick.' After three of those routes, a crumb of drama might as well be a whole cake.

I couldn’t recommend paying full price. I think the asking price is too steep for this. Wait for a sale like I did.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

I’m not a Sonic fan, so despite this being incredibly charming and well done, it didn't have any staying power in my mind. Still good fun, though. It’s rare for "joke" games to be quality, and even if I'm not the target audience, the passion was infectious enough to still enjoy it.

B-Tier

You and Me and Her

This was a solid and fun metafiction experience. Faux fourth wall breaking isn’t my preference (besides, it was already perfected in the 1971 seminal literary classic The Monster at the End of This Book), I respond better to the flavor of metafiction you’ll find in Umineko or Alan Wake, but for what You and Me and Her was going for, it's pretty well-executed. Spoilers, but having a spiteful rivalry with a fictional character is a blast.

While I had a good time, I thought You and Me and Her missed an opportunity to expand its commentary outside the scope of a fourth-wall-breaking “what-if.” Several times through my playthrough, the game felt like it was on the verge of using its premise to explore amatonormativity and heteronormatity, but it never really did, and I was left twiddling my thumbs, feeling like I was unfairly expecting too much.

On that note, however, about a month after playing this game, I read the manhwa Surviving Romance--a very different exploration of the romance genre via different mediums. But it gave me that subtle yet poignant commentary I felt was lacking from You and Me and Her, so I’m using this spot to recommend that comic. It’s super solid. Go track down and read it. It’d be up in A-Tier if I kept track of and ranked the comics I read.

It gets so lonely here

A really well-done yandere horror experience. It has pretty art, tightly written, and does some fun things with its narrative structure. If you want a solid, free-to-play, and spooky yuri VN, I highly recommend this one. Go download it.

I think this game might have ranked higher during a different year, but the cut-off between A-Tier and B-Tier had to go somewhere.

A-Tier

The Radio Wave Bureau

A short, super cool interactive fiction about fixing your computer. We’re at the point with some of these where I don’t have much to say other than “go read it,” but this game is short enough it’s hard to talk about in a way that doesn’t speak for itself. It's like twenty minutes long. I really dug it. Go play it.

Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk

A beautiful and melancholic expansion for the first game. A character piece that elevates Milk and Milk 2 to 'must read' status. It’s difficult to rank which one I prefer since both enhance each other via contrast. While I adore this game’s detailed introspection, if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be the simplicity of--

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk

It's another read that's only around twenty minutes long, but no other VNs have ever grabbed me by the throat with their premise alone. Both these games are incredible and vulnerable slice-of-life works. Put them on your TBR.

S-Tier

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-

I made like a hundred posts about it. What else can I say?

Arcueid’s route on its own was the best VN experience I had this year. List over. That goes at the top beyond the next two entries. Sorry, not sorry. It was a beautiful, perfected reboot of the story. I loved everything about it. It made me fall in love with Shiki and Arcueid all over again. If we count the false start back in college when I didn’t get halfway through the original VN, the two times I’ve read Tsukihime all the way through, plus the twice I’ve read the manga adaptation, this was the SIXTH time I experienced this particular story. And I cried at the end. It’s that good.

Now, if I love that route as much as I do, why, you may ask, is this entry only third place? ‘Cause Remake is only half of a remake, and it really does feel like it. Not only do we not have Far Side yet, but there’s also a whole Tsukihime-worth of new stuff, half of which hasn’t been paid off yet either, so there’s a pervasive incompleteness that isn’t really a flaw with the game, but will bug me until we get the next part. Also, I wasn’t as blown away by Ciel’s route as other fans were. It turns out it becomes more obvious that I don't relate to Shiki in Ciel’s route nearly as much as I did to him in Arcueid's once you take what was basically the last four hours of the original and expand it to an almost forty-hour new story. Still love it, btw, but it’s only a 'Really really good OMG go read it' story, instead of a modern magnum opus from Nasu (what a disappointment, am I right? lol)

Anyway, this game is a triumph that met my overhyped expectations. I can’t wait to see what Nasu and the gang have planned for in -The other side of red garden-.

The House in Fata Morgana

Welp, that’s just special, innit. Michel and Giselle have planted themselves among some of my favorite leads of all time. The entire cast is strong across all the incarnations of the house. While the first act is still good, once the narrative behind the anthology format is revealed and the whole context comes into play, it becomes a fantastic tragic romance and a beautiful rumination on evil. It almost gets a bit sanctimonious near the end, but it doesn't fall into obvious narrative pitfalls. Considering the premise of the final act, it's appropriate, so I'll give it a pass.

Yet another classic that meets the hype.

WE KNOW THE DEVIL [reread]

On a technicality, this was the best magical girl VN I read all year too.

The top three VNs were neck-and-neck for the ranking, but I gotta give it to this one. It's short, but I think on every level of intent and execution, this game's incredible. A beautiful aesthetic. A creative and haunting choice/route system. Vibes for days. There are no caveats to be found here. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this to. Read it. I'm not asking.

And that’s 2023! I’m going to try rereading Va-11 Hall-A in January now that Coffee Talk is fresh in my mind. Sometime after that, I’ll get back to 428--I feel really bad I left it hanging after the tutorial. As always, I hope to get through my downloaded backlog but I also plan on reading a few more Nitro+ games and my first AliceSoft title. Stay tuned!

[nclkafilms]

When your dream becomes your nightmare

(Review of ‘Im Westen nichts Neues’ watched on the 31st of January 2023)

‘Im Westen nichts Neues’ or ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ as it is known as in non-German areas has been sneaking up on the ongoing awards season. From being a player in the International Film category to then starting to pop up in the technical categories, and now, ultimately, it has ended up as being one of the biggest players of the season with 14 BAFTA nominations and 9 Oscar nominations. An impressive trajectory for the German film, which of course is based on the famous book that previously led to 2 Oscar wins from 4 nominations for Lewis Milestone’s 1930 version of the book. This time, as stated, it is a German production, which tells the gripping story of young Paul and his friends in the last year’s of WWI, and director Edward Berger has created one of the most heavy-hitting war films of recent years.

In the beginning we meet 17-year old Paul Bäumer along with his friends as they prepare to enroll themselves in the German army in 1917. Paul has not received his parents’ written consent, but a forged signature later and he’s ready to join the pride of the nation as they prepare for the final weeks of war before finally marching into Paris as national heroes and winners of the war. At least that is the story, that the boys have been fed and the dream they all have as they are hyped for the adventure that awaits them along with thousands of other young souls. Little do they know about the true nature of what awaits them on the western front, and as such these scenes of young pride and excitement are equally devastating and infuriating to observe. What follows is a story with two focus points: the story of Paul and his friends participating in the truly horrific battles of the frontline and a political story in a luxurious train wagon far away from bullets and grenades as officials from France and Germany negotiate the ceasefire and ultimate surrender of Germany finally agreed upon on the 11th of November 1918. 

With the film coming out just a few years after Sam Mendes brought our attention to WWI with his suspenseful ‘1917’ comparisons between the two of them are obvious to make. Especially as both stories try to tell the story of the actual (in both cases very young) men taking part in the devastating battles caught in a game that they have no control of. However, the way they decide to tell their stories are substantially different. While Mendes’ film succeeded as a suspense thriller thanks to its groundbreaking cinematography and a classic heroic tale, Berger’s re-telling of All Quiet has no interest in painting any heroic story. Of course, it’s always the winner, who gets to tell the stories and as such it is also hard to imagine a heroic take on a young German soldier would go down well today. But the facts that Paul is never portrayed as a hero and that Berger allows him to make despicable choices on the battlefield, makes the film’s anti-war story so much stronger, when we still end up hoping for Paul’s survival. He is neither an evil person nor a flawless hero; more than anything he is a confused, deluded young man caught in a dream that quickly shows itself as his worst nightmare. Caught between becoming the man his surroundings demand him to be in order to survive and defending his central human values, Paul becomes a symbol of the millions of young men from all countries who joined the war (and any other war for that matter) on false pretences only to have their lives altered forever. 

Made clear by the themes discussed above, Paul is a very complex character, and the work that Felix Kammerer does with this character is nothing short of spectacular. It seems impossible to believe that this marks his first feature film role. With a slender physical presence, he carries the film on his shoulders as he confidently navigates his way through physically demanding battle scenes, emotionally nuanced moments of reflection and haunting encounters throughout. One scene in particular involving Paul and a French soldier in a crater on the battlefield highlights the film’s biggest strength in my opinion: showing the brief moments of humanity in the bleakest of moments. The moment where Paul realise the nature of what’s going on, is Kemmerer’s finest acting in the film as he within seconds switches from a horrifyingly primitive state of mind to heartbreaking clear-sightedness. In addition to Kammerer, all the actors portraying Paul’s friends and company deliver fine work, but it is well-deserved that Albrecht Schuch as Stanislaus Katczinsky (or simply Kat) has received the biggest attention as he too manages to balance the nuances of their characters perfectly. It would have been so easy to fall into the trap of either making these characters completely unlikeable because of the sheer horror of their actions or awkwardly heroic completely ignoring said actions. It deserves recognition that the film’s main cast manages to balance this complexity as well as they do.

This, of course, also hints at great directing by Edward Berger who has made many clever choices with his film. He does, however, also make some questionable choices. For instance, I get the reason behind showing the ongoing “peace” negotiations along with the war horrors. It clearly serves a purpose by highlighting the absurd nature of the war where young, unsuspecting men play the parts of pawns in a deadly game of chess controlled by the generals, marshals and politicians operating in luxury far away from danger. However, these scenes never feel as fulfilling or interesting as the rest of the film. They feel like a slightly different film and I think it would have worked better if Berger had found a different way of portraying this contrast of the war. It could have been by showing us parts of the reasons why Paul and his friends were led to believe that they were joining the army to become heroes. What stories were they told, how were they told and by who? That could have served the same purpose while keeping our focus on Paul’s arc. 

While this perhaps hints at some issues with the film’s screenplay and Berger’s realisation of this, his realisation of his technical visions leaves nothing to be desired. He has created what feels like the bleakest and most harrowing depiction of war in recent years thanks to stunning cinematography, effective VFX and makeup and a fresh, haunting score. First of all, the cinematography is stunning: you feel the chaotic and claustrophobic horrors of the battles through great action filming, but we are also treated to some stunning night scenes, where I couldn’t help but feel that James Friend had been inspired by Roger Deakins’ work on ‘1917’. The VFX are supporting and often invisible, but they help make the battles scenes feel realistically scary as explosions occur and gun wounds appear naturally. These things of course also gives a lot of work to the make-up department, which have created numerous wounds and injuries through prosthetics, but it is perhaps the make-up that shows the battlefield’s marks on Paul that is the most impressive with Kammerer’s face often hidden behind layers of mud, ashes and blood. Finally, Volker Bertelmann’s score feels fresh and new for a war movie. I first listened to it before watching the film and it reminded me more of a sci-fi score, but it worked really well and it’s ominous and surprising use of sounds helped me get invested in the story. A really cool score!

All in all, the many praises that ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ has received are well-deserved as Edward Berger and his team has managed to create a devastating, haunting and (sadly) highly relevant depiction of war and the many horrors it inflicts on the people who are often closest to the dangers and consequences of it and furthest away from having any meaningful influence on its outcome. As such Berger’s retelling of the 1929 novel is every bit as relevant today as it was when Erich Maria Remarque wrote it based on his own experiences in WWI. We still struggle with war, and on a daily basis we are shown how the decisions of the most powerful inflicts irreparable consequences for the lives of their own people. And as such the ambiguity of the German title “Im Westen nichts Neues” is extremely fitting. Much like the soldiers in the film, Berger’s film is not without flaws, though. However, it surely will find its place among other big films that try to warn us about the human consequences of the constant desire for more power, more victories and more national glory. Because sadly, nothing’s new on that front. 

4/5

[theputterer]

When I talk to American psychiatrists about Kulkarni’s experiments and raise the notion of treating late-onset schizophrenic psychosis — or indeed any psychosis — in women with estrogen, here is what they say. They urge caution. They say we don’t know what causes schizophrenia, exactly, that estrogen plays a role but no one knows what role. They remind me that many hormones are involved in the menstrual cycle. They say fluctuations in estrogen interact with the brain, but so does aging and so does stress and all of these conditions are present at the onset of menopause, so who’s to say what the real culprit is. They point to the 128 genes connected with schizophrenia and the research linking it possibly to infection or a faulty immune response. They say there have always been vogues in cures for schizophrenia; because it’s so devastating, the temptation to believe in miracles is great. They point to a large study done recently by Israeli and Romanian researchers that failed to replicate Kulkarni’s results. “I do think that estrogen has some connection to schizophrenia, there’s no question about that, but there have been so many false starts,” says Dilip Jeste, a geriatric neuropsychiatrist at the University of California San Diego. “A few will swear by one medication, but the problem comes in generalizing. That doesn’t mean other women should start taking estrogen.” Even David Castle, the discoverer of the second peak, is skeptical of estrogen’s role. “The estrogen story is rather overstated,” he wrote in an email, before adding, “and estrogens have their side effects, as you will be aware.”

Here is what I have to say in response: Estrogen does not have to be a single or straightforward cause of schizophrenia for it to merit the attention of researchers and doctors; it does not have to be a proven miracle cure to represent an opportunity. The treatment of schizophrenia remains today a matter of trial and error, and estrogen represents one promising path forward. Indeed, Sage Therapeutics is currently seeking FDA approval for a progesterone-like synthetic hormone that promises to alleviate postpartum depression, which makes sense. The links between estrogen and mental illness are clear and the prospects for treatment too interesting to dismiss, particularly given how poorly women have been served, over centuries, by doctors who did not want to look squarely at their femaleness in treating them or who saw their problems as expressions of that femaleness and therefore not worth treating.

-Lisa Miller, “Listening to Estrogen hormones have always been a third rail in female mental health. They may also be a skeleton key.”

[thealexchen]

One Year On: Life is Strange 2 Critique

December 3rd, 2020 marks a year since Life is Strange 2 ended. I was inspired by @smitethepatriarchy‘s text posts (here, but there are several other answered asks worth reading) and @suhaplays’s text post (here) criticizing Life is Strange 2 to write a critique about how Life is Strange 2 handled certain themes and social issues.

(tw: gun violence, police brutality, animal death, incarceration, racism. In this essay, I use the word “queer” in a reclaimed sense, as a queer person myself. Of course, spoiler warning for all five episodes of Life is Strange 1 and 2).

A year on, my feelings about this game have soured... a lot. When the game was first announced, I was overjoyed that our new protagonists would be two Latino boys. Finally, we would have a culturally meaningful, groundbreaking video game with people of color and their experiences at the forefront! 

Then the game was met with immediate backlash and I utterly exhausted myself defending it for weeks on Reddit and Tumblr. Throughout 2019, as the episodes came out I became increasingly disillusioned, frustrated, and disappointed with where the story was going. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so damn miserable while playing this game.

Then in the summer of 2020, when Tell Me Why began rolling out pre-release material, I noticed that they posted a Q&A about transphobia, gave content warnings, and discussed at length about their collaboration with GLAAD, Checkpoint, and the Huna Heritage Foundation to make the game with sensitivity and proper research. I cannot speak for trans and gender non-conforming people on whether Dontnod succeeded at doing so with Tell Me Why. But Life is Strange 2 did… none of that.

Essentially, I realized that the reason why I was so frustrated with LiS2 is because it focuses way too heavily on a trauma narrative. This comes off as insensitive to players of color without any content warnings or extensive research.

Sean didn’t have to get kidnapped, kicked in the face, and called a racial slur by a gas station owner. Daniel did not need to watch his puppy get mauled by a mountain lion for the sake of a “difficult choice.” Sean didn’t have to lose his eye for the sake of heightened drama. Sean didn’t need to get called a racial slur and humiliated by his native language/beaten in the desert for refusing to sing. Daniel didn’t need to get shot— twice. Hell, all of “Faith” probably could’ve been cut— how is a church cult that brainwashes Daniel and beats Sean half to death relevant at all to the story?

Even if not all of the game’s violence was racially motivated, the consistent trauma that Sean and Daniel endure does not make for positive representation— or even good characterization. There is a difference between sympathetic characters and well-written characters, and trauma does not make Sean and Daniel any more complex or likable-- just more fucking traumatized.

LiS2 is more grounded in reality, but that also makes plot holes that much harder to excuse (Daniel’s powers being spotted, most of the Parting Ways ending, Sean’s prison sentence). But most of all, it grounds all of Sean and Daniel’s pain and trauma in reality. 

There is no magicking away a town-destroying storm with time travel. Sean can’t keep his dad alive by ripping up a Polaroid. After Max unlocked her powers, she was still a Blackwell student, reconnecting with Chloe, taking photos, saving lives, and uncovering a murder mystery. After Daniel unlocked his powers, the Diaz brothers lost everything. 

The game never lets you forget that Sean and Daniel are homeless, wanted, constantly in danger, and that they are never getting their old lives back. It permeates the entire game, and for players of color, just reinforces a sad, miserable, grim reality about living in the United States. It is, as @smitethepatriarchy said, potentially triggering for players of color, and it is certainly not something I needed to be reminded of.

And the representation of POC? It feels shallow and ill-researched. It would only take a Google search to find out that Dia de Muertos (a holiday to honor the dead, no less) was from October 31 to November 2 in 2016, the year the game takes place, but Daniel only talks about Halloween in episode 1. Sean and Daniel never discuss any Mexican customs, foods, or holidays. Sean doesn’t speak Spanish with his immigrant father, only during a scene when he’s traumatized (again!) by two racists, and again when talking to Mexican immigrants— in jail. Daniel doesn’t speak Spanish at all. Most of their allies throughout the game are white, including Finn and Cassidy, who appropriate Black culture with their dreadlocks.

So what’s left? Sean and Daniel’s existence as people of color is, at worst, just a narrative prop to justify everything that happens to them. They are people of color on the surface only. In a meta-sense, the game only considers the color of their skin and their last names as what is narratively important… yikes.

I don’t have anything against people who genuinely loved the game and were moved by its messages and story. But I can’t help but feel bitter that white players have the luxury of only thinking of this game as a work of fiction and not feeling any personal reliability to Sean and Daniel’s racialized trauma.

I don’t regret playing LiS2, but I do regret all the time and energy I spent defending it in the beginning. I understand now that I shouldn’t let people’s opinions get to me, nor should I feel obligated to like or defend a game for its attempts at representation. But now, I think I understand how queer fans must have felt in late 2015 when Polarized released. After following the game for 10 months, to see that Chloe’s ultimate destiny was to die and Pricefield is another ship plagued by the Bury Your Gays trope (in the ending that the devs clearly put more work into) must have been just as disillusioning and infuriating. I understand why some fans were so quick to unfollow LiS or develop mixed feelings about the series, because that’s how I feel too after following LiS2’s development from September 2018 to December 2019.

Before I end, I will admit that Life is Strange 2 arrived at a time when I needed it. I still stand by my belief that DN did a great job characterizing Sean, Daniel, and Chris without toxic masculinity, which is the best thing they could’ve done for a male-focused follow-up to a game about queer women. I love that Sean is still a canonically bisexual man of color in a major video game and that DN didn’t forget their queer audience. I love the world and characters that DN built, but I still prefer AU fanfictions of their normal lives, without all that trauma. 

So, I will continue to treasure Lyla and her 10 minutes of screentime (aka the only shred of Asian American representation I can get from this series). I still reblog LiS2 fanart to support the artists. I still support Dontnod, because as Tell Me Why has shown, they are capable of researching and writing stories with more sensitivity. And let’s be honest-- I’m still gonna be hella excited if Life is Strange 3 is announced.

But so many aspects of Life is Strange 2 were bungled that it came off as a remarkably average and forgettable experience. A year on, I don’t hate Life is Strange 2, but I am writing this to move on from it.

Thank you for reading.

[stargazing-enby]

For the fanfic writer asks :D 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 16, 21, 22, 29, 35, 36, 45, 50 (I‘m so sorry that’s a bit much but I just found all these questions so interesting—)

Thanks, darling! And no worries... I've gotten even longer asks 😂

2. When did you start writing?

At age 10-11 😂 and then I never really stopped

4. Fluff or angst?

BOTH. That's why hurt/comfort is so beautiful!

7. Do you listen to music to help you write?

Yeah! In general, I listen to music whenever I can. It helps me to have it as background noise

10. Can you give us a sneak peek of your current WIP?

(NSFW-ish ahead)

Not being able to see, to move, to do anything but kneel there and take it all and imagine what he must look like right now—what Draco must look like right now—is as infuriating as it is intoxicating. It makes every sound and every touch reverberate through Harry's skin as though amplified; makes every brush of fingers tear a moan out of him. Makes Draco’s hands holding him close, Draco’s tongue worshipping every corner of his body, feel like the only thing anchoring him to the world around him. Harry loves it, craves it, and he knows Draco knows just how badly he does, because Draco won’t stop stroking him, gently, reverently, fingers warm and strong against his waist and calves and feet as he scrapes his teeth to the sensitive skin just above the backs of Harry’s knees and then kisses his way back up Harry’s quivering legs.

12. What's your favourite thing that you ever wrote?

Oooh, that's a hard one ;-; I'm really proud of some of the poems and one-shots I wrote as a teenager in my mother tongue. I am also really proud of these Drarry poems I wrote in Spanish! But I can't really choose one thing I've written as my favourite ;-; too many of my stories mean too much to me.

16. Can you tell us anything about your current WIP?

Yes! (same wip as the one above) I can tell you that anatomy is a CURSE. I never know if the postures I'm describing are actually physically possible 😩

21. What's your favourite AU trope?

Already answered!

22. A fanfiction cliché you can't help but love?

I'm honestly not sure what classifies as a fanfiction cliché 😅

29. Describe your style in three words.

Poetic. Straightforward. Gay. (I tried)

35. Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics?

SHORTER. Drabbles and microstories are my strength, as well as one-shots. Long fics are kind of a rarity from me 😂

36. How do you keep yourself inspired?

By allowing myself to think about the story without staring at the screen. Standing up from where I'm writing, and lying face-down or staring out the window or going for a walk and just letting myself think about what I'm writing. It helps me put things in perspective without having to concentrate on the words I'm going to use to write down said things, and as soon as I have a clearer idea of what I want to write next, the words usually start flowing again on their own!

45. One thing you love about fanfiction.

I already answered this one, but I'll also say I love the fact that it can be bad. That anyone with any level of skill or experience can decide that they want their favourite characters to be in this completely random Specific Situation/Setting because they said so, and write it down and put it out there. That it doesn't have to be good or proper or follow any rules or even have a purpose beyond "I liked this idea I had and no one could stop me from writing it". I love it when fics are clearly written because the author just wanted to treat themselves 😂

50. One thing you don't like about fanfiction.

Also already answered! But I'll also say I don't like the idea some people have that it's okay to point out everything they didn't like in a fic or criticise authors for not wanting to become better/write flawless, groundbreaking stories. Some of us are only here to have fun. If you don't like what we do, write your own fic like the rest of us and do with it whatever the hell you want. If you want stories with the same quality as published books, read a goddamn published book.

[femslashhistorian]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 4 - Different Realities

In the fourth part of my SuperCorp (Supergirl) AU Femslash Fanfiction Recommendation, I have collected 13 excellent Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor Alternate Universe (AU) stories which Kara and Lena live very different lives and meet under very different circumstances from the show: Stories in which they are actresses, models, singers, figure skaters, baristas or professional cuddlers - and one in which Kara is French. This collection includes many of my favorite SuperCorp fics and is maybe the ultimate testament how many talented authors have poured their creative energy into different ways for Kara and Lena to fall in love.

Nearly all of the included stories are No powers AUs, in which Kara is human. All of the stories have a happy ending.

 Overview of the 13 Kara / Lena stories

Detailed recs and links after the cut. My favorites are marked with *

A) Actor and Model AUs

No one mourns the wicked * by kellsbells: The wickedly angsty musical AU

We're playing to a full house, darling (but this show can't go on) * by The_Ominous_Owl: The actors AU in which Kara is an actress that used to play Supergirl

Blockbuster (it's the movie au ok) by unnecessary_databass: The nonlinear actors rom-com

Maybe we were made to dance around each other, babe by goon: The Kara/Lena and Alex/Lucy model/singer AU

B) Coffee Shop/Barista AUs

Dripping Onto You by spymaster: The Barista & Public Pool AU

The Name Game - A SuperCorp Coffee Shop AU by DKGwrites: The Coffee Shop AU

C) Other Job AUs

These feelings I can't fight * by Jazzfordshire: The Ice Skating AU

Hold me, my dear (and don't let go) * by potstickermaster: The Cuddler Fic

D) Fluffy/Happy No Powers AUs

As luck would have it by spacemanearthgirl: The fake dating AU in which Lena rescues Kara from Mike

Jar of Happiness by Cloud_Lightning: The sweet AU in which the Luthors are not evil

Of Charcoal Lines and Accents by IHaveTheWrongGlass: The College AU in which Kara is a French exchange student

I'll be your muse? by heryellowcup: The College AU in which Lena models for Kara’s art class

What if I asked you to stay? * by heryellowcup: The one in which Kara and Lena are neighbors

This series includes

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 1 - Distorted Realities: of Time Travel, Amnesia and Black Mercies [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 2 - Hope and Despair: of Lighter and Darker Worlds [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 3 - Complicated Realities: Weddings, One Night Stands and Friends with Benefits [tumblr] [WordP]

Supercorp AU Fic Recs Part 4 - Different Realities: Actors, Baristas and Other No Powers AUs [this post] [tumblr] [WordP]

Notes:

Originally this was planned to be the last AU recs part, but there might by one more. This collection took me a while to compile and I concluded it in July 2019 (between the end of the shows 4th and before the 5th season), but most stories were written and finished long before that.

This post might be a bit long for tumblr and with the links above you can also the complete series on my blog.

A) Actor and Model AUs

The actor AUs of course share a few similarities (and I loved them all) but they all are quite distinct and different enough to include all of them here.

One aspect in which they are clearly different is in the amount of angst: Most of them are not to not particular angsty, but No one mourns the wicked has a substantial amount of angst. It also carries over the strongest Lena tries to redeem for the sins of her family vibes from the show, although this is also present in we're playing to a full house, darling.

 1) The wickedly angsty musical AU

No one mourns the wicked by kellsbells

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 16 chapter, 69k words, 2017-2018

Mature

Lena Luthor has just reluctantly returned to her role as Elphaba after a messy break up with her co-star. Her new co-star is a young, enthusiastic and incredibly talented performer who initially drives Lena crazy in the worst way. In time it becomes clear that they have a less-than-ideal history, along with a chemistry that neither can fight. Can they make it together despite the history between them?

This actors AU that takes place behind the scenes of a Wicked musical production. You don't need to know anything about musicals or the particular musical that is featured in this fic (I did neither) to enjoy the story, the story explains everything you need to know (and not more). This is a no powers AU, but the author manages to construct a background that creates a very similar tension between Kara’s and Lena’s families (and where Kara is coming from) as the Super vs Luthor dynamic in canon.

 While this is clearly a Kara / Lena story, this is not the only relationship we come across in the story. There is background Sanvers (pretty usual in SuperCorp fics) and there are more past and present ships that are discussed and/or shown: we have Kara / James and a hint of SuperCat (actually Kara crushing on Cat) and several reverences to one of Lena's previous relationship. I loved that Cat was Kara’s mentor and how the story dealt with Kara’s crush on her.

This is a novel length story with a long story arc with ups and downs: while most fanfics have a relatively linear romance progression towards a happy ending, this one has a more complex plot that features a pretty substantial crisis in their relationship (that I don't want to spoil).

This is a brilliant, very well written story. A long story that was very well paced and never felt too long. Absolutely loved it. One of my favorites.

Favorite Quote

You need your pills, am I right?”  

Lena looked startled, but nodded. ...

“How did you know?”

Kara touched Lena’s forehead gently, right between her eyes.

“You get a tiny line here when you’re especially tired or in pain,” she said, stroking Lena’s forehead slightly with her thumb automatically. She swore internally when she realised what she’d done.

Lena took a breath, one that hitched just a little, and Kara took her hand back.

“You always knew me best,” Lena said, turning away.

I thought I did.

2) The actors AU in which Kara is an actress that used to play Supergirl

we're playing to a full house, darling (but this show can't go on) by The_Ominous_Owl ; @the-ominous-owl

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 9 chapter, 37k words, 2017

AU, actors, fandom, consAU, actors, fandom, cons

Kara’s struggling to find work. Lena’s struggling to find herself. When fate (with some help from Cat Grant) casts them into the same orbit they find themselves completely off-script, because while everyone knows about the sins of the father, they're somewhat less clear about the sins of one’s siblings. Throw into that an audience hungry for stories at the expense of fact, a showrunner with a plan nobody saw coming, and a co-star who steadfastly refuses to keep it in his pants, and you’ve got a tale so dramatic even the protagonists have noticed. or the one where they’re both actresses with a surprising amount of baggage for two people who haven’t met yet.

Kara Danvers is an actress who played Supergirl in a series of movies until her boss Lex Luthor ruined the movie series, the whole studio and it seems Kara's whole career with it. Set behind the scenes of a successful crime mystery show, at the core of this story is a love triangle. While Mon-El/Mike, Kara and Lena love triangles are not that unusual in Supergirl fic, this story turns it on its head as Lena and Mike are a coupe at the start of the story (or are they?).

Usually I don't like love triangle all that much, but I enjoyed it in this story - I guess because it was written well, was less of a traditional triangle, and ultimately nobody I cared about got hurt. (emphasis on nobody I cared).

While there is drama and angst, it is pretty benign compare to No one mourns the wicked. I really enjoyed the look at fandom, especially when the cast of the crew went to a con. This is a wonderful and well written story that I loved.

Favorite Quote

“What?” Alex looked up at her, distracted, then waved a hand. “Your thing’s easy. Lena’s in love with you but she’s convinced herself that she doesn’t deserve you because her family looks like a Bond Villains Anonymous meeting and she thinks you’ll never reciprocate,” she explained, glaring back down at her phone and oblivious to the way Kara was staring at her with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. “My thing is that Lucy is being a stubborn, infuriating pain in the—what?” she asked, finally looking up to notice her sister’s poleaxed expression.

It took several seconds for Kara to force words up through her throat. “Lena doesn’t…She’s not…”

Alex smiled sadly at her, leaning over to rescue her ice-cream before it slipped from her slackened grip. “Kara, I love you, but there is a reason I am a cop and you are an actress. Trust me, Captain Oblivious, Lena’s been completely gone on you for months, ...

 3) The nonlinear actors rom-com

blockbuster (it's the movie au ok) by unnecessary_databass ; @unnecessary-database

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 30 chapter, 90k words, 2018-2019

Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are the stars of a groundbreaking new lesbian blockbuster. It's the film that makes you cry, wins all the awards, and defeats all the stereotypes. And the chemistry between the stars in real life is insane. Everyone says so. Except for them. Mhm.

it's the freaking movie au all in one place wouldya look at that

This is an oblivious idiots in love rom-com. Unusual for fanfic it is a non-linear fic, in fact it jumps around quite a bit in the timeline and it is done very well.

This well written fic started out as a serial fic on tumble.

Favorite Quote

“I still don’t understand what’s so funny about my abs,” Kara said petulantly, jerking her hips so Lena rolled off her.

“Because you eat like a starving five year old at a birthday party whose parents never let them have sugar,” Lena said, waving aside the information like it wasn’t important.

 4) The Kara/Lena and Alex/Lucy model/singer AU

maybe we were made to dance around each other, babe by goon

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp), Alex Danvers/Lucy Lane (Director Danvers) (f/f)

Completed, 4 chapter, 21k words, 2017

The next day, Kara's phone almost overheats from the sheer number of text messages she receives. Most of them are from her publicist, insisting she call them. Some are from Eliza and Alex and the other angels, others from people she hasn't spoken to in three years and one from Lucy just reads, hahahahahahahahahahahaha with a thumbs up emoji.

The close to crack AU where Kara and Lucy are models, Lena is a popstar and Alex is like wtf (basically the Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift AU)

Unusual for fan fic there is not a main and a background pair, but two equal main relationships: Kara/Lena (SuperCorp) and Alex/Lucy (Director Danvers).

Each of the  four chapters in told from one of the four protagonists point of view. One from Kara, one from Lucy, one from Lena and one from Alex. And this works amazingly well.

This is a pretty angst free story especially for Kara and Lena. There is a bit of angst for Lucy as without wanting to, she is falling in love with Alex, while doubting that Alex really does want a relationship.

Pretty lighthearted. An excellent and well written fic, that I enjoyed.

 Favorite Quote

"I'm on a massive billboard in front of your apartment!"

Lena gives her a puzzled look, eyebrows drawn together. "My band is on the massive billboard next to your massive billboard in front of my apartment, and we're also on the cover of Rolling Stone this month."

Kara winces. "Cool, so I'm just blind and deaf then." Lena grins at her knowingly, probably because she's too nice just to say yeah, you are, or maybe because this method is extra smug. She opens her mouth to say something else, but Lucy stumbles back into the fold, cheeks flushed and glowing.

B) Coffee Shop AUs 

1) The Barista & Public Pool AU

Dripping Onto You by spymaster ; @spymasters-blog

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 4 chapter, 23k words, 2017

Meaningless sex to lovers

Kara went to relax at the pool where she met with Lena and they fucked in the shower room

In this no powers AU Kara is a barista. The story, however, does mostly takes place outside a coffeeshop. Lena and Kara meet at a pool. They have sex. Lena never intended for this to mean anything, but things turn out differently.

This medium length story has a satisfying story arc but ends long before a full novel plot. I enjoyed it.

 2) Coffee Shop/Barista AUs

The Name Game - A SuperCorp Coffee Shop AU by DKGwrites

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 11k words, 2017

Kara Danvers, an art student in National City, works part-time at her local coffee shop. Every morning while she works there a mysterious woman shows up and orders a cup of coffee but always with a different alias. At her sisters coaxing, will Kara finally get up the nerve to ask this mystery woman her real name? When she does what will happen next, and will fate rear its ugly head?

This is a wonderful, sweet and funny no powers rom-com. I loved the Sanvers & Kara interaction. Alex and Maggie tease her mercilessly but they support Kara lovingly.

Favorite Quote

“Maybe you should ask her,” Alex suggested.

Kara sighed.  “That would require talking to her, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s generally part of the whole dating process,” Alex replied.

“Argh.” Turning and falling onto the couch, Kara flopped back.  “Not my strong point.  Can’t I just be pathetic and long for her?”

C) Other Job AUs

1) The Ice Skating AU

these feelings i can't fight by Jazzfordshire ; @jazzfordshire

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 3 chapter, 28k words, 2018

Mature

Kara only gets better with each practice session, and slowly Lena comes to accept two things. One, Kara is an infinitely better fit as a partner than James ever was; and two, she’s hopelessly attracted to her. OR

When James gets injured, Lena needs a new ice dancing partner if she wants a chance to qualify for the Olympics. Kara Danvers offers her services, and Lena is thrown headfirst into a gay panic.

 I watched a little bit of figure skating when I was younger, but I don’t have a clue about it - and this does not matter at all to enjoy this story.

Why is this such so brilliant, perfect AU?

Everything is different, but the core dynamic and characters are intact. In fact, Kara and Lena are spot on. And so are all supporting characters: Alex, Sam, James, J'onn, even Winn have roles that are true to their characters and fit nicely into this world.

The love story is powerful and beautiful. There is a perfect setup and just the right backstory to create a brilliant but troubled and lonely Lena. The right amount of tension with her mother. The perfectly balanced obstacles to create the Romeo and Juliet dynamic that is in the heart of so many Supercorp love stories in a universe without Supergirl/superpowers.

And finally, there is a perfect balance of romance and angst that makes the conclusion even sweeter.

This is a brilliant and very well written fic that I adore. Jazzfordshire is a fantastic author and I think this story is a masterpiece.

  Favorite Quote

There are a hundred little things she misses about Lena. She misses her scrunchy smile and the high, surprisingly girly sound of her laugh, which she always tries to hide with a hand over her face. The prominent beauty mark in the middle of her throat, the one that practically calls out for Kara to kiss it. She misses the way she runs her teeth gently over the edges of her fingertips when she’s nervous without biting down, as if she’s trained herself to stop chewing her nails but finds the memory of it comforting. How she somehow manages to always smell good, even after four straight hours of exercise.

  2) The Cuddler Fic

hold me, my dear (and don't let go) by potstickermaster

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 17 chapters, 119k words, 2017-2019

Service provider/client to friends to lovers

“So… How is this done?” She asks seriously, to which she replies, quite simply, “We get on the bed and we cuddle." Lena Luthor is the last person to admit she's touch-starved, but after one hour of service from Kara Danvers, professional cuddler, she finds herself craving it.

Apart from no powers this AU is relatively close to canon: Lena is the CEO of L-Corp and Kara is a professional cuddler (and in her day job she is a junior reporter at CatCo).

This is Lena centric fic, told purely from her POV. It covers a range of popular and important SuperCorp themes:

Kara has a cute pet (her puppy Krypto). Lena's difficult relationship with her mother Lilian (who is not evil in this fic) and their work to salvaging their relationship. Glimpses of a past Lena/Jack relationship. Lena as CEO and scientist. Her loneliness.

Lena has exactly one (1) sassy friend, and in this story it is Veronica. While she only has a small part and is crass and a bit of an asshole, I loved Veronica and her friendship with Lena. And especially her comment in the quite intense sparring scene: “Please don’t fuck on my ring …”

We see Lena slowly falling in Love with Kara, at first without realizing it. And her uncertainties and fears.

This wonderful and beautifully written fic is one of my favorite stories.

  Favorite Quote

Lena chuckles again. “... but I didn't expect you , is all.” She gestures for Kara to sit down. The blonde doesn't take the offer though, only continues to speak.

“Ah, right. Ta-dah,” the blonde makes jazz hands. “My day job—junior reporter at CatCo. Can I just say that it’s really nice to see you outside the bedroom?” 

She laughs, then halts completely and she frowns. “Okay, that- that sounds wrong. I just mean it’s good to—” She flails her hands and laughs again, the sound strained this time. “It’s good to see you, is all." Lena is unable to hold back an amused smirk as she replies.

It isn’t odd why meeting someone new makes her nervous. It’s not the first time she felt such trepidation either. She has grown hesitant meeting anyone that isn’t with the facade of business; she hasn’t done so for a long time. Kara had been different—she had been introduced to Lena’s life at the pretense of some service, and the offer of friendship had been after the fact. The idea of meeting someone, Kara’s sister no less, is something that she thinks she can handle, hypothetically, but it doesn’t mean she wanted to do it.

D) Fluffy/Happy No Powers AUs

1) The fake dating AU in which Lena rescues Kara from Mike

As luck would have it by spacemanearthgirl ; @spaceman-earthgirl

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 7 chapter, 30k words, 2017

Who knew that bumping into a stranger in a bar could turn into this? Or Kara meets Lena at a bar then Lena pretends to be her girlfriend to get rid of Mike.

This no powers AU is pretty close to canon: Lena is the CEO of L-Corp, Kara is a reporter. Technically this is a fake dating AU, but only the first chapter: although they just met in the bar for the first time, Lena helps Kara to get rid of Mike/Mon-el by pretending to be Kara's girlfriend.

No drama, no action, no angst. Just romance and fluff. I really loved their first date. A wonderful and very well written story.

  2) The sweet AU in which the Luthors are not evil

Jar of Happiness by Cloud_Lightning

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 6k words, 2016

No powers, Luthers are not evil AU

It was just a joke from Lex when he told his sister that maybe she really should start to put a dollar in a jar every time people told or ask her whether she and Kara were in a relationship. Plus Lillian really wanted to win the betting pool. Lionel promised to not make another bet. And Lena just wanted to fill the jar with a piece of paper containing the details of her happiness.

Kara and Lena become best friends and Lena is afraid to ask Kara if she too feels more than friendship for her. The jar of happiness is a nice idea and done well.

This is a cute and sweet story that I enjoyed.

  3) The College AU in which Kara is a French exchange student

Of Charcoal Lines and Accents by IHaveTheWrongGlass

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 32k words, 2018

Explicit

Introvert animation student Lena is left to take care of the the new French exchange student. Abandoned by her family who've decided to go on holiday, how will Lena survive trying to take care of a flirty, bubbily blonde?

It's only 6 months, what could go wrong?

In most SuperCorp AUs in this collection some core aspects of Kara's and Lena's life stay unchanged or are only slightly changed: Kara being a reporter, having lost her parents as a teenager or suffered a big tragedy in her childhood; Lana being rich / a CEO, has a problematic relationship with her family, her brother committed crimes. This story, however, has more differences different, it actually reminds me a bit of Korrasami (modern day) AUs that I have read.

Lena's family is not evil but absent for most of the fic. As a college student without a tragic upbringing, Lena feels very close to her character in the show. Kara is enthusiastic, likable and a bit strange, her backstory however is very far away from Canon and she is much flirtier than on the show.  As the story is told exclusively from Lena's POV we don't get to know French!Kara that well.

I liked this light and angst free story.

 Favorite Quote

Kara, in all her smug Frenchness, looked Lena right in the eyes as she paid for not only a bullet vibrator but also a small dildo. It only got worse because Lena was under the impression that both were for Kara, but oh how wrong she was. Nup. Because as soon as Kara paid for it, she linked their arms and pulled Lena out of the shop. It was only once they were walking down the path that Kara, in her fucking beautiful accent, bent to whisper in a bright red ear. 

“I bought the phallus for you, mon chéri. It’ll help with the stress.”

 4) The College AU in which Lena models for Kara’s art class

I'll be your muse by heryellowcup

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 13k words, 2018

She’s sitting on a simple chair, stark naked, and Kara forgets how to breathe, just for a second. Maybe more than that, perhaps a few too many. She vaguely remembers their prof telling them about a model, but he has clearly left out some very important details. Like the fact that she’s an act model, or the fact that she’s incredibly stunning in a way that makes Kara’s heart stop momentarily, then speed up immensely right after.

Or, Kara is an art student in College/University and Lena is the stunning act model she immediately falls for

 There is not that much story above what is stated in the author's blurb. Told exclusively from Kara's point of view, this story very much focuses on the here and now: Kara is completely fascinated by Lena and starts crushing on her as soon as she sees her for the first time.

I loved how Kara is flustered constantly and gets teased mercilessly by her sister Alex and her best friend Sam.

Funny, fluffy, sweet, no angst: this is a beautifully and well written story that I enjoyed a lot.

 Favorite Quote

If there’s one thing Kara can’t deal with, it’s compliments. Another one being pretty women, meaning that she’s literally turned into a puddle of incomprehensible stuttering at this point, unable to find the words she’s looking for, unable to act like a normal human being around Lena. She’s almost surprised Lena’s still there with her, still talking to her.

 5) The one in which Kara and Lena are neighbors

What if I asked you to stay? by heryellowcup

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (Supercorp) (f/f)

Completed, 1 chapter, 17k words, 2019

Mature

Neighbors to friends to lovers

She forces the words out of her mouth before she can think of the certain humiliation that will come with her question. They don’t know each other, the encounters they’ve assembled together are countable on two hands, the times they’ve actually talked to each other on one. It’s foolish to even entertain the thought, foolish to think of Mike’s priceless face when he hears about this, hears about Kara saying yes - because she most certainly won’t.

“You could stay with me, if you wanted to.”

Or, Lena invites her charming neighbour (that she totally does not have a crush on), Kara, to live with her while her apartment's being fixed. Lots of mutual pining and some smut ensues, but it's mostly just them being adorable.

 This novella length no powers AU is told from Lena's POV (nice character study).

There is no substantial amount of angst. The story is funny, romantic and very well written. I loved it.

 Favorite Quote

Leaning back against the wall, Mike looks at Lena and embarrasses her further. “The infamous U-Haul, huh?”

Lena feels her cheeks turn red and her heart speed up while Kara reduces her own reaction to nothing but furrowed eyebrows. She notes how flustered Lena is, she has to, but in the end all she does is tilt her head and regard Mike with a curious look. “What?”

The way Lena’s stomach sinks is more humiliating than the situation itself. The joke is lost on Kara, which can only mean that clearly she is not gay.

  This rec was cross posted to Pillowfort, tumblr and my WordPress blog.

..

[loptrcoptr]

Man you know, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between how much I really like this department and how much I really hate it. Today I got my marks back so it’s the latter lmao. Whine whine whine ignore me sorry

—————-

It’s fine, I was above the PhD mark but not by all that much lolll. My dissertation was not given the mark I wanted and I of course don’t get distinction and the reason, apparently, is that my writing style is too fluid and engaging? My constant critique has been that my tone is “distracting” because sometimes I may have a quip or I write something in extremely plain English and that’s not very academic. So I’ve gotten all these just-barely-enough marks along the way solely because I refuse to back off and be boring and say the biggest words I can think of. So fine, I deserve not to have an excellent mark because I refused to conform. But also my thesis defence was incredibly chill? Like.. LOVELY. I had zero criticisms. At all. So imagine my surprise when I open up my final dissertation letter-write up-thing to find they were confused about one of my appendices, didn’t seem to understand where my second source came from (laid out EXPLICITLY in the introduction) and once again didn’t like my writing style? Good fucking Jesus. Wish someone would’ve just told me that in the, you know, season I organized joust for telling me that!! Instead of sitting and saying oh this dissertation is excellent so well written well done thank you for a wonderful piece etc. only to find a week later it was apparently Not Actually These Things and these issues weren’t raised. That’s doing me a disservice. Vivas are supposed to help your grade, right? Well how was I supposed to help myself and clarify issues when they weren’t raised? (Also one of the main clarity issues was, apparently, the lack of info in the chart: the stuff I removed bc my supervisor told me to so that’s infuriating and depressing) and my supervisor never said anything about my writing- the fuck wasn’t she concerned if it was all apparently too pretty? I got one point less on my dissertation than my opening review essay— really??? Reviewing shit other people said one time and saying nothing about it is better work than nine months of research, are you serious??

Anyway blah blah I’m a whiny baby. But I know my work. And I know when I’ve done well. My dissertation is solid work, it’s nice to read, it’s not a flawless gem of groundbreaking shit but it’s good. And I don’t like sitting here knowing my other friends in the English department are getting distinctions- and high ones at that- for work of similar quality. But no, not me, fuck my hard work, because I’m an Asnc and we don’t DO distinctions unless you’re absolutely perfect. I dunno maybe lots of kids in my cohort got them and it’s just me, the idiot, doing all this hard work to churn out some really good stuff and then get a big fat “pass” for it. Honestly I feel like my supervisor and the viva panel... like I’ve just been lied to. It was not your job to be nice to me, if something needed to be tweaked then why did no one tell me? Until now, when it’s too late? This letter thing is like solid MPhil work, very good: but not phd level and I’m like damn then maybe I won’t apply. What’s the point if it’s gonna be a struggle? Gave me all these above of at phd marks and then the moral is... work harder? Well I literally can’t. I have it my goddamn all and if that’s not enough then yeah, I guess that’s academia, and I guess I was never cut out for it. Ugh. Give me my stupid fucking graduation ceremony and leave me alone.

[aion-rsa]

Bad Trip: Eric Andre Recounts His Wild Experiences On Set

https://ift.tt/31lmx0v

Note: This interview took place in early 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

Eric Andre is feeling nostalgic. He wistfully recalls a simpler, but arguably not any less crazy time in his life, as he anticipates the public’s reaction to his upcoming movie, Bad Trip.

“Back in like 2009, I’d dress up like Ronald McDonald and head into a McDonald’s,” Andre tells us about one of the earliest segments for his Adult Swim series. “I’d be drinking booze, crying and smoking cigarettes in there. That was all just with one mic and one camera on me.”

For over a decade, Andre and director Kitao Sakurai have been entrenched in the experimental comedy scene. But the team behind Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show has moved from killing time with a bare-bones setup in dingy New York City fast food joints to far higher production values in the feature film world. With those bigger venues come bigger risks, and the potential of infuriating someone not in on the joke. In one harrowing instance, Andre and his Bad Trip co-star Lil Rel Howery had their lives threatened during a confrontation in an Atlanta barbershop.

“It was our second day of shooting [Bad Trip] and this guy pulled a knife on us,” says Andre, with a mix of both joy and concern in his voice. “For this bit, our dicks are caught in a Chinese finger trap. So we’re stretching our junk back and forth. The guy’s like, ‘Oh, hell no!’ He grabbed a knife and chased us out. We could barely run in the thing, and Rel fell down and rolled under a truck. That was terrifying. That was Rel’s second day, not only of filming the movie, but ever doing hidden camera pranks. So he was miserable.” 

There are no limits for Andre; anything goes in the name of comedy. The scope may be wider now, but Andre is still up to his same signature brand of absurdist humor. So enters Bad Trip, an extreme hidden camera film that is also something of a road trip adventure for Andre and Howery, one they’ve been working toward since 2013. In the film, Andre and Howery play two best friends who embark on a cross-country journey of self-discovery. In the process, they subject the unknowing public to radical stunts like faking a prison break (with help from co-star Tiffany Haddish) or menial day jobs that result in gushing blood or embarrassing nudity.  

While Bad Trip feels like a big moment and natural extension of the comedian’s brand, Andre has been an important face in comedy for years. The Eric Andre Show has been a fixture on Adult Swim since 2012 with its much anticipated fifth season finally arriving in October 2020. Andre has also been a bright spot in series like Man Seeking Woman, Don’t Trust The B—- in Apt. 23, and Two Broke Girls. In recent years, he even landed prominent  voice acting roles, appearing in Matt Groening’s Netflix series Disenchantment and Jon Favreau’s The Lion King. 

In many respects, Bad Trip is what Andre’s career has been building toward, as he puts together what could easily be his purest—and craziest—piece of work.

DEN OF GEEK: You’re no stranger to unscripted “man on the street” style stuff, but did you intentionally want to make this bigger or have specific goals since it’s a movie? 

ERIC ANDRE: The weekend Bad Grandpa was coming out, my agent called me and he’s like, “Hey man, this Bad Grandpa movie is testing through the roof. It’s going to make a bunch of money. You do these crazy pranks.” Season two of The Eric Andre Show hadn’t even come out yet, but he’s like, “You should meet up with Jeff Tremaine and you guys should work on something together.” This is how long I’ve been working on this. At that point I barely knew how to slap a television show together, no less a movie.

So me and my team and Jeff and his posse just kept putting our heads together and developing and writing this idea and started going around town pitching it. But after seeing Bad Grandpa we were like, “Holy shit. Hidden camera pranks can work, narratively,” which is groundbreaking. Borat did that too. The only difference between [this and] Borat is that the cameras were part of the conceit because he was a journalist from Kazakhstan. This is hidden camera where the cameras weren’t overt.

In terms of a script, were you guys working off more of an outline, or did you actually have a full script written out? 

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You still need a story that you’re getting across like in any other movie. The actors’ parts were scripted, but it was kind of like an outline in other areas. Obviously we don’t know what the people that we’re pranking are going to say, but once my clothing gets vacuumed off and I’m butt naked at a car wash, we get the idea that the person we’re pranking is going to have an emphatic reaction to that.

We would kind of make guesses based on the severity of the prank on how the person was going to react and sometimes we were wrong and you had to reshoot. You do the prank a few times until you get the result you want and you tweak it each time to yield that result. But it is like an experimental filmmaking process because you just have to shoot way more and you have to hope for the best. You have to get out there and continue talking to the real people until you get the plot points that you want. We’re getting actual exposition from real civilians. That’s what makes the movie so rich.

It would seem that a movie of this nature would have a lot of unused footage when stuff doesn’t go as planned, but that’s interesting to hear that you’d keep filming scenes until you got what you needed.

Every reaction in the movie is 100 percent real. We never ever faked a reaction or asked the person that we’re pranking to say a specific thing. We only use genuine reactions. That was kind of our ethos going into it. Honestly the audience can smell it when it’s fake, you know what I mean? They can sense it and it jeopardizes the rest of the pranks because then they’re like, “Wait, if that’s fake, then is that fake?” Nothing can be scripted.

On The Eric Andre Show you’re usually doing these kinds of pranks by yourself, but here you have Lil Rel Howery with you. Was it nice to have a partner in crime when you were filming this?

Yeah, it was a little like starting over because I’m usually just out there on my own. There are two things that were different from The Eric Andre Show, which is that on The Eric Andre Show I’m just being completely absurd and schizophrenic in public. But for this I had to be more grounded and we needed narrative information out of a random pedestrian on the street. So it was a lot more challenging. This is like an evolution from the performances I was doing in The Eric Andre Show.

And then Rel and I had to figure out our dynamic, not get in the way of each other, plus gel and be believable as this hapless duo. It’s a different feel because you’re going out there and it’s awkward with real people. You’re going out and pissing people off. It’s all to get a rise out of people. It’s intense and it’s dangerous. So, it was like a crash course for Lil Rel, but by the end of it he understood the mechanics of it and how to take people on a ride.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

You’ve gotten to do a lot of voiceover work in animation lately, between The Lion King, Disenchantment, and your upcoming role in Connected. Did you ever expect your career to head in this direction?

Not at all. I always auditioned for this kind of stuff, but I never got it. Then I got an email for a Matt Groening project and I was like, “It’s Matt Groening. He created The Simpsons. I got to audition for this.” I didn’t think I would get it. It was like a Hail Mary pass, and I even did it on my phone. Then they were like, “They want to see you,” so I auditioned again, I got the role, and I kind of broke it all open.

Once you get booked for one cartoon, all these other animation projects are like, “Oh okay, you get it. Let’s get him in there next.” Then I got Lion King and I’ve got a couple of other animated movies on the way. But really, having Matt Groening vouch for you is pretty damn big in the animation community.

I loved what you and Dan Curry did with the KRFT PUNK Special. Was it surreal to see that character get put in the spotlight and how much that universe has expanded?

Yeah, well, there’s nothing more organic than KRFT PUNK. I remember when Dan first pitched the character, in what I think was season three. He pitched it kind of jokingly because it’s such a dumb idea. But we’re in the business of dumb ideas. We’re in the dumb idea industry. It just instantly became a fan favorite and he’s one of the most popular characters from The Eric Andre Show. So, his spin-off was warranted.

Do you think that more KRFT PUNK could happen? Dan Curry was talking about how he wanted to go to Antarctica to do a Flat Earth special.

Yeah, absolutely. We’re expanding our universe in big ways. We’re onwards and upwards.

Bad Trip is available to stream now on Netflix.

The post Bad Trip: Eric Andre Recounts His Wild Experiences On Set appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3tYHCtG

[sapphicscholar]

Supergirl, the Bechdel Test, and Critiques of Critiques

Because asks–ranging from fans who have been made to feel guilty for not liking the current season of Supergirl, though many are still watching and hoping, to angry anons who cannot believe I would dare criticize any aspect of a show–keep popping up in my inbox, I’m addressing the issue once here and deleting all those asks clogging up my inbox (because dammit I like order, and my inbox no longer has it). So hold on tight (and ignore/don’t read if you don’t care…really fucking simple rule) while we hit a few of the points I see appearing over and over again on my dash and in my inbox.

First of all, regarding the post about the Bechdel Test (that I’m going to assume was written by someone with the best of intentions and has been misappropriated to yell at other fans and tell them they’re wrong–blanket statement, no wiggle room). Yes, the scene did end up passing the Bechdel test, but that original post to which you refer was written and reblogged by most folks before the episode ever aired, making it an accurate enough assessment with the limited knowledge we had. The fact remains that the way the episode/that scene was marketed and promoted did not pass the test, and that says a lot about the kind of audience they’re hoping to attract (if you don’t believe me, feel free to go read the research about marketing). 

Furthermore, please dear god stop talking about how you know the rules better than anyone else because once upon a time your Intro to Women and Gender Studies professor gave them to you or mentioned them in passing. Bechdel herself has written about sometimes wishing she wasn’t associated with that test (not that she often is these days, just her last name…) because it sets such a fucking low bar, gets plucked out of context, and held up as some gold standard for representation without any thought about the woman who created it, the context of its creation, and the motivation behind it. (Also, if you’re not going to read the blog post by Bechdel that I linked to, just know that the test is inspired, in many ways, by Chapter 5 of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own on a chapter that talks about the invisibility of lesbian representation, and Woolf’s work as a whole is all about criticizing the “Angel in the House” and men’s writing for reducing women’s lives to their attachments to men, children, and families, which is literally what that scene is Supergirl does.) And I’m so tired of seeing straight feminists reblogging these posts calling LGBTQ fans of the show anti-feminist for daring to complain about it because this test does not belong only to you, and it is the brainchild of an early-twentieth-century bisexual and a group of self-identified “dykes” from the 1970s and 1980s who wanted to talk about why the state of current media (both the novels of Woolf’s time and the movies of Bechdel and co’s time) failed them as women whose concerns weren’t tied to traditional narratives of what a woman’s life looked like (marriage to a man, followed by children). 

The Bechdel test as we know it today comes from a niche comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, which documented the lives of queer women (primarily) from the 1980s through the Bush era and the struggles day-to-day life during that time period entailed, and that context gets ignored far more than your precious rules. And yes, the test (though god that word is infuriating because it implies the same sort of inflexibility that is already rampant in fandom and internet culture) is about movies as a whole (so by your own logic, we shouldn’t even go near a TV show with it), but it’s not incorrect to talk about a scene passing or not passing it, nor is it wrong to use the test as a kind of signpost or easily recognizable language with which to discuss the shortcomings of a given scene (if you want to know more, and I mean this quite earnestly, not to be a jackass, go read linguistic, structuralist, and poststructuralist theorists and find out all about signifiers, then come back when you realize that the meaning of words and phrases isn’t confined to the letters on the page, but encompasses all of the cultural signifiers to which they are tied, which is actually what makes so much of communication as we know it possible).

To insist that fans cannot be upset because a scene featured 5 whole women together and that’s “unheard of” in television forces us to settle, forces us to praise a scene that’s setting up the poorly written demise of a couple that many of us showed up for, upped Supergirl’s ratings and viewing numbers for, because we saw a woman whose journey toward self-realization, acceptance, and actualization looked like ours, found in Sanvers a couple whose story wasn’t perfect but felt realistic in a way many same-sex relationships on television still don’t. And yes, I’m calling this breakup poorly written. As I’ve written before, yes, not having the same idea about what your family should look like is a good reason to end a relationship. Not having had that conversation months into a fucking engagement when both participants in the relationship are adults who have been shown learning about how important communication is and recognizing why it’s a bad idea to make assumptions about what partners want and who apparently have incredibly strong opinions on the matter is beyond unrealistic. And for a show to know that they’re going to break up a couple after just a few episodes makes featuring the proposal and demanding praise for “groundbreaking” television irresponsible marketing–it sets fans up to be disappointed and disillusioned. (And now, because they’ve written Maggie’s absence as this kind of a breakup, rather than the myriad other ways they could have done it, if they do want to bring Maggie back, it’ll be far more difficult and will entail a fundamental reevaluation of what either Alex or Maggie wants in life, which we likely wouldn’t get to see depicted at length or in any kind of realistic way.) 

I’ve seen so many posts criticizing those who have critiqued the show and insisting that they clearly haven’t watched the show or that they ignore all the good it has done. Does that kind of post exist? Yeah, of course it does. It’s the Internet/fandom/Tumblr; there’s anything you can think of here. But these posts demanding appreciation for the show reek of the attitude that has, for decades, told LGBTQ people to sit down, shut up, and be grateful for what we’re given. Shows don’t have to listen to our critiques (and I’m not here defending folks who get violent or spout vitriol directly to the actors who cannot control their storylines, though let’s remember those folks exist on both sides of the issue), but to try to tamp down the rights of fans to be upset and express that frustration is, to be quite frank, embarrassing to see in 2017 from self-ordained progressives. 

I’m still here and watching and producing content that I like to think does right by the show Supergirl could have been (and may well become again), to the kind of nuanced, complex characters and storylines the first season and writers like Ali Adler gave us. But don’t tell me I have to like every second of it. Don’t tell me that I’m not allowed to feel misled by a show that created an endgame narrative for a couple only to break them up in such a way that the reconciliation they continue to lure in front of us as a possibility is nearly impossible (or, at the best, decidedly unrealistic). Don’t tell me that I should accept the flirty subtext between Kara and Lena or a one-off hook up between Alex and Sara that will never hold the same potential for representation as a multi-season lesbian relationship as “equal to” or possible of making up for the loss of Sanvers. And most importantly, don’t ever tell me to shut up when your username includes the words “white” and “conservative” because, oh, honey, nothing gets a liberal academic going quite like the possibility of showing you just how little power you truly have.

[misfitwriter]

Kinda sorta in a way an unpopular opinion...

But as someone who read and thoroughly enjoyed the book, I cannot say that I am surprised that they did not push SSC more.  If they follow the rest of the book the way they have followed it so far, the seven episodes will cover the book perfectly (and as I have said before, if they don’t keep the ending, I will RIOT), and the book does not really leave any dramatic loose ends to justify continuing the story. 

Because of that, I have never fully believed that they would even try to continue into a second season.  It would have been a wonderful, pleasant surprise...but with their lack of significant advertising, it just didn’t make sense to me.  Why they didn’t advertise it as a miniseries I really don’t know...maybe they were leaving room for the show to surprise them and do well on it’s own...but for a genre as particular as this one, even seven episodes does not give it time to establish itself if it is going to be a long-running show.

I think that keeping it to the seven episodes is a sign that they are doing the book justice.  They would have to make even more dramatic changes than they already have, and I don’t know that I would want to see some of the possibilities for the plot twists to keep the story ‘interesting’ enough for Shondaland TV.  I don’t mean that as an insult to Shondaland TV at all...I mean that as an indication of how nicely the story is wrapped up in the epilogue of the book.  It was not written as a story to keep going on and on...and logistically, that just does not make for good long term television.  A kick-ass miniseries?  Hell yes, which is what I have total faith we are going to get.  

Their mistake here, I think, was not being clear in their presentation of this show.  We knew how many episodes were filmed at the start.  We knew that they did little to advertise it...but we also looked at it as a show that *might* be long term.  Many people are afraid to invest in a show, particularly one that challenges (or altogether shatters) race and gender barriers, if there is a good chance that it will get cancelled early on.  Who wants to fall in love with characters, only to have their stories left dangling with absolutely no closure?  It’s safer to wait it out, see how it goes, and then watch it once at least a full season arc has been told.  I can appreciate the feeling...I’ve been stressing every week worrying that we wouldn’t even get the episodes they’d actually filmed, and I know where my characters are going to end up.  Even if the show didn’t air all seven episodes, I still have some closure...but it doesn’t matter.  I’ve fallen in love with the representation by these wonderful actors, and I want to see it all brought to life, dammit!

If they wanted this to be a miniseries, then they should have presented it as a miniseries.  Had they made it clear from the beginning, we wouldn’t be left feeling like we’ve been punched in the chest.  We would’ve known what to expect, and that makes all the difference in the world.  We wouldn’t be INFURIATED right now, and this show would have been seen in a much different light.  By leaving everything up in the air, setting it up to fail, this beautiful, charming, amazing show is left to look like a floundering mess.  This show, had it been properly presented, could have been that truly groundbreaking storytelling that Lashana hoped it would be, because it would have been seen for exactly what it is, rather than tainted by the appearance of failure caused by this horrible uncertainty.  It could have opened the door for more challenging stories like it, designed and developed (and freaking advertised) for long, successful run.  Instead, how many stories will be shot down for the sake of a “failure” that, by all rights, should have been the farthest thing from a failure?

I hate how much I was expecting exactly this to happen...and I am sincerely pissed that they are making us wait another 2.5 weeks for the next episode.

[xranker]

How capitalism killed one of the best video game studios

The week's best photojournalism Fifteen years ago, the game studio Valve released Half Life 2 , a first-person shooter about a physicist fighting an alien occupation of Earth The game was a smash hit, selling over 10 million copies and winning dozens of "game of the year" awards. Naturally, Valve planned a sequel, only this time broken into three parts Episode 1 and Episode 2 duly followed in 2006 and 2007 respectively, which were both enormous successes as well But, to the bitter disappointment of eager fans, the third installment never came Indeed, Valve — once one of the most artistically creative game studios in the world — has all but stopped producing games altogether What happened? In a word: capitalism Valve has mutated from a game developer into a ruthless financial middleman through its platform Steam, which has become the largest platform for digital game distribution — allowing them to make huge amounts of money while creating virtually nothing original themselves It took several years for this transformation to be completed. In 2007 Valve released Portal , an excellent puzzle game, and Team Fortress 2 , a team-based shooter They followed up with cooperative zombie survival games Left 4 Dead in 2008 and Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009 In 2011 they released Portal 2 , and in 2013 Dota 2 , a multiplayer battle arena game All six were big successes For a few years after 2007, Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell assured interviewers that the studio was working on Episode 3 , and the company released a bunch of concept art to that effect But then he clammed up , and the final installment never came Indeed, innovative single-player games — what used to be Valve's bread and butter, starting with their groundbreaking first game Half Life in 1998 — have completely vanished from their output They haven't produced one for eight years — Portal 2 was the last one up to this day Meanwhile, Valve's focus has quite obviously moved to Steam The platform, which serves as a one-stop shop for gamers to buy and download titles from nearly every major game developer, reportedly made roughly $43 billion in revenue in 2017 (as it takes a substantial cut of every sale), up from $35 billion in 2016 — and that doesn't include revenue from downloadable content and "microtransactions" (that is, in-game purchases of cosmetic items and such) There is clearly a lot more money in being an Amazon-style distribution platform than in developing games What's more, that money is a lot easier to make First-mover advantage and network effects do most of the work for you At first glance, this seems somewhat odd Surely it would be possible to run Steam and produce games — indeed, with the fat Steam profits Valve could generously fund its production department, and maybe even take bolder risks than they used to Not producing Episode 3 surely meant tens of millions of dollars in foregone profits, not to mention millions more in abandoned development work and legions of infuriated fans. That's not exactly great business practice! And besides, while the Half Life 2 series is great, it's not like it was some Proustian flawless masterpiece. A game that was basically similar to Episode 2 with a reasonably compelling story would have sold like hotcakes. Indeed, Marc Laidlaw, a former Valve writer who wrote most of the first two games in the series, published a thinly-disguised Episode 3 plot synopsis in 2017, which would have worked just fine So what gives? One factor is that a capitalist business mindset is badly corrosive to an artistic temperament Running a platform is all about tweaking its setup to maximize revenue, even if that comes as the cost of lousy art For instance, Steam has long had a wide-open policy to independent games, doing almost nothing to validate quality and not even that much to stop copyright infringement The result, as Jim Sterling has covered extensively , was an absolute tsunami of atrocious "asset flips" (games made by slapping together pre-made assets from third-party stores) and other even worse garbage — like a game about a school shooting Independent developers working on genuinely high-quality games have found their titles drowned in a sea of dreck on the platform Valve itself even allowed an appallingly bad third-party Half Life game using Valve's own branding, engine, and assets to be published there The development of microtransactions is even more corrosive. Research demonstrates that most revenue from these purchases come from a tiny minority of players with impulse control problems (like children with their parent's credit card number ). That leads to games deliberately designed like addictive drugs or gambling to hook the " whales " — things like restricting processes behind frustrating time gates that you can pay to unlock, or selling slot machine-style "loot boxes" which have a small chance to contain something good, or even simple "pay-to-win" mechanics, where the best items in the game simply must be bought A great many awful mobile games are designed around these techniques Valve has clearly internalized a lot of this abusive capitalist mindset The only major game it has released since Dota 2 is an online card game called Artifact , where one builds a deck by buying random card packs and individual cards on a secondary marketplace It came out to middling reviews in late 2018 (one streamer quit after he spent $300 on cards and still couldn't even build two quality decks), and the player population has since fallen by about 95 percent Meanwhile, as Valve has stopped producing traditional games, it has hemorrhaged talent No writers who worked on the Half Life series remain at the company Another factor may be simple lack of pressure to publish In 2004 David Hodgson published a book called Raising the Bar about the development of Half Life 2 , which was published after its release but written beforehand. In the foreword, Newell wrote that "I have the world's worst case of stage fright You, the reader, know how the launch of Half Life 2 went … Did we create a worthy successor to Half Life? Did we live up to gamers' expectations? Did we pull it off? You know, and I don't, and that seems terribly unfair to me right now" Artists are often very anxious about how their creations will be received A game studio which makes its money from selling games has no choice but to publish at some point But one with a monopolist platform that essentially prints money can keep neurotically tweaking and polishing their work forever, until they either give up or their abilities rot away to nothing This situation may not last forever though, as other game companies are attempting to horn in on Steam's market share Epic Games, publisher of the massive hit Fortnite , recently launched an "Epic Store," and has aggressively scooped up exclusive rights to tons of upcoming third-party games with both direct payments and a generous revenue split Steam's quasi-monopoly may soon end — and that is probably a good thing. Even after 12 years, the Half Life property is one of the most valuable in the gaming market Maybe it's time for Newell and company to remember why they got in the business in the first place Read the full article

[keagan-ashleigh]

Why I don’t like Euros

Little PSA: if you liked the character, I entirely respect your opinion (and I shall expect you to respect mine); this post is not meant to be a hate post but more an exposition of why I think Euros is badly written. First things first: I didn’t know Sian Brooke before that and even though I didn’t liked series 4, I think she acted brilliantly with what was given to her (like pretty much all the actors did, they literally saved the series to me). That being said: her performance is not “groundbreaking” for me just because she plays multiple personalities and because she plays a psychopath. I’ve seen that before (to give you a few examples: Supernatural (like, Misha Collins has played like nine different personalities including Lucifer himself and it’s absolutely stunning), Vampire Diaries, Buffy, Charmed, Lost Highway, Enemy, The Man in the Iron Mask, Face/Off, American Horror Story, Cloud Atlas, Monty Pythons movies, The Family Jewels, Sunshine, Back to the Future 2 & 3, Jumanji, Heroes, Dracula, and one episode of Criminal Minds that I love a lot (the one with Adam) ... etc), so yep: good, but not impressed. And even if it was somehow never seen before, this is not what will make the character well written and appreciable. I love Sian Brooke’s interpretation but I didn’t liked the character. 1) How she’s integrated in the show Mofftiss want to make us swallow raw that Euros is the climax, and a long term plan of theirs. But it’s none of that. There was a show before Euros, a plot and narrative that was going on, that’s what we analysed, that’s not the thing they think we missed, since back then Euros wasn’t even in their mind, and we need closure for this. Euros is a late addition we basically don’t care about, in the way she’s introduced.

I cared about Sherlock’s past and how Redbeard affected him, how this lost sibling affected him, I was expecting this sibling to have resentment for Sherlock and Mycroft, I was expecting this sibling to be a bad person, but I don’t care about the fact the sibling is a woman (like, I want to scream: I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE CHARACTER’S GENDER and to think the idea that she was a woman never crossed our minds is so hilarious...), that she’s a lunatic with superpowers who just needed a hug to stop being a psychopath.

The vision I had of this narrative was better, and it was entangled in the whole show’s narrative that was about Sherlock and John. It should have been integrated perfectly, but the way they did it, it’s just like a copy pasta of a pic with a bad detouring, it cuts clear the other arcs without ever giving closure to them. 

And the most infuriating is less that in itself than the fact they pretend it was a long run thing and the climax of the whole narrative. It answers nothing and the show works perfectly if you take Euros away. So why they want so much to make it appear like this is the thing they are the most proud of and the thing that answers the whole show?

Euros is the biggest imposture ever. They didn’t seem to know what to do with Sherlock and John, with Mary, with Moriarty, they started those three main arcs and never closed them, and introduced Euros as an easy way to close Redbeard’s arc. And their trick is to make it appear as if it has always been their intention and the climax they envisioned for those arcs, they drop a “you missed something big” when Euros was merely an idea, admit they created Euros as they were wrapping HLV and wrote s4 quickly, and they get on with it by saying that was the thing they had planned for seven years. Sorry but I’m not stupid, I can tell when you are trying to fool us.

2) The writing of the character

So many things have already been said about this subject that I will try to stay concise. .Not only Euros is an imposture in the narrative, but she’s poorly written. She has no link whatsoever with the other arcs and doesn’t even give a clear answer to the Redbeard problem. Sherlock has been traumatized, this is supposed to mean what happened in his childhood was huge - for that point the murder of his best friend by his sister is fitting. The idea in itself is not bad and it could have been written better - I’m sure of that because most of the metas and speculations we come up with before s4 were way more thrilling and brilliant. And the show wasn’t satisfying considering Euros for three main reasons: - her intentions and the way the problem is solved are weak, and her character is not clearly defined. Which implies contradictions. - she is a stereotype - she is therefore giving a bad representation of people with mental illnesses / neurodivergence, and she’s not exactly a feminist character. What drives all of her actions is on one hand the fact she wants to play with her brother, in other words, she wants affection, and she wants to be part of something she considers to be a synonym of happiness. In itself, it is understandable that, like her brothers, she grew up lonely because she was clever. So she is basically driven by a lack of affection and of social intercourses. Which is in complete contradiction with the way she tries to solve that problem. I get that it’s possible that some disorders imply contradictions but Euros problem is never spoken through, so we don’t really know what kind of issue moftiss think she have - all I can say is that she fits the stereotype of the psychopath as it is presented in fiction. One thing that I think is important to note is that generally the writers are less informed about mental illnesses, disorders and neurodivergence as we are as people who actively seek for the infos, are in constant link to people with disorders, and spend a good amount of time with dashboards / timelines full of infos about those subjects, or are confronted to those subjects in our personal lives. So when they’re gonna write a character with mental issues, most of the time it’ll be psychopaths or sociopaths (most of the time it’s the same to them) written stereotypically, who is gonna be a villain.

This is one of the many problems I have with Euros, she is conceived as a psychopath, which makes her necessarily a murderer who don’t hesitate to send a bomb to the flat of the man she wants to play with. She is presented as emotionless and yet is entirely driven by her emotions, she is presented as clever but this cleverness is driving to villainy - in some extent that’s also the case for Sherlock and Mycroft, since they’re presented as cold and non-empathetic, but they get to show all along that it’s a facade and that their attitude is a protection, while it’s different for Euros, she is rotten from the inside. Which makes her the only Holmes sibling - who happens to be the only women and the most clever - that is essentially bad. It tells that a woman with such cleverness ends up to be a villain, without emotions but completely driven by her emotions, and mentally ill. The message is that women can’t handle intelligence enough to be fine, there must necessarily be a weakness that is always their incapacity to handle their emotions - this was also the message Irene was carrying. In Sherlock a man fails because he is outsmarted, a woman fails because of her emotions. Euros was defeated because Sherlock revealed that she needed affection, not because he stopped her from killing people. And by that all of her identity is contradicted, because she is presented as a psychopath / sociopath who can’t feel affection to later be stopped by a hug and the promise that her brother loves her despite of the horrors she’s done.

To read more about the problem with Euros I suggest this articles: here .

So in the end, the character is a stereotype and a contradiction, who doesn’t fit in the narrative, and by essence this is why I don’t like Euros, though she had the potential to be one of the best characters. Here’s the thing: I could have loved this character, I was expecting the third Holmes and was thrilled by it, but Euros killed it. It’s not that I expected too much, it’s that I expected the least considering the narrative that was given to me.

[sequentialartconfidential]

Okay, so new year, new opportunities. I’m going to attempt to review the comics I buy each week again. I tried it for a while but I kept getting sidetracked so here we go again. I want to preface this by saying that I am not a professional reviewer/critic, all I can offer you is my opinion of the work. I typically buy anywhere from $30-50 worth of new comics weekly so I can’t review everything but if you have a suggestion for a book I should try I’m more than happy to check it out. I also have a tendency to stalk used book stores and comic conventions for old graphic novels and I am especially fond of the clearance bins at Half Price Books so I will share reviews of those as well. The main thing that I love about cheap graphic novels is that I can pick up things that I may never have taken a chance on otherwise due to price considerations. I have found a lot of great comics that way. I also want to preface these reviews by saying that I do write and draw comics of my own so some of my opinions may be skewered by that experience.

Week One: 1/3/2018

Books purchased:

Star Wars Issue 41 Kieron Gillen/Writer Salvador Larroca/Artist Marvel

Batman White Knight Issue 4 (of 8) Sean Murphy/Writer/Artist DC

Scales and Scoundrels Issue 5 Sebastian Girner/Writer Galaad/Artist Image

X-Men Grand Design Issue 2 Ed Piskor/Writer and Artist Marvel

Star Wars Forces of Destiny (Leia) One-Shot Elsa Charretier/Co-Writer and Artist Pierrick Colinet/Co-Writer IDW/Disney

Rat Queens Issue 7 Kurtis J. Wiebe/Writer Owen Gieni/Artist Image

Paper Girls Issue 19 Brian K. Vaughan/Writer Cliff Chiang/Artist Image

Rock Candy Mountain Issue 7 (of 8) Mountain Kyle Starks/Writer and Artist Image

Walking Dead Issue 175 (1 of 6 in the New World Order storyline) Robert Kirkman/Writer Charlie Adlard/Artist Image

 My Favorite Thing is Monsters Emil Ferris/Writer and Artist Fantagraphics

Let me begin by saying that I have not fully finished My Favorite Things is Monsters yet so I won’t be reviewing it just yet. I will say that it is phenomenally drawn and written. You want to keep reading but sometimes the drawings insist that you stop and admire them. I’ve stayed up late a few nights reading it and I’m still only a little over half way through. From all accounts this is just the first book as well so I hope they get the second volume out quick!

Star Wars issue 41 is a continuing storyline that, if I was hard pressed, I would have a hard time remembering and I just read the book yesterday.... I buy most of the Star Wars books and I really can’t say why other than I’m a huge Star Wars fan. The artwork is nice and it’s always fun seeing the original trilogy characters in action but the stories aren’t that exciting. I get the feeling that the powers that be (ether Disney or Marvel) don’t want to change or expand the characters much so they make the writers stick to bland adventures that will in no way change or expand the existing universe. Luke is always an unsteady Jedi wanna-be, whining and worrying, Han is the cavalier scoundrel who is quick with the schoolboy taunts of Leia to where one wonders why he doesn’t just pull her pigtails and get it over with, and Leia is the know-it-all badass who has to keep these two “assets” to the rebellion alive and on track. Chewbacca stands by idly and wonders what about his place in the universe...the Star Wars Universe....

 Buy if you love Star Wars and want to grumble about it, Pass if you do not.

 Batman White Knight Issue 4 (of 8) I’m enjoying this so far despite not being a big Batman fan. I am of the opinion that Batman is a jack booted thug with anger management issues wasting a fortune on playing cops and robbers while Gotham is filled with poor and desperate people. This book is playing up on that view of Batman. Even though I find Batman to be a poorly conceived character I do admit that he inspires some great stories. I know because I buy a lot of them despite not being overly fond of the character. If you haven’t checked this one out it is a doozy. Written by Sean Murphy (Wake, Tokyo Ghost, Punk Rock Jesus) is a great writer (and artist) and I’ve enjoyed his work in the past and that’s primarily why I gave this a shot (and he doesn’t disappoint). The main thrust of the series is that the Joker (or Jack Napier) has turned a new leaf and has become a “good guy”….or has he? He seems to be doing a lot of things right and is championing the poor and oppressed in Gotham. Batman of course doesn’t trust him, Commissioner Gordon doesn’t trust him either but is willing to listen, and Nightwing and Batgirl are somewhere in the middle. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  I always like comics that hold my interest and keep me in suspense from issue to issue. I am always asking myself, “What happened in the last issue of this comic?” If I can’t answer that question then I know it’s probably not a good storyline or, perhaps, it’s one of those independent comics that take four months or more between issues. Tangent rant: have you noticed that creators are bringing out their own titles with haphazard release schedules so that they can work on mainstream books (Marvel/DC)? It’s a little infuriating. I know it’s the nature of the beast but it’s hard to wait so long between books.

 Buy! This is a good book despite the fact that it’s a Batman book :)

 Scales and Scoundrels Issue 5 I’m digging this comic, it’s like a Dungeons and Dragons adventure….literally. The main characters travel to a dungeon in search of treasure and there are dragons involved. The action even seems as though it is being created through a D&D campaign. DM, “You are in a boat on a mysterious sea and you are attacked by five boats of amphibious creatures with stone weapons, one appears to be a wizard. What do you do?” If this is how it’s being created I’m not mad at anyone for it. I like the storyline and the art is okay. The art is loose, cartoony, and very familiar as I’m seeing a lot of artists using this style as of late. If you have seen any art by Hamish Steele this is very similar. I’m not sure what the influence for this art is but it has become prevalent as of late. It would not be out of place on Cartoon Network or Cartoon Hangover. I know the critique to that kind of comment is always, “Well, can you do better?” Well, no, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have an opinion. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s perfectly passable and suits the book  well, all I’m saying is that it’s cartoony and sparse. The characters and their development are top notch so far though and it’s only issue 5 so who knows where it will go from here.

Buy! You may want to wait for the TPB at this point but it’s definitely a good read.

 X-Men Grand Design Issue 2 Ed Piskor is my homeboy. He may not know it but he is. I’ve been hyping this guy since I read Wizzywig back in the day. Lately, Ed has been chronicling the life and times of hip hop culture in his book Hip Hop Family Tree which is phenomenal. It’s about people and history and culture just as much as it’s about music so it’s enjoyable on many levels even if you don’t like hip hop. And that’s kind of what’s missing in X-Men Grand Design. Ed is a lifelong X-Men fanatic and has spoken about his passion for the franchise many times and his passion shows in these comics but , through no fault of his own, their story is not as interesting as the story of hip hop. I do admire the book for Ed’s unique and eye catching style. You can always spot an Ed Piskor book! I love that it’s loose and fun and that Ed still does everything on paper including his inking and lettering. His books have the feel of an underground/DIY comic but made by a professional. They’re old school and modern at the same time. Part of the problem may be that I’m not as big of a fan of the X-Men as Ed but partially to blame is the fact that the X-Men have a convoluted, and oftentimes eye rolling, history filled with coincidences, bad plotting, dues ex machina moments, and overwrought soap opera emotions (as a lot of comics with such a long history do to be fair). This is only the second book of course and he is nowhere near the groundbreaking Chris Claremont/David Byrne run yet so we have that to look forward to. The other problem is that Ed is having to untangle the history to tell it chronologically. Things that lazy writers threw in to correct an issue that happened many issues or even years before have to be put into the correct place in the timeline and that can make these stories even more confusing. I will keep buying these if only to look at Ed’s art but I’m anxious to get to a better era of the franchise soon. These early stories are somewhat hokey.

 Buy if you’re a fan of Ed Piskor or the X-Men Pass if your meh about either.

Star Wars Forces of Destiny (Leia) One-Shot This book was released by Disney so you can be sure that it is aimed at a younger demographic. They call it an “All-Ages Adventure” and the advert at the back of the book has a schedule for four more books, one for each week in January 2018. Next week will be Rey, then Hera (Who? Sorry, I haven’t watched Rebels yet), Ashoka & Padme, and then Rose & Page. All of these books are either written by or drawn by (or both) female artists and writers which is really cool.  I’m looking forward to the Rose & Paige book because, and I get the feeling that I’m alone for the most part here, I liked their story in the Last Jedi. This issue deals with Leia and is co-written and drawn by Elsa Charretier (co-writer Pierrick Colinet) who I am unfamiliar with but does an excellent job here. Her drawing style reminds me of Bruce Timm or Darwyn Cooke which is a high compliment coming from me because I am a big fan of both of those artists. As with those guys, Elsa has a style influenced by animation and it shows in the flow of her panels and her fluid action scenes. The story is set on Hoth and she makes Hoth look way more beautiful that it has any right to be. The character designs are loose but perfect and I could totally see this style being used in a Batman Adventures style Star Wars cartoon. The story takes place right before the Battle of Hoth (opening scene of Empire Strikes Back) and Leia leads Han and Hera (No idea) on a mission to find a part for the energy shield. It’s a simple premise but Leia has more character development here than in some of the comics Marvel has released. She knows she’s supposed to be in command and that people are looking to her for answers which puts considerable stress on her knowing that she has to make the right decisions and quick or she is going to lose people and maybe even the war. I liked this comic a lot. I especially liked the art and will seek out other books by Elsa Charretier. Yes, the story is simple and it doesn’t have any big surprises or cover a lot of new territory but it is meant for a younger audience and it is still a good story.

 Buy! Yeah, I’m saying buy this even if you skip the new Star Wars comic get this one. This one is at least fun to read.

 Rat Queens Issue 7 Have you ever had a book, or TV show, or movie that you absolutely loved and then, as it progressed, it lost it’s luster? Rat Queens has become that for me. I loved the early books filled with fantasy adventure, girl power and laughs but, after original artist Rob Upchurch left under a cloud of domestic abuse charges the book lost steam and has not recovered. This is not to say that the art has not been good because it has been spectacular since he left. Tess Fowler was a great replacement who they inexplicably replaced with Owen Gieni when the book was rebooted. I do like Gieni’s art but it made no sense to replace Fowler. Not only did she turn in great art month after month but she brought a female perspective to the art and the book. I imagine she would not have drawn the horrible creature that appears in this issue as Gieni did. It looks like a monster cut from the Spread comic. It has one foot and the big toe on that foot is a penis. Cleaver… mature…. aesthetically pleasing…..I wonder what female fans  thought of that? I don’t know, I just don’t think the comic is fun anymore. They seem to be going from one characters storyline to another  with no real development or insight added to them.  I hate to say this but, for me, the book has jumped the shark and will probably be leaving my pull list.

 Pass! I hope it gets better but I somehow doubt that it will. I have not enjoyed this book since before the reboot.

 Paper Girls Issue 19 I’ll preface this by saying that I really like Brian K. Vaughan’s writing. I loved Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Saga, Runaways, etc. For me, this has been the hardest book of his for me to like. I do like it but it took a while for me to get into it and I have no idea why. It may be that the writing is trying to be a little too clever but I don’t know if that’s it. The constant references to the eighties meant to remind us the girls are from the eighties can cause some eye rolling and the obligatory issue where every girl meets their future counterpart give this a Back to the Future vibe. But I like Back to the Future so why am I not as enchanted by this? It may be that I get frustrated when I don’t know what’s going on. This is probably why the book has grown on me as more is revealed. This is the kind of book that I like to read in TPB form as I can read a bunch of them at once and not get left hanging. The writing and the art are great on the book, Cliff Chiang draws beautifully, but it may take you a while to warm up to the book and characters. I say buy the early TPB’s and read them straight through and you’ll be ready to go once you reach this issue.

 Buy if you have all of the other issues, if not then buy the TPB’s first.

 Rock Candy Mountain Issue 7 (of 8) Oh I do love me some Kyle Starks! If you are not yet on the Kyle Starks bandwagon you better hop on now! This guy makes comics that are a non-stop action movie thrill ride that will knock you flat on your butt! I own just about everything he’s made. The Legend of Ricky Thunder, Sexcastle, Kill Them All, and now I’m eating up Rock Candy Mountain. This book is his longest yet and has a lot of things going for it that his previous books did not like spectacular color by Chris Scheizer (Who is himself a tremendous talent writing and drawing the excellent Crogan Adventures series). The other thing that this book has going for it is hoboes and lord knows I love hoboes. I have a keen interest in alternative cultures like hoboes, or beatniks, or Justin Bieber fans; what makes them tick, how did this group form, and why would anyone listen to that god awful music? I also grew up next to a railroad track and love trains and have jumped a few myself (only to drop off a few blocks later so I wouldn’t miss supper). I can understand the feeling of wanting to jump on a train and ride away from your troubles for a while. Ah wanderlust…. So add Kyle Stark to hobo culture and I’m buying that book, no questions asked. Thankfully, my faith in Kyle and hoboes was not ungrounded because this book is awesome. I don’t want to give too much away but this is an epic adventure with plenty of action scenes and great characters. I highly recommend this book. Kyle is another of those artists like Ed Piskor where you immediately recognize his style and there is no one else out there who does it quite the same way. I love his style but opinions may vary. The TPB of the first four issues is out and would be a good start if you’re interested.

 Buy! Buy! Buy! Get the TPB if you’re just starting out.

 Walking Dead Issue 175 Wow, 175 issues and I’ve read them all. Remember when I was talking earlier about loving something and then it gradually fades into apathy? The Walking Dead has become that for me, especially the television show. I would love to take this space talking about how much I hate the show now and how dumb the characters are but this isn’t about the show so I’m going to stick to the book (BTW I hated the All Out War storyline [and Neagan] in the book because it was meandering and poorly plotted and the show is the same way). Anyway, the book has had it’s good moments and it’s great moments, it’s bad moments and it’s excruciatingly bad moments and I think this storyline may fall into the former if it’s done right. Other than the annoying weirdo the group picked up I like where this is going. I have always wondered about other societies out in the world and the one the group has run into is especially intriguing. I’m not going to go into the plot, it’s the Walking Dead, so you know, zombies and stuff. If you have been reading The Walking Dead all along I think you may agree that this storyline is interesting. It may spell the end for the book eventually who knows? I do hope this turns out to be a good one as there hasn’t been a great arc in a while.

 Buy if you’re caught up to this issue or buy the large omnibus books to catch up if you’re not. If you watch the show you may still enjoy this but you’re going to be wondering why Eugene is with the group.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I bored you!

[caveartfair]

These 5 Architecture Projects Would Have Changed New York—But Were Never Built

Even for those who have called New York City home for their entire lives, there are infinite perspectives through which to see and understand the legendary metropolis. There are the sculptures hiding just above you; the beloved diorama at the Queens Museum, showing the city in miniature; and then the myriad buildings that were dreamt up for the city, but never built.

Those unrealized structures are the subject of Never Built New York, a book written by architecture critic Greg Goldin and journalist Sam Lubell, as well as the title of an exhibition the pair curated, which opens at the Queens Museum this September. Both book and exhibition detail hundreds of designs that never came to be, from some of the earliest planned arrangements for the city’s grid to the grandest glittering towers proposed for the World Trade Center site.

Some projects were foiled by their architects’ wily ambition, while others came tantalizingly close to creation, only to be struck down by politics. Here, we’ve selected five of our favorite buildings from Never Built New York.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Key Project for Ellis Island (1959)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Key Project for Ellis Island, 1959. Courtesy of ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

Ellis Island ceased to function as an immigration port in 1954. Following what Goldin and Lubell call “an all-American path,” the island was opened up to developers. The highest bid was for $2.1 million (roughly $17 million today) by the Damon Doudt Corporation, which promised to build a “completely self-contained city of the future.”

This vision would be designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who proposed a $93 million design that didn’t lack ambition. The architect described it as promoting “casual, inspired living, minus the usual big-city glamour.” It would house 7,500 residents, boasting seven candlestick-shaped towers, all orbiting around a giant globe in the center. Residents would have access to all the amenities of a big city, including hospitals, movie theories, restaurants, and more. Eventually, the government put the kibosh on Wright’s futurist plan, and ultimately rejected every developer bid tendered for the island in favor of turning it into a national monument.

R. Buckminster Fuller, Dome Over Manhattan & Dodger Dome (1961 & 1955)

R. Buckminster Fuller, Dome Over Manhattan, 1961. Courtesy of ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

Two thoughts cross the mind of every normal New Yorker on a daily basis. One: There should be a 2,000-foot-wide dome over Midtown. Two: The Dodgers should come back from Los Angeles to be housed in a stadium with a massive plastic dome.

Okay, no one actually thinks either of these things. But in the 1950s and early ’60s, the legendary architect and theorist R. Buckminster Fuller did propose building two domes, one over Manhattan and one over a new stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Manhattan dome—a larger version of the geodesic domes Fuller promoted throughout his life—never came to be, but that doesn’t mean it was without value or importance. As the authors of Never Built write, the “Dome Over Manhattan was speculative but prescient, if one accepts that humanity is now determined to ruin the natural biosphere.”

The Dodger Dome, however, made significant strides and had it been built, it could have helped to prevent the exodus of the team to L.A. in 1958. The team’s owners had recruited Fuller to work with architect Norman Bel Geddes, who submitted plans for a massive stadium—replete with a dome, of course—that could seat 55,000 people and would cost $2 million to construct. The plan was approved by the mayor and the state, but ultimately, the relatively inexpensive land in L.A. was too good an opportunity for the Dodgers’s owner to pass up. He relocated the team there, to a stadium that doesn’t have a dome. Alas, despite a news story for Fuller’s project with the headline “A Dome Grows In Brooklyn,” this particular idea never took root.

Rufus Henry Gilbert, Gilbert’s Elevated Railway (1870)

Rufus Henry Gilbert, Gilbert’s Elevated Railway, 1870. Courtesy of ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

New Yorkers forced to endure ever-more infuriating subway delays have the right to complain—but perhaps not as much as Rufus Henry Gilbert. One of the earliest proponents of mass transit, Gilbert was swindled out of the profits from the elevated train line of his dreams.

A surgeon during the civil war, Gilbert believed that overcrowded slums were at the root of illness and disease. He endeavored to create a way for people to live outside overcrowded metropolitan spaces. Part of this larger mission was his plan for an Elevated Railway, a series of elevated tubes some 24 feet above the ground, which he patented in 1870. The original proposal was foiled by the stock crash of 1873.

Undeterred, Gilbert developed a new plan for the railway in 1874, this time with steam-powered carriages rather than tubes, and prefabricated parts that could be made in a factory, then shipped to New York for relatively easy assembly. Gilbert eventually found backers, and construction began for a train line on Sixth Avenue in 1876. But just a day after the elevated train took its inaugural run in 1878, Gilbert’s business partners pushed him out. He was left without any stock in the enterprise and died of stomach ailments in 1885. He was only 53.

Robert Moses and Othmar Ammann, Brooklyn-Battery Bridge (1939)

Robert Moses and Othmar Ammann, Brooklyn-Battery Bridge, 1919. Courtesy of ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

Though Robert Moses altered New York City forever—displacing thousands, while constructing his vision of interconnected highways—he is perhaps best remembered today for his failures. Notable among them was his proposal for a massive road-building project that was thwarted by Jane Jacobs and Greenwich Village community groups. A lesser-known but deeply painful failure for Moses involved the Brooklyn Battery Bridge—a 6,500-foot-long speedway that would connect Brooklyn to Manhattan at the island’s southern tip. The bridge would stand as a testament to Moses’s vision and ability, reasons why he preferred the size and scale of a bridge to proposals for a tunnel connecting the boroughs.

The plan was introduced on January 22, 1939, and after a few months of bitter resistance from opponents who both hated its design and Moses, the bridge was approved by the city and state. All that remained was a nod from the Federal Government and the War Department. Despite the expected approval, the War Department nixed the plan for security reasons.

Moses attempted to have the White House intercede, but to no avail. Then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been waiting on an opportunity to exact revenge on Moses. While Roosevelt was governor of New York in the late 1920s, the urban planner had cut off funding for his parks commission. So instead of Moses’s bridge, plans moved forward for a tunnel. “On October 28th, 1940, construction began on the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which Moses had so adamantly tried to scuttle,” reads Never Built. “President Roosevelt led the groundbreaking.” Sweet, sweet revenge.

Howe and Lescaze, The Museum of Modern Art (1930)

Howe and Lescaze, The Museum of Modern Art, 1930. Courtesy of ARTBOOK | D.A.P.

In 2019, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will finish a massive expansion and redesign of its Midtown Manhattan home, significantly increasing gallery space. But innovative architecture has always been a part of the museum’s history. In 1930, after the MoMA’s trustees approached architects William Howe and George Lescaze to design the institution’s inaugural home, they submitted six schemes—blocky and modernist creations not normally ascribed to museums.

“A far cry from the neoclassical museums rising across the world at the time, the stacked buildings were indicative of not only the industrial ethos of modernist architecture, but also the rearranged abstractions of cubism,” write Goldin and Lubell.

The most “ambitious” of the designs, according to the duo, was number four, which featured cantilevered galleries taking the form of a jenga tower about to topple. In the end, Howe and Lescaze didn’t get the job. Some have chalked this up to the plot of land that had been selected for the institution (too small for the designs); others say that the museum’s board “objected to commissioning Lescaze because he was a foreigner,” according to a note written by Lescaze, left in his archives. Regardless, the museum did reject formalism in its final design, commissioning Edward Durell Stone and Philip Goodwin to create the modernist building that opened in 1939.

—Isaac Kaplan

from Artsy News