#this one has a caption but its heavy heavy heavy spoilers if i do . so iwont

[ducktracy]

Would you say Mel Blanc was instrumental to Looney Tunes’s success?

OH WITHOUT A QUESTION! the LT characters are not the same without Mel Blanc and never will be. he is baked into their DNA.

Blanc isn’t the only voice actor who deserves praise—June Foray, Arthur Q. Bryan, Stan Freberg, Billy Bletcher, Sara Berner, Berneice Hansell, Kent Rogers, Bea Benaderet, Robert C. Bruce… the list goes on, and a lot of these voice actors do often what Blanc COULDN’T do! Blanc was insanely talented but just as easily recognizable—sometimes to subvert the audience most effectively depending on the context you need to use one of the “lesser known” guys to hit that range and AUTHENTICITY that Blanc maybe can’t hit because even a man of 1,000 voices has his limits.

and, as with everything, the success of the series is a vast amalgamation of aspects and a domino reaction that relies all on each other. i do absolutely believe the series wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did without Blanc, though. he WAS those characters. be brought a nuance to them that is genuinely irreplaceable—there’s a reason nobody else tried to voice the characters until he died

one of my biggest critiques of modern LT media is that i don’t feel they write the characters with Blanc’s cadence in mind. this can get tricky because his deliveries vary depending on the voice director, but i feel a lot of issues that are in modern adaptations could be smoothed out by asking “can i hear this line authentically and clearly in Mel Blanc’s voice?” before moving forward. if not, rewrite it, play it back in your head, and go from there. i do this constantly when i draw or have to write about the characters myself to a bit of an obsessive degree, but it’s efficient!

tying this back to the new batch of LTC shorts that dropped today (if you don’t want spoilers then skip ahead!), the Porky and Sylvester short really surprised me greatly because it’s very clear Porky was written with Blanc’s dialogue in mind and that’s not always the case. LTC is overabundant in its dialogue and not always for the better, and i think a part of what makes it seem even more talk-y is the writing itself depending on the context.

i watched these shorts this morning with captions on/no sound because i initially didn’t have an opportunity to play sound, and i found myself almost enjoying the short MORE without sound because the Blanc-isms in the writing were much more present. whether it’s something as menial as reusing a general exclamation Blanc has also used for the character like “oh fiddlesticks” or something more specific such as borrowing the same sentence syntax (much of the Porky/Sylvester shorts have Porky saying “you [cleverly patronizing and indignant insult] you” to Sylvester which they did in this one and that made me happy.

voice direction is another story, and for all of Bob Bergen’s talent his deliveries didn’t always sound 100% to Blanc’s intonation (but that’s a given, again asserting my point that Blanc is intertwined to these characters and they aren’t the same without him), there were a lot of quirks of Bergen’s—again, only natural—in his deliveries that make a bit of a disconnect between the Blanc inspired writing and the deliveries. but as a whole he did a GREAT job and is one of my favorite performances yet, LTC goes heavy on Porky yelling and screaming so it’s nice to hear some subtlety. writing with Blanc’s intonation in mind, even if it couldn’t entirely be replicated in delivery (which i don’t at all expect) proved to be very beneficial and again speaks to Blanc’s talent and importance to the characters. he is absolutely pivotal to the success of the series and the series/characters has and never will be the same without him.

[fibula-rasa]

12 Christmas Films of a Century Past

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to watch somewhere around 50 Christmas and Christmas-adjacent silent films from before 1920 to put together a playlist for you all. So, I hope you enjoy!

I chose these twelve as a representative selection. My general criteria were:

Christmas should be central to the story

The plot should be novel to a modern viewer or something a modern viewer would be surprised to see so early on film

The list on the whole should have a variety of settings and narrative structures

Here’s a direct link to the YouTube playlist if you want to watch them all in one go. (They are all shorter than feature length!)

Two quick presentation notes: 1. Some of the videos have music and some don’t, so you may want to check your volume level. 2. The intertitles for some of these films are not in English, so be sure you have captions turned on for English translations.

See the whole list BELOW THE JUMP!

1. Santa Claus (1898) (UK)

Directed by George Albert Smith

Short and sweet, this film sees children put to bed by their nanny on Christmas Eve and Santa Claus coming down the chimbley to fill their dutifully hung stockings. Director G.A. Smith used his own patented technique of double exposure to show Santa’s arrival without cutting away from the children’s room. Santa Claus might not pack the punch of a Méliès trick film, but it’s a fun novelty and is purportedly the first appearance of Santa Claus on film.

2. The Little Match Seller (1902) (UK)

Directed by James Williamson

This one’s quick but effective adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tragedy featuring impressively well-coordinated superimpositions.

3. The Christmas Angel (1904) (FR)

Directed by George Méliès for Star Film Company

The Christmas Angel follows an impoverished girl driven into the city to beg on a snowy winter night. First she’s chased away from a church by more seasoned beggars; then she’s thrown out of a poultry seller and harassed by police. On the verge of falling asleep in the snow, a rag-and-bone man rouses her and offers her help. Later, the girl passes out beside a road but is luckily spotted by a wealthy couple on a car ride. When they learn of her plight, they bring her home along with food and gifts.

Though not as fantastical as some of Méliès’ more famous works, The Christmas Angel is still highly stylized (and stylish) and features special effects that photograph beautifully. It’s also worth noting that the version of the film included here is the American cut. The original French cut, titled Détresse et Charité (Distress and Charity), did not include the sequence with the wealthy couple and instead ends with the girl dying in the snow.

4. The Night Before Christmas (1905) (US)

Directed by Edwin S. Porter for Edison Manufacturing Company

This is the first time the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” was put on film. Loosely following the poem, we see Santa Claus prepare for his yearly trek while a middle-class family prepares for his visit. When Santa heads out, we are treated to an extended panning sequence with a fully painted backdrop for a mini Santa and his reindeer to glide across. When Santa arrives at the family home, he chaotically dumps presents and decorations around their living room and makes a large, decorated tree appear out of thin air. (Across many of the movies I watched to put this post together, this seems to be a favored scenario for the jolly fat man around this time–and it’s delightful.) The family then wakes to find their gifts and the film closes with Santa directly wishing us a Merry Christmas.

5. A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus (1907) (US)

Directed by J. Searle Dawley and Edwin S. Porter for Edison Manufacturing Company

Even at the risk of this list being too Edison heavy, I couldn’t leave this great short out. While walking with his mother, a rich little boy encounters a poor little girl alone in the cold. They take her home to play and warm up. When the boy learns that the girl doesn’t believe in Santa because apparently Santa doesn’t visit poor children, he hatches a scheme. On Christmas Eve, the boy has a stake out near the fireplace and takes Santa hostage, tying him up and holding him at gunpoint. The boy then forces Santa to visit the girl–going so far as shimmying down the chimney himself to let Santa in the front door. When the girl wakes up to a beautifully decorated tree, new toys, and a full stocking, she can finally believe in Santa Claus. While I’m generally not so into stories about supposedly benevolent rich people, I do love the implications this story has on how Santa Claus works and I also find the means with which the boy gets his way hilarious.

6. Il Natale di Cretinetti / Foolshead’s Christmas (1909) (IT)

and Come fu che l’ingordigia rovino il Natale di Cretinetti / How Greediness Spoilt Foolshead’s Christmas (1910)

and Il Natale di Cretinetti (1911)

Directed by Andre Deed for Itala Film

This entry is a three-for, which I hope you’ll excuse, but I couldn’t decide which Cretinetti Christmas to share! Cretinetti, the comedic persona of filmmaker Andre Deed, is an absolute agent of chaos.

In the 1909 film, Cretinetti attempts to bring a tree home for a Christmas party. The destruction escalates wildly, culminating in an entire building falling to pieces.

If you can believe it, the stakes are even higher in the 1910 film, when Cretinetti can’t resist sneaking out of bed on Christmas Eve to snack on the candy decorating the tree. When Santa sees what Cretinetti has done, he chides him and takes him back to his workshop, which is apparently in heaven. Destruction ensues. Cretinetti then proceeds to cause havoc for Saint Peter, annoying god so much that he calls the devil to come get Cretinetti. Cretinetti is then chased to hell where demons try to cook him alive. Thankfully, spoiler alert, it was all a bad dream and he wakes up on Christmas morning with a terrible stomach ache.

The 1911 film returns to localized chaos. Cretinetti has a run-in with a mail carrier and his Christmas packages get mixed up with one of the carrier’s parcels. The parcel contains three bottles of ether which then begin to emit gasses in the middle of the family Christmas party.

I wasn’t familiar with Cretinetti before reviewing films for this list, but I’m definitely going to seek out more of Deed’s movies. Each of these films had well-executed chaotic slapstick; over-the-top in all the right ways.

7. Making Christmas Crackers (1910) (UK)

Produced by Cricks & Martin Films for Clarke, Nickolls, & Coombs Confectionery

To start, if you’re not sure what a Christmas cracker is, it’s a colorfully decorated paper tube that makes a cracking noise as you pull it open. Inside the tube is a paper hat, a joke, and/or a small toy. It’s a traditional part of UK Christmas celebrations.

This short starts as a documentary of the workers at Clarke, Nickolls, & Coombs constructing the crackers. It’s a fun thought that as early as 1910, people were interested in watching how mass-produced consumer goods were made. It’s also fun to see these skilled workers ply their trade so deftly (even though I’m sure wages and working conditions were less than ideal). The film ends with a family celebrating around a Christmas tree topped with a functional giant cracker.

8. A Christmas Carol (1910) (US)

Directed by J. Searle Dawley for Edison Films Manufacturing Company

There are so so so many film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol made before 1920 that it was hard to choose which one to include on this list. In the end I chose this 1910 version for its economy of storytelling, fluid use of special effects, and for Marc McDermott’s great performance as Scrooge.

9. Broncho Billy’s Christmas Dinner (1911) (US)

Directed by Gilbert M. Anderson (Broncho Billy) for The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

Gilbert M. Anderson was an incredibly prolific and popular filmmaker and star of early American film, particularly in his role as Broncho Billy. As was typical for Anderson, he’s pulling triple duty on Broncho Billy’s Christmas Dinner as the star, director, and producer. The film features a simple and heartwarming story.

On Christmas, Billy comes across a young woman in peril as her horses got startled and are now pulling her cart along wildly. Billy manages to wrangle the horses and in gratitude she invites him to Christmas dinner at her parents’ home. Unfortunately, her father happens to be the sheriff. But, all is well, as it turns out that Broncho Billy’s been given a pardon and the sheriff welcomes him to the table gladly.

The enduring appeal of outlaws or criminals getting into the Christmas spirit is fascinating to me and it’s cool to see such an early instance of the story!

10. Le Noel de la princesse / The Little Princess’s XMas Gift (1911) (FR)

Produced by Société Générale des Cinématographes Éclipse

In all honesty, this is the least Christmassy of all the films I included here, but its style and novelty stood out. The sets, costuming, and production design are lush. It might also be one of the weirdest Christmas stories I’ve even encountered.

After Lord Othberg passes away, the conniving Otto plans to assassinate the baby prince in order to inherit the lordship himself. He poisons the baby, but the princess prays for her baby brother to come back to life as her Christmas gift. An angel appears to her and they summon Jesus, who resurrects her baby brother. Of course, they then place the revivified baby in the castle’s nativity scene, to the joy of all but Otto.

11. Ida’s Christmas (1912) (US)

Directed by Van Dyke Brooke for Vitagraph Company of America

With a more classic Christmassy story, Ida’s Christmas tells us of a family who are facing hard times. Ida (played by a very small Dolores Costello) has her eyes on a pricey doll. Meanwhile, her mother seeks out employment with a wealthy family. The matriarch of the wealthy family overhears Ida’s wish and decides to buy the doll for her as a surprise. Later, Ida is distraught to find that the doll has been purchased but comes across a wallet that someone has dropped. She considers taking the money, but chases down the owner instead. The old man gives her some reward money for returning the wallet. Ida rushes to see if she can buy the doll, but has second thoughts when she thinks about how much her family could use the money. She arrives home with the money just in time for a Santa-esque old man to show up bearing packages and an assurance that the wealthy family has work for her father. The film ends with the family celebrating an unexpectedly Merry Christmas.

It’s a sweet story that hits so many beats of what we now consider traditional Christmas tales.

12. Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa / The Insect’s Christmas (1913) (RU)

Directed by Władysław Starewicz for Khanzhonkov

Fair warning, if you thought The Princess’s XMas Gift was odd, you might need to ready yourself for this one. Stop-motion virtuoso Władysław Starewicz (Ladislas Starevich) spins a tale about a tiny ornament of Santa/Ded Moroz coming to life on Christmas and going out into the wild to bring Christmas joy to creatures small and smaller, including a frog and a ladybug. Starewicz’s animation is as impeccable as ever and the short is imaginative and quirky.

[nclkafilms]

The power of stillness

(Review of ‘Sound of Metal’)

*Warning: contains minor spoilers*

“The world does keep moving, and it can be a damn cruel place.  But for me, those moments of stillness, that place, that's the kingdom of God.”

- Joe (Paul Raci)

What is an addiction? That is in many ways one of the central questions asked by ‘Sound of Metal’, the six time Academy Award nominated feature film debut by Darius Marder. On the surface the film seems like a tale as old as time with a protagonist who all of a sudden loses the ability to do what defines him. This storyline is the recipe for a classic tale: the athlete who suffers a career-ending injury, the surgeon who loses his fine motor skills or in the case of ‘Sound of Metal’, a heavy-metal drummer who loses his hearing. But what makes ‘Sound of Metal’ reach above the bar of this recipe - apart from a stunning technical side - is the fact that it is not as much about losing an ability as it is about facing an addiction. It is in this personal discovery for our main character, Ruben, that the film proves itself deserving of its six Oscar nominations.

As described, we follow Ruben, who is the drummer of a heavy metal band in which his girlfriend through four years, Lou, is the lead singer. However, during a tour, he is suddenly faced with a deteriorating ability to hear. Initially showing itself as a tinitus-like sound, which quickly develops into a deep, humming “lack of sound” making it impossible for Ruben to not only play his drums but simply to keep a conversation. As he is presented with the cold facts that the hearing already lost will never return, he is spiralled towards a tumultuous past of drug addiction. As Lou becomes worried for him she helps set up a meeting - through Ruben’s sponsor - with Joe, who leads a support group for addicts with hearing loss as part of a much larger deaf community. Ruben’s stay with the group is equally conflicting and eye-opening as he is forced apart from Lou, faced with the consequences of his hearing loss and presented with new opportunities under the firm but endearing leadership of Joe. 

As Ruben, Riz Ahmed delivers a career-best turn moving himself further up the Hollywood food chain. It is an extremely nuanced and touching performance. One moment he burns through the screen with a powerful and/or frustrated presence only to almost hide himself in the next sequence as he gives space to Ruben’s vulnerability and inability to fully accept his new reality. Ahmed embodies all these feelings close to perfection and it is topped off by an authenticity in his performance and chemistry with the film’s many deaf actors that underlines his dedication to Ruben’s character arc. Ahmed spent a lot of time in the lead-in to the production within the deaf community and it pays off as Ruben’s growing acceptance of and inclusion in said community feels immensely real.

At the centre of the film’s heartfelt portrayal of the deaf community stands Paul Raci, however. He creates one of the most endearing characters of the year as Joe, a Vietnam War veteran  (where he lost his hearing) and former alcoholic, who now hosts the support group for hearing impaired former addicts. Raci brings the role a natural authenticity as he himself is no stranger to the American deaf community as the child of two deaf parents. He clearly uses this to create a fully fleshed character, who you come to both care for and respect. Because, make no mistake, as heart-warming as many of Joe’s scenes are, he is also at the centre of one of the film’s most heart-breaking scenes towards the end, in which he gives a profound and touching message to a desperate Ruben. Raci plays this scene with such heart and presence that Joe’s emotional reaction towards the end of it feels as if it was Raci’s own reaction to the scene. A stunning performance that would and should have earned Raci many more awards had it not been for a certain Daniel Kaluuya.

As Lou, Olivia Cooke is somewhat sidelined half way through the story, and knowing that the Marder brothers did write her story in full detail, I would have loved to see more of it and discover how she dealt with her own addiction(s). Admittedly, I guess that would have been at the cost of the film’s quite tight focus, but the main reason I wanted to see more of her story, is that Cooke manages to create a fascinating character with the limited screen presence she gets. Her scenes with Ahmed as their characters try to realise the extent of Ruben’s hearing loss both individually and as a couple are simply heartbreaking. Most of the film’s remaining supporting cast were found in the deaf community and it - once again - helps heightening the film’s anchor in reality. To highlight a few, Lauren Ridloff brings charm to a teacher in the deaf community school, Chelsea Lee brings life and heart to one of Ruben’s new-found friends and Jeremy Stone, who also worked as Ahmed’s personal ASL teacher and Marder’s creative assistent on the film, features in a specifically memorable scene as an - surprise - ASL teacher. 

This desire to include the deaf community as not only a focus point of the film, but as an active part of the production is a clever and brilliant move by director, Darius Marder. Not unlike the nomads in Nomadland, it creates a certain sense of some of it being close to documentary, although ‘Sound of Metal’ is much clearer in being a work of fiction. It is obvious that the story is deeply personal to the Marder brothers who co-wrote the script on from an original story by Derek Cianfrance (‘Blue Valentine’, ‘Place Beyond the Pines’) with the film being dedicated to their grandmother who went deaf herself. One of many personal touches is the choice to open caption the film, which - of course - can be seen as a statement to make more films accessible for the deaf community, but it also heightens the film’s creative vision to put the viewer in the shoes - or rather ears - of Ruben.

The main reason why this works, however, is the film’s absolute strongest asset: the daring creative choice to create a (with Marder’s own words) Point of Hearing (PoH) experience. Years of work has been put into the film’s work with its sound and how it connects with its imagery. In many situations the way they try to portray the sensation of deafness could have felt gimmicky and, thus, fallen flat. It doesn’t, however. From the first scene in which we experience Ruben’s auditory sensations, I bought it all the way and it truly heightened the film experience. An experience I would love to have in a cinema. It works thanks to the immaculate work by the Marder brothers in their script, the intimate cinematography by Daniël Bouquet and most of all the collaboration between Danish editor Mikkel E.G. Nielsen and the sound department under the leadership of supervising sound editor Nicolas Becker. The way they first create some of the best concert footage of recent years (featuring only live performances by Ahmed and Cooke) and then one of the best realised depictions of a sensation so many of us never have had or will have is awe-inspiring.  

Ultimately, ‘Sound of Metal’ is just as much a film about facing your past and your ideas for the future as it is about a deaf drummer learning to live his new life. As such it features some the same thematic questions as other films of the year (‘Soul’ and ‘Another Round’ to name just two): what drives and what should drive your life. What is purpose, what is a meaningful life? As the quote in the beginning of this review hints at, life has a cruel tendency to roll on no matter where you are in your life. For Ruben, his journey reveals that while distancing himself from his drug addiction he might just have moved on to a new addiction: an addiction to sound and the world that sound opened up for him. The world of Lou, the world of love, the world of purpose. In a telling scene after Ruben has made a life-changing decision, a clearly hurt Joe calmly says to Ruben that he sounds like an addict. And he does. Ahmed delivers this scene with such necessity, such desperation and inconstancy that we feel his addiction to sound, to hearing. The following and final 30 minutes of the film end up being both hurtful and hauntingly beautiful as Ruben comes to terms with his addiction in a realistic and satisfying way. The final scene is up there with the best of the year; you can literally hear it and feel. The power of stillness. 

4,5/5

[leighlim]

Choices and consequences.

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(Hopefully by this point you’ve finished all 111 minutes of 'Whisper of the Heart’, the kind of person who isn’t bothered by spoilers, or are just deciding if you still want to keep watching.)

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I would say that 2002′s ‘The Cat Returns’ wouldn’t be so much as a fit for me. This is what I expected when I rewatched ‘ Whisper of the Heart’ (which was released 7 years earlier).

Then I realised one way to appreciate the former: by assuming that Shizuku actually wrote ‘The Cat Returns‘. We are merely thrown in the fantasy world she penned.

If it is 7 years later, does that mean they are married? I’m going to assume that Seiji would have more restraint than that. I’m picturing Shizuku reading her story (of course the book is longer than the film ---- so....whatever the runtime is...would be the author event reading highlights from their recent book).

Alternative? Seiji is in Cremona reading Shizuku’s story for the first time.

PS: Though I’m overjoyed that Netflix has the bulk of the Studio Ghibli collection available...I’m not so crazy about the captions not matching the audio. One theory I had was that they just used the English captions based on the Japanese audio.

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HIGHLIGHT:

(1:27:02 ---- transcribed based on audio...not captions. So if you think there should be a correction. Let me know!)

INT. TSUKISHIMA APARTMENT (DINING ROOM/KITCHEN) - NIGHT

SHIZUKU sits hunched across her dad, awaiting her fate.

SEIYA Honey, could you come in here? I'm having a talk with Shizuku.

ASAKO (OS) Sure. Just a second.

ASAKO take the seat beside her husband.

SEIYA All right, Shizuku. You have something that you do...that you think is more important than studying?

The child nods.

SEIYA Will you tell us what it is?

SHIZUKU tenses. Her eyes are still fixed on a spot on the dinner table.

SHIZUKU When I can tell you, I will.

ASAKO Shizuku, can't you do whatever it is once your exams are over?

She meets her mother's eyes.

SHIZUKU I have to do it now. I only have three weeks until he...

She turns to her father.

SHIZUKU It's that...I promised myself I would reach a certain goal...

She bows her head.

SHIZUKU ...or I'm not good enough.

ASAKO Good enough for what? Why do you need to prove yourself?

No reaction from SHIZUKU.

ASAKO We can't help you unless you tell us what's going on.

SEIYA taps his box of cigarettes and reaches for one.

ASAKO What could you be doing that you couldn't even tell your mother and father about?

SEIYA lights up a cigarette. ASAKO notices.

ASAKO Honey, please.

SEIYA Oh, Sorry!

He takes one last drag, put his hand close to his mouth to guide the smoke towards the other direction, and puts it out on the ash tray in front of him.

A heavy silence sits.

SEIYA You work so hard in whatever you're doing, I know it's important to you. And I truely respect that.

He turns to his wife.

SEIYA Honey, why don't we let Shizuku do whatever she thinks is best?

ASAKO turns to her husband.

SEIYA Not everyone needs to follow the same path.

SHIZUKU looks up. Eyes round with a combination of wonder and surprise. Better be not argue when you're winning!

ASAKO Hmmmm. Well I have to admit

SEIYA leans forward.

SEIYA Okay, Shizuku. Go ahead and do whatever your heart tells you. But its never easy when you do things differently than everyone else. If things don't go well, you only have yourself to blame.

SHIZUKU nods.

ASAKO [captions read: "And join us at mealtimes, all right?"]

SEIYA That's right. We want to see you once in a while.

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My verdict of the film: 7/10

Link to the timestamp commentary: None (Unfortunately...my first viewing of the film was before I started doing them) :(

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 43

Spoilers, obv.

Issue 44 comes out tomorrow at the time of writing. As I’m on the west coast of the USA, it will be just after midnight GMT by the time they’re online. So abstractly, this is the first time ever which we come out when the next issue is out. Abstractly. I’d say the day counts as where I am, and doesn’t Comixology come out a little later? We’ll see.

It’s also been so long that I almost wrote notes for issue 44. This is a weird goodbye, this period.

Anyway – Issue 43, wherein we finish explaining all the big stuff we’re going to explain.

I mean, there’s more in issue 44 and 45, but it’s all details, with the denouncement really being based around the characters’ response to this issue. They know the truth. Now what are they going to do about it?

That was the main note I gave in the script to the team – if there’s any really big questions you are confused about, now is the time to say, as this is the best clarification it’ll get. As such, we worked on it a lot to nail what we wanted to say – and what we didn’t. Sometimes this meant actually simplifying a little to avoid repeating huge amounts of stuff and leaving people even more confused. More often it involves sliding in a little nod to something someone would be thinking about.

It’s an interesting issue, I think. It’s where we show a lot of our hand.

It also involved a lot of crunching.

Jamie/Matt Cover

Cassandra finally gets her head cover. Normally a cover relates to a key beat, which isn’t true here – except in the widest possible sense that it’s where Cassandra gets to say I Told You So to everyone, including herself.

Jason Latour Cover One of the fun things about commissioning these covers is getting to see a creator’s process close up. Jason’s process on this was amazingly never-ending – he was always tweaking, and trying things and moving in a different direction. Where he ended was stunning – very him, and very WicDiv too. I remember us and the Jasons semi-jokingly about swapping books for an issue – they do WicDiv for an issue and we do Southern Bastards. This cover absolutely makes me wonder how amazing that hypothetical issue would have looked.

(Our story would have been about a Taylor-Swift-esque-singer/songwriter-before-she-got-big in the town. And probably murder, as it’s Southern Bastards, right?)

IFC

That “Life goes on” still creeps me out.

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Opening vignette that lets us establish what Minerva’s plan is now, as well as re-establish Beth and her crew, and actually let us define their current position, and even give their codenames, which have existed in the Bible document since issue 1, I believe.

(Oddly, calling people “Boss” is one of my verbal ticks. It seemed fun to give it to Beth here.)

As such, Minerva immediately HiveMinding them when they’ve just stated their agency is plain harsh. Jamie’s large panel on page 2 sells it incredibly well – the statues, Minerva walking away from us – it’s all so casual.

It’s also the running theme of the issue – what Mini has been doing all these years. This is just a particularly direct example of it.

Three panels on second page to try and stress the seriousness of what this is (Space = Meaning, remember). Of course, as the issue shows, this isn’t the real part of the issue – but you have to at least believe this is a real gambit. And it is – I mean, it’d be awful if Mini pulled it off. But in people’s guts they’d realise this isn’t how WicDiv goes, right?

Minor glorious Matt Wilson note – the crackle of green in panel 3 is wonderful. Give that guy another Eisner. He deserves a hat trick.

3

Show time in the showbiz and the “time to show you everything” sense.

4

Establishing the stakes and situation for the heroes. There’s a draft of the issue I wrote which is a couple more pages long, which would have pulled this out a little more. In the end, we decided it worked better shorter – I’ll tell you why when I get there, and we could use the space elsewhere.

Key thing is showing some response to Cam’s actions at the end of last issue – it’s important to know that they haven’t just walked away, right?

In the first panel, the “identify who is speaking” is a tricky one. The “say the character’s name” is a little brutal move, and I avoid it. We’re not that book. Dio is easy – and Lucifer, bless her, is immediately identifiable by her idiom. Her line also reminds people of what she’s like, which sets up the last page.

Laura’s captions here again, doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

It says so much about this issue that the last two panels are only a half page total. These are big rock and roll images, presented in a tiny space. Jamie’s composition makes it land really well, selling the drama.

Page 5

It says even more that we did all this in a page.

Tara’s move in the original version was basically a page, but looking at it structurally it actually left it even more underwhelmed – a fight kicked off, and then heroes were losing, and then Tara does this cool thing, and they’re winning, before immediately the hive mind kicks in and they’re losing again. This does not sell the joy of Giant Woman.

This works better, not least for sheer audaciousness. I used to have a thing about tableau based storytelling – the idea that you can create a large image which people can explore and juxtapose it with a few captions to create a larger conceptual space. This is very much that.

“People treating people like meat” reminds me for the second time when re-reading this issue of the line from Pratchett: “Sin is treating people like things.” The first time was the puppets bit. I’d agree with Pratchett, clearly.

In the original draft of the script I had a line “You want more? Go re-read Rising Action” which is a bit too cute, so I lost it. It’s not really the sort of thing WicDiv does, anyway.

Yes, Giant Woman is a Steven Universe nod. Putting aside that image of Giant Tara kicking ass which has been in my head forever, there’s so much to love in the image – to pick a small part, how about the Norns blasting in triplicate? We rarely see them act like this.

You can also trace via the colouring which of Beth’s crew have duplicated which God’s powers.

Page 6

There’s been a lot about people copying people’s powers in WicDiv, and trying to find out what someone can and can’t do, and then using it against them. This switches it up. The thing about being creative instead of a straight plagiarist that creative people make up new shit. That’s kind of the point of them.

Once more, Matt showing the dance of the colouring between the Woden green (haunting the series like a ghost now) and the joy of Dio is (er) a joy.

Page 7

Another Matt moment – we step out of the club, and we drop to greys, before building the energy up.

I’m not quite sure how long Robin has wanted to punch Beth for. Or how long I planned to do it, even. I can imagine Robin thinking of this a lot though – she’s the one who takes a long time to snap.

There’s a dual structure here too – there’s two main compare-and-contrast bands in WicDiv. Beth’s and Cass’…

Page 8

And this is a very different kind of band break up.

The problem here is different – I want to give much more space. First draft it seemed that they got talked into it really easily. But it’s all the space we had so what to do? Once more, captions. Silent panel with captions can be timeless, and gives room for our minds to populate it. It’s been so long I can no longer remember if the fact the two almost-silent characters are shouting, but we’re not allowed to hear, because it’s private seems relevant.

Page 9-10

Hard cut made easier with the caption. Captions are great. Trust captions.

The shot of Mini at the edge, just looking back with space either side is great. Just the isolation of it.

The “try to sing” on the page turn seems a meaningful reveal. Can she?

No she can’t. This is another very old beat in the founding documents – it’s hinted at on page 9. Mini says that she gave it up – and she said the same in issue 9. I’m not sure I believe her. When planning it I realised that some people would take it as a comment on Work for hire – don’t get stuck keeping a story alive forever, as it will eventually atrophy your talent. It wasn’t planned, but I’d be fine with it as a reading. When Chrissy read it, she took it as “Don’t get stuck in art management.” which works too. Readings are fun.

Anyway – a performance. That the big thing in the issue is a performance rather than a fight is very much WicDiv turning towards its core concept as we head towards the final straight. Of course we’d do this.

Yeah, Matt and Jamie, killing it on the final panel of the second page – the Persephone-esque tentacles made something else, because she is something else now. The numinous expression of Minerva. Amazing.

Page 11

The borders in this sequence harking back to the Persephone performance in issue 18.

I may actually try to tweak this sequence in the trade and have a different execution of “When I was 14” and all the rest, to work a little more like a LOC CAP rather than a speech. We couldn’t make it work given the time before deadline. That’s the odd thing about our extended issues – just because it’s taking longer doesn’t mean we have more time to do tasks, right? Some things are only possible when the whole thing is together. It works, I think, but part of me wants to push it harder.

Anyway – these two. I loved writing them though. I said it back in the other flashbacks, but how the two of them dance is a delight. Hell, doing them across a lifetime is a delight.

Okay – I’m going to give you a name for Ananke’s sister. It’s the one I used in my notes. It’s no more her name than “Ananke” is really Ananke’s.

It’s Demeter. Ask me about it another time.

Page 12

The “god” in panel 2 is a Proto Norn.

This primal gathering brings to mind issue 9 as well.

Demeter’s expression in the penultimate panel? Love it.

Page 13

The captions are Laura’s style, but changed colouring. That Laura is helping Minerva performs means it comes across in her voice, was our thinking.

Captions are once more useful though – trying to get something that is evocative, but also clear was the battle.

(The Colours here!)

She-in-Thirds is a name-behind-the-name. The Maiden/Mother/Child archetype – the one which Ananke subverted in a few pages time.

Page 14

I find myself thinking whether the return to a close-to-eight panel for much of this is meaningful. This is kind of Bronze Age Phonogram.

Reading this I wish I had capitalised The Rebel – it’s another archetype. Proto-Lucifer. I’ll tweak for the trade.

I forget when the metaphor for a song for the “godhood” in WicDiv came to me, but it feels like the right one. It’s how songs often feel to me.

Page 15

If you go back to issue 34, you’ll see some of the details of this plan are different to the plan that Ananke has put into play there. In fact, the deal that she strikes in issue 34 is akin to what she wants here. It’s mainly for clarity – the reader needs to be reminded of what’s actually going on, as they won’t necessarily remember the details from way back then. I figure this is the plan she wanted to do, then found something else when Demeter wasn’t into it, before swooping around to something closer.

Page 16

“After all my friends were dead” gives a little flex in the timeline.

I do like Ananke’s hat.

“The Great River” being the Nile, and the pantheon we saw back in issue 36.

In terms of lists of things in this issue I was looking forward to write, the first meeting between Ananke and Minerva was certainly one of them. I tried to get something of the oddness here. Jamie and Matt manage to get the mood of issue 34 again too – I really do like this bronze-age western vibe. There’s a project I keep on thinking about doing, and it has some of that too it. Hmm.

Yes, page width panel of character delivering a line remains a key WicDiv tool. There’s so much I love here – the touch from Ananke, whose PoV we’re in. Minerva speaking to herself, speaking to us, etc.

That the knife is just sentimental is a minor beat I’m very fond of.

Page 17

Once more, Captions, as Laura makes sure we all Get It.

One of the debates in WicDiv fandom has always been whether the gods are picked by Ananke (i.e. Anyone could be a god) or whether they’re actually people with a gifts. Of course, the answer is that it’s both.

The thing I least like about WicDiv’s mythology is that the 12 people are people with this gift, for obvious “Ugh Chosen Ones” reasons. There’s some things that mitigate that a little, I hope, and not least that it’s clearly transferable to wherever you are in life. The core of it is “if you find yourself with a gift, be careful with it and use it responsibly.” It’s a book about the power, privilege, dangers and seductions of being an artist and all that. It’s only when writing that sentence do I realise how tired I am. This has been a busy week. Excuse me if the writing is looser than usual.

Anyway, I’m probably over-worrying. If X-men is fine, we probably are too.

So – end of the page is a download of some of the explanations of stuff folk will inevitably be going “Wait – what?”

And then Tara steps up.

When you’re writing a large group scene, with limited space, there’s choices you make of who speaks and who doesn’t. Who’s going to have the strongest counter-argument to something? Who’s going to have the biggest reaction? Them. They’re the one who carries the scene.

Which is Tara. Perhaps you could make an argument for Baal, but Baal is reeling through all these issues – plus if you choose one or the other, you tie-breaker would be who hasn’t had spotlight.

Page 18-21

And the counter is equally inevitably Cassandra (who is also in the process of beating herself up). Being Cass, she puts it harshly. Clearly, this is going to get a response from Tara.. and Cass opens up herself and makes herself vulnerable. Which is a hell of a thing for her, right?

I’ll stop this – I’m just walking through the emotional flow, but I love these two women here.

Which segues into the last formalist style thing of the issue. Once again, we have a space = meaning problem. This is clearly the most important sequence of the issue, but we have so few pages. We turn to one of the core WicDiv moves of black panels in a six panel grid, and loading them up with text. Suddenly we have a sense of ritual, a lot of dialogue produced in a stylistic way and most of all a whole extra page (hence an extra page of weight).

It’s also a complete showcase for Matt. The last godly panel of them is them at their most Godly, this final little iconic burst. A confession, and it’s gone.

I cried when I got the colours for this. I forget which one it was – there’s just some wonderful Jamie expressions in there as well.

Choosing the confessions was definitely tricky. We have space, but too much is too much. Some of them I kept simple, and others needed a little space to explain. The ordering was also one of those processes where you feel out the character, and think how they’d speak. Dio would clearly jump in, then Inanna, then Mimir trying to just piece it together, and all leading to Baal.

I did try and write a Baal caption, but any words were just too small.

And then, of course…

Page 22

You’ve probably seen me talking about year 4 as Solving The Equation. Yes, we knew lots of the key things, but there’s lots of elements of the execution were worked, and rethought and discovered. I may be able to talk a little more about this in the last issue’s notes.

This was a big one. I was chewing over the synopsis and thinking… a battle against Ananke/Minerva is a little underwhelming after everything, right? At this point in the story, Minerva is a busted flush. In reality, Laura (and Demeter) won the intellectual battle against Minerva in Mothering Invention. She’s already beat her. It nagged at me. There was something else.

Then there was the other thing – I knew that Lucifer was going to get her body back, but I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d do when she had it.

The two came together: of course, the final confrontation isn’t between Laura and Minerva. It’s with Lucifer, the person who brought Laura into the world, the person who brought us all into the world. The girl who wanted to be on stage, no matter the cost. That’s the final battle.

And best of all, I had no idea what would happen.

Well – not quite, but suddenly a whole lot of things was up in the air.

Page 23

Song reference, obv. Always connected to something in my head in my early career. If I do writer notes for the playlist, I may actually tell you.

Oh – some people wondered whether all the skulls meant everyone was dead. No – it’s just there’s no god in the slot. I’m not that kind of shithead.

Anyway – issue is out tomorrow. Or maybe today, depending on where you are. It ends the story, with 45 being an epilogue with a somewhat different tone. Clearly, it’s a huge issue, so be a little careful with your tweeting. The last cover is especially a big spoiler.

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Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of September 4th, 2019

Best of this Week: House of X #4 - Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles

No More.

Mutants have been made to suffer time after time after time because humans fear change and their inevitable obsolescence. Two of the greatest mutant extinction events have been the result of either human fear or absolute ignorance. In New X-Men (2001) we saw the utter destruction of Genosha by Bolivar Trask’s Sentinels, a massacre that resulted in the deaths of sixteen million mutants over the course of a single day. This left only a little under one million mutants left until House of M (2005) after which Wanda Maximoff decimated the mutant population, leaving only one hundred and ninety-eight left.

Thanks to the work of Moira MacTaggert and Charles Xavier with Krakoa, the mutant population is returning to normal levels and is looking to absolutely eclipse humanity in a short time span. Of course, humanity doesn’t take this too well, causing the Orchis Organization to activate itself, so it’s up to Cyclops and his band of Mutants to cast the enormous Mother Mold (a sentient machine that would create Master Molds to create Sentinels) into the blasted sun.

This issue was nothing short of heartbreaking.

Jonathan Hickman is doing something amazing with this book by showing just how strong the need for preservation is between both sides. In the last issue, one of the security team members for the Orchis station blew himself up in an effort to preserve a future where humans would be the dominant species. He wasn’t thinking about himself or his future with his wife, Dr. Gregor, the head of the station. He only wanted to ensure that The X-Men couldn’t stop the Mother Mold from being activated.

Scott’s team, now only consisting of Marvel Girl, Monet, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Mystique soldier on after Husk and Archangel are killed in the explosion. Nothing was going to stop them from completing the mission and they absolutely did, but not without each of them being killed in the process. I don’t feel the need to place a spoiler tag here because I have no doubt that either, some of the first issue of House of X takes place in the future and that they will all be reborn or that somehow they will be brought back to life as they will appear in other upcoming X-Series. 

Pepe Larraz absolutely killed this issue with his art alongside Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles. Every single page has the feeling of large scale epicness to them from the vast emptiness of Krakoa’s Observation room to the different locales of the Mother Mold Base. When Mother mold itself floats into the Sun, quoting it’s own version of the Prometheus myth, it looks enormous at first and slowly descends into the much larger and grander sun. Gracia’s colors are absolutely beautiful as almost everything is bathed in the beautiful glow of the sun. Monet’s red skin shines even brighter as the cuts her way through Orchis security, Nightcrawler and Wolverine’s burning bodies create the perfect ash contrasted by the glowing blue eyes of Mother Mold as Wolverine cuts away the last anchor keeping it on the station and Karimas shining silver arms stand above Cyclops, coated in purple nanobot defeat, as the last thing we see from his visor’s reflection is Dr. Gregor aiming her gun in his face. 

Gracia’s colors are vibrant and help to make Larraz’s lines even more beautiful. They make excellent use of cool blue tones for the few scenes that take place in Krakoa, establishing the still peaceful nature of that location. The space station, however, is awash in heavy yellows and oranges that only set the tone for the book and its high tension, but also works to show us just how dire everything is for either side. It’s high pressure and high stakes. Gracia did a great job of giving things the proper amount of emotional weight through color where Larraz did through excellent facial expression and action.

Normally the brightness of the sun is supposed to represent a better future, but it’s hard to tell who this brighter future is for. The X-Men, ultimately, do win in this war for survival, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory. Karima, who we’ve seen standing beside Nimrod in the future, and Dr. Gregor stand in victory for this battle. Granted, we now that the future where Nimrod reigns has been nullified after Moira’s 10th death, it’s hard not to be afraid by Mother Mold’s ending proclamation and Gregor’s newfound bitter resolve.

Charles and the rest of Mutantkind can rest easy, but can they also live with the cost of what they’ve done if our predictions just so happen to be false? The purpose of Krakoa was to ensure that there would be no more needless mutant death, but in the wake of human fear, more have died. This isn’t like any other time where mutants have been killed and brought back to life years later. For some reason - it just feels heavier. Charles’ tear at the end, with Cowles amazing placement of a “No more” caption feels like a resolution. Charles Xavier is having no more death, not for any of his people and it is powerful.

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

House of X continues to be one of my most anticipated releases as the weeks go by. This story of death and rebirth keeps achieving new heights of amazing storytelling and even better art. Jonathan Hickman was the perfect choice to breathe new life into the X-Franchise as I don’t have any semblance of a clue what will be in store for the future of the X-Men.

What do the end pages of this issue mean? What will be the big fallout from the revelation of Powers of X #3? Will Pepe Larraz continue to be godlike in his presentation? We’ll find out next week in Powers of X #4.

Sometimes you just have to sit back and smell the roses. 

Runner Up: Fantastic Four #14 (Legacy #659) - Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Jesus Aburtov and Joe Caramagna

Growing up, I actually thought the Fantastic Four were pretty lame. They weren’t exactly high on my radar because they were a family of explorers, scientists and just general nerds. I got seriously into comics around the time their last book hit the shelves prior to all of the Disney/Fox nonsense and that really awful movie which soured me on them even more. Things changed when I began to read Secret War (2015) and realized that there was so much more that I was missing.

I scoured my stores for back issue and trade paperbacks of everything written by Jonathan Hickman, Mark Millar and Reginald Hudlin before seeking out the older stories by George Perez, John Byrne and Roy Thomas. I learned to love their love of science, adventure and family oriented stories, so when they finally made their Marvel return, I was excited and so far they’ve done nothing but impress. This particular issue is one of the best examples of how even just dialogue, dynamics and expressions can build a great foundation for a simple yet amazing story. 

The Fantastic Four have been everywhere. Other dimensions,hellscapes, universes and planets, but there's still one mission that they've never completed: their original flight to the stars. After a new gallery opens showcasing the original shuttle that they traveled on in all of its destroyed glory, Reed reminisces of that time with happiness. Ben listens to one of the original black box recordings as they were first getting hit by Cosmic Rays and he's overwhelmed with negative feelings. Two original Pilots for the space flight thank Johnny and Sue for taking their place, saying that they could have become monsters like Ben and Johnny becomes enraged with Sue having to calm him down.

These moments remind us of who these wonderful characters are and always have been. Reed is a scientific mind that's always looking to achieve more and better himself and his inventions. Ben still lives with the inner scars of his transformation despite being one of the most respected heroes in all of the Marvel Universe. Johnny is a hothead and Sue, his sister, has always been there to calm him down. The First Family have been there for each other forever, they know each other better than anyone else does. They care about each other.

Paco Medina captures each of their emotions in a Fantastic way with excellent facial expressions and body language accentuated by Jesus Aburtov's stellar colors. 

Reed stands tall as he marvels at the old shuttle with his kids, his face is full of pride and joy while they look mildly unimpressed. Later while he's working on specs for a new shuttle, we can see how focused he is, how determined. His fantastic beard shows how he's aged from his previous clean shaven self, but he's even more refined.

Ben remembers the original flight with trepidation and trembles as he remember his words when he was first becoming a rock monster. He stomps around in his normal grumpiness, but by the end, knowing that Reed, Sue and Johnny know and care about him so much, he smiles and eagerly helps them on their next journey. 

Johnny, being the hothead he is, does in fact show his anger as his eyes begin to turn orange after Ben is insulted, but we get an amazing flashback to when he was just a young adult in the shuttle program and the rigorous training that he was put through by Ben. This showcases just how much Johnny wanted to go to the stars and shows us how long he's been the ultra determined man that we know and love. Medina draws him going through the training with ease, only having space on his mind and the want to prove Ben and the other pilots wrong, becoming the youngest ever back up pilot in that universe.

Sue, being the ever loving sister, is the calm one as she gets Johnny to back off. She's radiant as a character and Medina portrays as her the linchpin of the family. She's the graceful one, drawn as serious as Reed, but with her normal beauty as well. She shows just how in love she is with her husband as he works on the specs and lays her head on his shoulder, smiling like she does in the flashback.

Nothing super action-y happens in this issue, in fact, one of the best moments is Johnny and Reed having a bonding moment working on the second shuttle. Both comment on how neither is using their powers to make the work easier and they share a laugh together. It's just a nice, warm moment between brothers-in-law doing something that they haven't been able to in years. It was at this time where I just fell in love all over again.

The Fantastic Four are more than just space adventures, aliens and Doctor Doom plots. They are a family in comics unlike any other. Where most teams are just friends that might hang out every once in a while, the FF are a family with a rich history and ever growing numbers with Franklin, Valeria and now Alicia Masters marrying Ben. The love is palpable and I wish I'd understood this for so many years prior. I can't wait for where this next adventure takes them, but I'm all for it.

[ayellowbirds]

Keshet Rewatches All of Scooby-Doo, Pt. 12: "Scooby Doo and a Mummy, Too"

("Scooby-Doo, Where Are You", Season 1 Episode 12)

AKA "We Forgot One Universal Monster Last Episode"

The episode opens on a view of a university campus, with the usual spooky musical sting in spite of nothing being visibly eerie... until we cut into a building identified “DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY” (sic). Inside, a professor is introducing the gang to the mummified remains of Ankha, an ancient Egyptian ruler who was once “the most feared ruler”—though we’re never given a reason why he was feared. What did he do that was so terrible?

I’ll note that the subtitles spell the name as “Anka”, but the Scooby Doo wiki gives the more standard-looking “Ankha”. As is oddly typical of adults who are not the culprit in a given episode, the Professor is never given a name, though he introduces his colleague as Dr. Najib, who helped bring the mummy over for the university’s replica of Ankha’s tomb.

A middle eastern man with narrow eyes and permanently lowered brow, voiced by Vic Perrin in an almost exact duplicate of his portrayal of Jonny Quest villain Doctor Zin, Najib raises the subject of the curse of Ankha, relating his hope that it did not follow them. I’ll say it right here, because it’s not much of a spoiler when so many flags are triggered right away: Najib is the culprit, and it’s another example of casual racism this season. The thieving, scheming Arab was a popular villain trope of the day, and while Najib isn’t quite as overt as some other variations on the trope, he’s far from a deconstruction or a subversion.

As Najib makes his exit, the gang agree to help the Professor, and Shaggy lays his filthy mitts on an ancient golden medallion the entire cast identify as a coin in spite of a lack of any evidence that it is currency. As Shaggy manhandles priceless ancient artifacts, the Professor explains it’s part of an unsolved mystery, and suggests the gang pick up some sandwiches on his dollar in order to satisfy Shaggy’s appetite.

While they’re gone, the Professor hears a crash, and comes out to find the mummy gone and a mummy-shaped hole in the glass doors. Meanwhile, Shaggy receives an order of three burgers and three sandwiches—liverwurst, à la mode. The chef spoons bright pink ice cream onto three open-face sandwiches, and Shaggy hands him a dollar bill and a half-dollar coin... that is actually the ancient Egyptian coin! 

Shaggy has unconsciously pocketed it, demonstrating kleptomaniac tendencies that are never commented upon. The gang pay properly and Fred suggests they grab the sandwiches and get back to the Professor to return the coin. I’ll note that the food is clearly served on dine-in plates, rather than to-go containers, and when the food is taken from the counter off-screen, it makes a plate-rattling sound. Did they just walk out with burgers and open-faced sandwiches in-hand, sans any kind of container or wrapper?

When the gang return, they find the Professor in his office, where he’s been TURNED TO STONE! “14-karat stone”, Shaggy quips. Velma, bastion of rational, scientific skepticism, observes that only one person could be responsible: the mummy.

The gang look outside and find the busted glass, but Velma notes that it’s broken in rather than out, making it clear this wasn’t an exit. Fred orders the gang to split up and search for the mummy, and Shaggy soon accidentally discovers the bandaged terror hiding in the Janitor’s Closet. Locking him in, Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby flee in terror, instead of doing the reasonable thing and making sure the mummy is properly trapped.

Thus ensues the usual hide-and-chase sequence, although the mummy only groans and shambles slowly rather than running. Of course, there’s still extensive damage done to priceless museum artifacts by the B Team’s attempts to hide. Eventually cornered, the mummy begins to demand, “coin... coin!!” and nods and grunts in the affirmative when Velma suggests he means the old Egyptian one, and not the quarter Shaggy offers him.

When Velma insists they don’t give him what he wants, it falls to Scooby to defend them, and he demands a hefty price of Scooby Snacks.

I believe this is the first time we see a box of Scooby Snacks, which are drawn as being about half the size of previous appearances, and the box simply reads “SCOOBY SNACKS”. It’s also the first implication that “Scooby Snacks” is the name of a product on the market, rather than just what the gang call dog treats, or a home-made specialty.

Emboldened, Scooby tries taking a swing at the mummy with his left foreleg, but there’s a sound like a steel drum being struck, and Scooby’s metacarpals collapse and fold inward like a limp accordion tube. This does not deter the carb-loaded canine, who dashes offscreen and returns in a karate gi, and begins to yelp out kiais so badly stereotypical that the captioning refused to display them as he chops at the motionless mummy. It’s no more effective, so Scooby tries one last attack: 

A little of the old razzmatazz.

At first, the soft-shoe routine seems to be Scooby’s attempt at desertion, but in spite of Velma’s shock, the dog sneaks back in behind the advancing mummy and nails his rags to the floor with a hammer.

Once again, the trio flee without making sure that Ankha is captured, even though Velma says they’re going to tell Daphne and Fred that they just did that. Meanwhile, Fred and Daphne are exploring outside, having found what look to be the mummy’s footprints going into a construction area. They discover Dr. Najib’s car, with what appears to be the doctor turned to stone, and wonder if Shaggy and Velma have run into the mummy themselves, not seeming to be concerned that their friends could be turned to stone any moment.

Having returned, Shaggy and Velma find that the mummy has escaped and disappeared, and inspect the piece of bandage left nailed to the floor. They retreat to a laboratory to investigate the new-feeling wrappings and determine its actual age, where an unattended Scooby drinks three large glasses of a chartreuse liquid. There’s an odd screen-filling animation of an explosion that fades in and out, and Scooby’s head has turned into that of a frog!

He lets out a few confused ribbits, and the effect reverses, explosion included—without Shaggy or Velma noticing. Meanwhile, the mummy reappears, demanding the coin before Velma can finish her analysis. While the two humans flee the room in an improvised smokescreen, Scooby is left behind, and the duo only realize as Daphne and Fred rejoin them. The room is empty except for evidence of a struggle, and a window is left open in the back. Fred worries that he’ll end up like the Professor and Dr. Najib...

...and sure enough, the gang discover a stone Scooby back outside. As Shaggy mourns the loss of his friend, the real Scooby digs his way up out of the ground to join him in tearfully weeping over the sad scene.

“Look, Scoob! You’ve been turned to stone!”

Rather than questioning Scooby about what happened to him, the gang decide to backtrack and ignore the great huge clue right in front of them.

Investigating the Professor’s office, Velma learns that Ankha was also the wealthiest ruler of ancient Egypt, and thinks she’s discovered the solution to the mystery of the coin, finding a photo of a statue of a hippo-headed figure that may or may not be a badly rendered representation of the goddess Taweret (understandably lacking the usual large sagging breasts of images of that deity; this is a kids’ show). The likeness of the coin appears with some other symbols on the statue’s belly, but just as the gang realize it, Ankha busts down the office door.

Retreating to the second floor, the gang duck into the wood shop, where—i’m sorry, why is there a WOOD SHOP in a university’s DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY?

Fred tells Daphne to hit the lights so  that they can hide in the darkness of a room full of sharp objects and heavy machinery, but Daphne hits the wrong switch and turns on a handheld, corded buzz saw that spins to life and climbs up the wall by cutting through the surface of it.

Now, in addition to majoring in anthropology and library science, i took an elective class in the extremely well-appointed woodworking facility at SUNY Purchase College, and i have at least a basic sense of shop safety. So i speak from something of a position of experience when i say, WHY WOULD YOU PUT THOSE SWITCHES NEXT TO EACH OTHER?

As the saw cuts across the ceiling, back down the wall, and past the mummy, it moves on to circle the gang, cutting through the floor and sending the gang dropping down to the floor below... where there’s a swimming pool. 

WHAT KIND OF ARCHAEOLOGY DEPARTMENT IS THIS? A WOOD SHOP? A SWIMMING POOL? WHO DESIGNED THIS COLLEGE, MC ESCHER?

The enraged mummy tosses the saw down at the gang, and its improbably long power cord reaches far enough that the saw moves through the water, chasing the gang as they paddle for their lives. Kudos to the saw’s manufacturers for so extensively waterproofing it, but i really don’t think a 100 meter power cord is a necessity.

Continuing to flee the mummy, Shaggy and Scooby enter the construction area from before, stumbling into a work space where Shaggy notices bags of “Quick Drying Mold Cement”, and “spray molds” that actually appear to be just wooden crates with cement poured in around an empty space in the shape of a standing human being.

“Ruh-huh!” Scooby replies. You could’ve told them that, Scooby. It would have been helpful.

I’ll note that the mold is in the shape of someone standing or laying straight, and all the “stone” figures we’ve seen so far were sitting down. This is what happens when you don’t communicate plot details to your art department, people.

The mummy of Ankha catches up, and the boys flee into a groundskeeper’s shack. When Shaggy peeks out to see if the coast is clear, however...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Yes, for the love of god.

Ankha continues to demand the coin, but meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy find the Professor bound, gagged, and stuffed into a bag in the corner. Shaggy pulls down his gag, and asks, “are you alright, Professor?”

“I’m fine!”

“Groovy,” Shaggy replies, putting the gag back in place. “Be back for you later.”

The duo make their escape and the chase scene starts up again, now involving a ride on an improbably speedy lawnmower through an empty gymnasium, and a bit more in the way of trampoline antics. This show loves trampoline antics. Mid-bounce, Scooby, grabs onto a pair of gymnastics rings, and uses his hind legs to kick the mummy across the gym, dunking his bandaged butt into the basketball hoop.

It’s stuff like this that led to the Globetrotters crossovers, i’m sure.

The gang unmask "Ankha”, who, as i’d spoiled ahead of time, is Dr. Najib. He had faked his own petrification as part of a plan to get his hands on the coin—actually the key to the statue in the photo from the book. The gang and the Professor discover that a slot on the back of the statue serves as the keyhole, because apparently no-one was ever diligent enough to examine the back side of this stone figure, and its mouth opens to reveal a “glass beetle”.

Not quite, says the Professor.

There’s no resolution about what happens to this obscenely large “diamond”, identified as such at a glance without any kind of testing of its hardness. Scooby finds the whereabouts of the real mummy of Ankha, and the gang celebrate as Dr. Najib is probably in the midst of arguing his diplomatic immunity somewhere downtown.

And once again, no “meddling kids”, not even a scene of the authorities arriving. All we see of Najib unmasked is the usual silent, glaring fuming, and the explanation falls to the gang and the Professor relaxing calmly in the epilogue.

(like what i’m doing here? It’s not what pays the bills, so i’d really appreciate it if you could send me a bit at my paypal.me or via my ko-fi. Click here to see more entries in this series of posts, or here to go in chronological order)

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/game-of-thrones-women-whats-next/

‘Game of Thrones’ Women: What’s Next?

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Don’t be pissed at the messenger, but we thought you should know, it’s time to let go of Game of Thrones. HBO’s smash series is about to come to a thundering end, and we suggest that you prepare yourselves. However, this doesn’t mean the ladies of Westeros will vanish from our lives forever. The women of GoT have some fantastic new roles already lined up. Here’s what’s next for the women of Game of Thrones.

Though GoT is inspired by the George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and is generally beloved globally–the series has notoriously failed its women. During Season 8, Episode 4 –we all looked on in horror as Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), the only woman of color on the show was beheaded. (Shrugs in spoiler.) This isn’t the first time GoT has had some serious missteps with its female characters. From depictions of sexual violence to is glaring lack of diversity–Game of Thrones has broken many TV barriers while keeping women in a box.

Many women–including actress Jessica Chastain and director Ava DuVernay have slammed the series for its use of sexual violence as a character-building tool. Assessing Sansa’s (Sophie Turner) journey on the series, Chastain recently tweeted, “Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger. A woman doesn’t need to be victimized in order to become a butterfly.” She continued, “The #littlebird was always a Phoenix. Her prevailing strength is sole because of her. And her alone.”

After a near-decade-long journey on the series, for most of its leading ladies –the actresses are ready to embark on new (and hopefully more female-positive) projects. This is where we can find them next.

Image: Shutterstock.

Maisie Williams

Maisie Williams was just a preteen when Season 1 of Game of Thrones began. As Arya Stark, Williams’ character’s arc has been one of the most revolutionary on the series. As a little girl–Arya was a precocious little fighter, more at ease using swords with her brothers than learning to sew or wearing a dress. Over the past eight seasons, we’ve watched Arya blossom (out of necessity) into a bold killer who will do anything for her family. All hail the Night King Slayer!

Williams auditioned for GoT because she wanted the money to buy a new laptop, but it looks like she’s ready to make a career out of acting. X-Men fans can catch Williams in The New Mutants which will debut on Aug. 2. She also just wrapped filming for the ’90s set film adaptation of the comic book series, The Owners. The movie is also set to star  Sylvester McCoy and  Rita Tushingham.

Image: Shuttershock.

Sophie Turner

Like her on-screen sister, Sophie Turner had little acting experience before she stepped into Sansa Stark’s gown. When we first met the auburn-headed Stark–she was an exhausting and annoying little girl who was desperate to win the affections of a prince. Sansa did not live happily ever after. Instead, she was held captive by Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), raped and tortured by Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) and manipulated by Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). However, what Sansa did learn from all of her experiences was to play the game of thrones. As she told Littlefinger right before his execution, “I’m a slow learner, it’s true. But I learn.”

Though it’s a wrap for GoT, Turner is about to step into the shoes of another red-headed legend. She will reprise her role as Jean Grey in X-Men: Dark Phoenix which is set to drop June 7. The newlywed first played Jean in 2016’s X-Men Apocalypse. Following Dark Pheonix, Turner will star in Jouri Smit’s Heavy.

Image: Stephen Lovekin/REX/Shutterstock.

Gwendoline Christie

So, we’re never going to forgive GoT for leaving Brienne of Tarth aka Brienne the Stallion standing in her housecoat in the biting cold begging Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to pick her over his evil ass twin sister. It really boils our blood just thinking about it. To beg a man who has THREE (maybe four) kids with his twin sister! The GoT writers tried it. However, that’s neither here nor there.

Before she slayed as Ser Brienne on GoT, Gwendoline Christie was slowly making a name for herself in the entertainment industry. However, she exploded in 2012 after her first appearance on GoT. She’s already starred in the Star Wars franchise and the critically acclaimed mini-series, Top of the Lake. After she lays down Brienne sword, you can catch the 6′ 3″ legend as Jane Murdstone in The Personal History of David Copperfield opposite Tilda Swinton.  She will also appear in 2020’s The Friend with Dakota Johnson and Jason Seagal.

Photo: Getty Images

Emilia Clarke

Are y’all going to crumble when the Mother of Dragons dies? We aren’t. Admittedly we loved Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen for the first several seasons of Game of Thrones, but lately, homegirl has been working our last nerve. She’s clearly showing signs that she has some real anger issues and her lust for power certainly isn’t helping. Still–we will give Khalessi credit for her journey to try and take back her family’s throne.

Though her character is no longer our fav, we absolutely adore Emilia Clarke. She’s already delighted us in several franchise films including Terminator Genisys and Solo: A Star Wars Story. She also gave us all the feels in the movie-adaptation of, Me Before You. Up next, Clarke probably won’t be riding any more dragons, but you can catch her in Above Suspicion which tells the story of the first ever conviction for the murder of an FBI agent and the rom-com, Last Christmas opposite Henry Golding and Emma Thompson. Both flicks will debut in Winter 2019.

Image: Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock.

Lena Headey

One way or another, Cersei Lannister is about to hang up her crown on Game of Thrones. Whether she wins the throne or Dany and Jon Snow take her out –Lena Headey who has played the sinister queen since Season 1 is ready to move on. Headey isn’t a stranger to film or TV. Her career stretches back into the ’90s. While filming GoT— the British-born actress did some extensive voice work as well.

Following GoT you can catch Headey in The Flood, Gunpowder Milkshake opposite Angela Bassett and Paul Giamatti, and the movie Crooks. Hopefully, she’ll ditch that tragic blonde cut though. And honestly, we don’t know how we feel about seeing Headey in pedestrian clothing. God forbid her character is courteous and friendly.

Image: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock.

Oh, Missandei, she had the best twist out in Westeros, and she and #BaeWorm were supposed to live out their days on some warm sandy beach somewhere away from the racists of Westeros. Nathalie Emmanuel’s days as Missandei may have come to an unsettling conclusion. However, Nathalie Emmanuel is just getting started. Before snagging a role on GoT back in Season 3–Emmanuel was known for her work on Hollyoaks. Since then she’s been in everything from The Fast and the Furious franchise to Maze Runner: The Death Curse.

Up next the vegan actress is saying farewell to HBO and hello to Hulu and Netflix. She is starring on two different forthcoming original series. You can spot her in Hulu’s Four Weddings and a Funeral written by Mindy Kaling. You can also see her in Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance which stars Helena Bonham Carter, Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe, Natalie Dormer as well as everyone else and their mama.

Image: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock.

Carice van Houten

So… no one was that pressed when Melisandre took off her choker and withered away at the end of the Battle of Winterfell. We don’t know about you, but we’ve been ready to pull up on her since she burned Shireen Baratheon alive in Season 5. But we suppose we can’t hold that against Carice van Houten. She spoke to the New York Times about her character’s “timely” demise, “I was actually happy and quite sentimental when I read the script. I thought it could be a beautiful ending to this character.”

Like Lena Headey–van Houten has been a staple in entertainment since the ’90s. Post-GoT, she’ll be starring in Brian De Palma’s Domino opposite her former Game of Thrones co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as well as the thriller, Lost Girls and Love Hotels.

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Your Lie in April uses visual metaphors and symbolic imagery to add layers of meaning and foreshadowing to the story. In fact, if you know what to look for, they foreshadow the ending in the very first minute of the show.

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Full Transcript below 

Today I want to put on my English Major boots and talk about metaphors. Specifically, I want to talk about how visual metaphors, or symbolic imagery, can add meaning to a piece of visual media. We’re going to talk about the 2014 anime Your Lie in April and how its consistent use of visual metaphors establish mood, helps readers made connections between events and characters on a thematic level, and foreshadows the whole god damn ending right in the OP.

Before we get started though, we need to define what visual metaphors and symbolic imagery are. This gets a little technical. A visual metaphor is an object or image that represents something else.   Symbolic imagery are images that are not descriptive in a literal sense, but are intended to express an abstract idea in concrete form. There are shades of difference between these terms, though they sound very similar. A girl giving the person she loves a locket turns that locket into visual metaphor for their love. If the person loses or breaks the locket, we, as readers, know that their relationship is in danger. Visual metaphors are generally diegetic objects, meaning real objects that exist in the story, that have a metaphorical importance in the narrative. A lightbulb appearing over a character’s head when they make a plan is symbolic imagery. It is an image that does not describe a literal object, but an idea. Symbolic imagery is typically non-diegetic, meaning they are not literal objects in the world of the story, and is used to convey abstract information. Your lie in April uses both of these techniques. -

If you have never seen Your Lie in April, be warned. There are a lot of spoilers in this video. Big, massive, end of series spoilers. Also….go watch Your Lie in April. It will break your heart beautifully.

Your Lie in April came out in 2014 from A1 pictures. It is 22 episodes long and can be found on both Crunchyroll and Netflix. And it is devastating.  It follows the story of Kosei, a teenager who used to be a piano prodigy. After his abusive mother dies, he stops playing completely, unable to hear the music over his own panic attacks. Two years later, in the spring, under the cherry blossom trees in full bloom, Kosei meets Kaori. Kaori is blonde and beautiful and plays violin and has a crush on Kosei’s best friend, Watari. Kaori drags Kosei back into the world of music, and he quickly finds he loves her.

And SPOILERS for the end: Kaori dies. Its horrible and tragic and she dies. And we find out that she had been sick all along, and that her liking Watari was a lie so that she could meet and befriend Kosei.Because she loved him. That’s the lie in april.

And then you just cry forever.

Your Lie in April has a pretty straight forward plot. The only real “twist” happens right at the end and, as we will discuss, is pretty heavily foreshadowed. The show takes on a great deal of depth with the use of its visual metaphors though. Today we’re going to talk about 3 of them. The deep ocean/shallow sea, the black cats, and the cherry blossom tree. -

Let’s start with the deep ocean/shallow sea. This is a pair of symbolic imagery. The deep ocean appears when Kosei is unable to hear himself play the piano. It symbolizes the crushing anxiety and fear and pressure he feels that leaves him unable to play. This image is, of course, non-diegetic, and the same basic information could be conveyed without the image. You could imagine the scene of just Kosei sitting at the piano, shaking, unable to play without losing any of the plot. But this image of the deep ocean allows the viewer to more fully understand what this emotion would feel like. It is crushing.

It also draws a direct connection and contrast to the shallow sea image. Kosei is in the shallow sea, surrounded by the sky, when he is playing with Kaori. By having this be a pair of related symbols, we know without question that what has changed, allowing Kosei to play, is Kaori being with him.

- Then there’s the black cats. There are two main black cats in the show, and they are easy to confuse if you aren’t looking for them. There’s the yellow eyed cat and the blue eyed cat. It’s important to note that as a Western viewer, we see a black cat and all of our cultural training makes us think “black cats are bad luck. They work with witches. They bring bad things in stories.” And this is not true in Japan though. Japan, while it has adopted the idea of black cats having an association with witches (pause for kiki, flying witch, and sailor moon), they don’t associate black cats with bad luck at all. In fact they are often associated with GOOD luck in Japan. But the symbolism goes deeper than just that.

I’d argue that the black cats BOTH represent Kosei, but different emotions Kosei feels, parts of his psyche.  

The yellow eyed cat often appears while Kosei is trying to playing piano and speaks to him, making him a symbol  rather than a real cat. This cat strongly resembles the cat Kosei owned as a child, which scratched his hands and is taken away, forever, by his mother.  He often mocks Kosei or talks down to him during performances. In the last scene we see the yellow eyed cat, Kosei overcomes his anxiety and is able to play the piano for his competition

All of this together paints the yellow eyed cat as a symbol of Kosei’s inner turmoil. His self doubt, his regrets, his guilt, all the things that hold him back are embodied in this cat. So when he is able to play again, the cat doesn’t return.

Then we have the blue eyed cat. The blue eyed cat is definitely a REAL cat in the show, and only shows up a few times. It first shows up when Kaori appoints Kosei as her accompanist. She lifts up the blue eyed cat and cradles it, surrounded by cherry blossoms. If we go along with our idea that the cats represent Kosei’s inner self, this cat is the part of him that is drawn to Kaori, his growing love for Kaori. And that Kaori lifts and cradles the cat, feels like a hint that Kaori really loves him back.

The next time we see the cat, it is right after Kaori has been hospitalized. And Kosei finds the cat, hit by a car on the side of the road. He rushes the cat to a vet, but...it’s too late. The cat dies. And it’s hard to not see that as foreshadowing that Kaori’s hospital stay will not have a happy ending.

We do see the blue eyed cat one last time though- or at least, another cat that looks very much like it. It’s possible this cat is related to the dead cat, or maybe isn’t a real cat at all, but a vision like the yellow eyed cat was. It’s not clear. So, Kaori has died. Kosei is in despair. But he sees this cat- the symbol of his love for Kaori, of the hope Kaori gave him, and he decides to read her letter to him. At the very end of the show, Kosei sees the blue eyed cat one last time, on the other side of the train tracks. There one second, and then gone, like a ghost, the next. Even though Kaori is gone, the love and hope Kaori brought to Kosei’s life still exists.

- And if that isn’t devastating enough for you, we have one final metaphor. The damn cherry blossoms. If you’ve watched any amount of anime in your life, you’ve seen the cherry blossom trees in an anime at some point. They are pink and pretty and rain down around characters during dramatic confessions of love. They represent spring, and new beginnings, and new love. Even a western viewer can pick up that much from context.

When Kosei first meets Kaori, she is surrounded by cherry blossoms. When she makes Kosei her accompanist, she’s surrounded by cherry blossoms, in both the first AND second OP, Cherry blossoms surround Kaori. So, this one seems easy, right? Kosei loves Kaori. She’s young and pretty and the love interest. No problem.

Except.

Except there is a double meaning to the cherry blossoms that 1) doesn’t always come up in anime and 2) isn’t as well known to westerners.

You see, Cherry Blossoms only bloom for a very, very short amount of time. So if you google “Cherry Blossom symbolism” nearly any site will tell you the same thing: Cherry blossoms symbolize spring and love and...the precarious nature of life and how life is fleeting. Intense beauty and untimely death. They are beautiful, but only for a short amount of time.

Kaori is the cherry blossoms- sweet and bright and lovely and gone so so quickly.

And show show just! Tells you! This! Right here! Its right in front of us all along!

-heavy sigh- shit. -

Ok, I’m ok.

So. That’s a quick-ish run down of some of the major symbols and metaphors in the show. So, why? Why does this matter?

Well, having metaphors and symbolism like this adds an extra meaning for the viewers. It can help us understand a mood, or make an implied connection. It gives the text and extra layer of depth for viewers to dig into.

I don’t think that every single anime or tv show or movie needs to have this level of symbolism. No one is begrudging Dragonball Z for not having more complex visual metaphors. But I do think that this kind of writing is what takes Your Lie in April and moves it from a sort of run of the mill drama, to a memorable story that sticks with people.

So, yeah. Thanks for watching this video! This channel is still really new, so I always appreciate comments and likes. I’ll be sure to see yall down in the comments. And as always, if you enjoyed listening to this queer millennial feminist with a BA in English, feel free to subscribe.

[crystalized-dreams]

So after 180+ hours, my husband and I finally bothered to beat Ganon and finish the main story of Breath of the Wild. I have been wanting to talk about my various likes and dislikes for a while, but I wanted to at least wait until this point. We still have plans to keep playing (need to get all those Koroks and also working on a World Boss-related thing), but at the very least, most of our goals are done.

This WILL contain spoilers so if you do not want spoilers, you may not want to read this just yet. This also will not be a proper review–if you’re looking for that, reviews will be up on my husband’s website.

That said, this is going to be a bit different than most of my other ramblings as I’m going to be talking from a standpoint of watching more than playing and thus, will focus more on the characters and story and music and things versus controls and gameplay. Zelda is a game I grew up always watching and so each one is like its own movie for me and thus, it’s something that I’ve always gotten more out of watching than playing (though, I still play sometimes). I will say, just to give an idea on what to expect, Ocarina of Time is my favorite Zelda followed by Skyward Sword. I also don’t think it’s possible to really rank Breath of the Wild due to just how different it is, but let’s get to it.

Starting from the top, I’m really glad they voiced the game for the most part. I actually do enjoy most of the English voices and some, I even prefer to the Japanese such as Impa’s, but others, like Mipha, go back and forth for me. Sometimes I think they sound fine in English and fit well compared to the Japanese while other times it just feels sort of off. The only voice I really found myself disliking is Zelda’s because it’s just… so different from the Japanese version and in general, I find I prefer when they at least try to get a voice that is a similar speech/tone in every language because otherwise it can give such a different feel to the character and it really does. Despite her saying the same things, it doesn’t feel the same and it’s just really odd and I don’t understand why they gave her such a dramatically different voice.

It may also just stand out to me because I relate to the Zelda in this game a lot. I don’t want to turn this into talking about myself and own experiences, but I empathize with her so incredibly much and she is definitely one of my favorite characters in the game and definitely one of my favorite Zelda’s. Besides Zelda’s voice, the main thing that bothered me is the fact that Link never speaks. We kind of get a reason for why this is in Zelda’s own diary in the castle, but the problem here is the fact that: 1. He doesn’t have his memories so this should no longer be an issue to begin with right now. 2. By the time he does have his memories, many moments are just… incredibly awkward because he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even have to talk much, but the silence just doesn’t always work here and it genuinely removes part of the immersion of the moment, which, ironically the reason they probably wanted him not to speak is to not ruin it for the player. We’re rarely even in the first person though to ever actually feel like we’re Link. There are the moments where he looks down at the Sheikah Slate and one time towards the end and that’s really it. In general, considering we see all the memories in third person omniscient (which is weird in itself considering it is supposed to be Link remembering these things and not only are we seeing everything in third person, but we’re seeing and hearing things Link wouldn’t have been able to), it just makes everything all the weirder.

If they do continue with the voice acting in Zelda games, I really hope they will reconsider and actually give Link a voice, even if he doesn’t say too much.

Going into things more story-related, I really want to know what was with all the blue in this game. Hyrule Castle’s banners aren’t blue, yet the Champion’s clothes, Zelda’s Princess Gown and Scholar Outfit, and Link’s outfit in the game were all various shades of blue and I just… don’t understand why? I wish there was some explanation for why Link didn’t wear green in this (heck, you even get a “traditional” tunic for the game if you finish all the shrines…) or why Zelda’s dress was blue in this game instead of pink/purple. I feel like we were given changes for most things (such as Ganon’s appearance), but not really any information on this and I feel it’s something that will bug me for a long while. Despite my issues with Hyrule-related colors, I adore the Zora designs in this game. All the jewelry that Mipha wears is so pretty and I think she has an amazing character design–I really wish she was given more than just being another unrequited Zora love interest to Link.

I will say though, this story is… really depressing. Like no matter how I think about it, I think the story makes me feel more sad than happy. In general, I don’t think any Zelda game really has a 100% happy ending, but at least I feel like things are mostly positive as they continue to improve. Here, things will start to improve, but with all the loss weighing heavily on it. 100 years of destruction, Castle Town is gone, Link finally has his memories back, but his family is probably long gone. The fact that the only Champion that even got to see some of their family/a descendant is Daruk. I wish Mipha got a chance to see her brother and father. I wish Urbosa got to see her daughter. Revali is kind of a jerk, but I still wish he got a chance to see his home too. The fact that Zelda’s last meeting with her father was that fight on the bridge is absolutely heartbreaking. He finally wanted to properly comfort her and he died. She didn’t even get to see him before his soul finally rested.

It’s just… really heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Heck, the fact that as you go onto each Divine Beast talking to their spirits and then having to fight the enemy that murdered them 100 years ago. There’s such an overall heaviness that even upon saving Hyrule, it still feels a little empty–like it wasn’t enough. And Zelda blames herself where, even if maybe she could get her summoning power working (which is another thing–I’d love to know more on why it didn’t work sooner (besides her losing her teacher and mother), why it had to wait for that moment and what that specifically unlocked it), she never would have reached them. There’s just so much loss that even after saving Hyrule, I still don’t really feel satisfied.

One of the things I really hope the DLC adds, especially after the post-game scene if you have all the memories, is a post game with both Zelda and Link going around and trying to help build back up Hyrule and talk to everyone who suffered these 100 years and/or lost someone. Maybe someone can even play as one of the two and it’ll be a fun co-op journey. I don’t know how possible that actually is, but it’s what I really hope they do. Even if not a co-op thing, I just want a proper post-game. While I get why the whole “oh, you can go back and re-fight Ganon because we put you right before it!!” thing exists, I feel it’s really out of place with this kind of game. I feel like maybe they could’ve had an option if you go in the castle to ask if you’d like it set to before you fought Ganon, but it just looks kind of silly to be exploring this enormous map with the same evil castle and people worrying about it.

The world itself is quite amazing. There’s so much to explore and I’m not really sure if we’ve even seen all of it despite how much we’ve played and getting more than half the Koroks… speaking of Koroks, while I love them, I wish there weren’t so many. 900 is just way too much and while I can guess why they did (with such a big map, gives more people more chances to find them randomly upon their explorations), I still think it would have been better to just have a smaller amount. I mean, there’s 120 Shrines which is only ~13% of the amount of Koroks. They could’ve done a similar amount and been fine. Especially if it means we wouldn’t need to zoom in as far as possible to even see the ones we’ve found.

I also really love that every character has a name and personality. Everything is so dynamic and you learn so much about all the people in each place. It kind of reminds me of part of why I enjoyed a lot of the Side Quests in Majora’s Mask. Here are just some of my favorite side characters: #gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Notts

Saki

Molli

Laruta

Laflat

Aster

Kohm

Ashai

Patricia

Included in favorites but not shown above as that would make this post even longer: Every single wild animal + dog + horse + donkey :P

I would say my biggest issue with the game is the item durability and limited weapon/shield/bow space. I just dislike those kind of systems and while I enjoy most of the changes in the game from traditional Zelda games, this isn’t one of them. I think I’d have at least been less annoyed if item limits weren’t an issue and you could repair everything, but it just was disheartening to use a lot of things I really liked only to end up losing them. At least my favorite weapon could always be replaced. Unfortunately, my favorite bow was forced to disappear and only be used in the final battle :P I wish you got to keep some version of it as it’s really pretty.

Going back to the world of the game, I will say I have… mostly good feelings on the music, but it’s a bit odd as well. I liked everything I heard, but because it’s all very atmospheric, there isn’t really much that is very iconic. Like Breath of the Wild’s main theme is definitely one of the most recognizable new pieces for the game. There are Battle-related ones as well, but I don’t care for those too much myself. The thing is, and what I feel a lot of people demanding for these forget, even if they had a few selections for bigger songs as you explore, the constant repetition when exploring such a vast world would get incredibly annoying. The game wants you to explore and a constant song playing over and over would just get tiring. This also means when certain songs like Kass’ Accordion or the big boss battle themes start playing as you explore, they’re THAT much more recognizable and it really helps them stand out.

I remember when my husband and I first ran into Kass. The Accordion started playing and his first thought was that the music changed for the area while mine went straight to there being an actual Accordion Player and urging him to find them. I was clearly right, but it made it such a standout event for our playthrough which I don’t think would’ve been as exciting if the music wasn’t the way it is. Or like wandering around and hearing the music change and seeing a giant Dragon fly by. That was so exciting to run into on our first exploration of Faron.

Even Hyrule Castle, despite being like this… dark, gritty, remix of various past songs, the fact that we don’t actually get to hear most of them outside that just makes it all the more of an experience. And I’ll be honest, I did get a little tired of it just from exploring the entire castle–I think if you’re just heading straight to Ganon, the music is perfect for the atmosphere, but if you’re exploring every single nook and cranny, it does kind of get to you after a while.

My favorite songs are probably Prince Sidon’s theme, the music for Zora’s Domain (which is one of my favorite places in the game along with Satori), the music after beating a Divine Beast Boss, Princess/Zora Champion Mipha’s theme, Gerudo Champion Urbosa’s theme, Rito Village, Rito Champion Revali’s theme, the Epilogue Theme, and Captured Memories. Captured Memories especially, while just being a remix of the original Zelda theme, is just so beautiful and I wish it was longer. And while not necessarily my favorites, I also really enjoy the Molduga Battle Phase 2 song, Kass’ theme, the Dragon theme, Attack on Vah Medoh, and The Divine Beasts Strike. Also Hestu’s theme is always amazing as is his dance:

Going into some minor things that I wish were changed up: 1. More spaces for more Horses (and it’d be fun if you could Board other things too). 5 isn’t enough when there are so many amazing horses in the game. As it is, because we didn’t realize one side quest required a horse we had boarded, we had to give up a horse we had already become attached to. Sure, it let us make room for the Giant Horse, but it’s not really an issue I liked running into. Similarly, I wish you got to pick which Horse you used at the end. If we knew the first horse you boarded was picked for the end battle, we would have boarded Epona first rather than me having a panic attack seeing Shortcake show up who, besides being my lovely pink horse, also had some of the lowest stats which made the battle a bit trickier than it should’ve been. 2. I wish we could get more houses. I love the house quest and how decorated it gets once you buy everything, but it just made me really want houses in some other places too. I feel like with how you help build up Tarrytown too, it was like setting up for a house there as well that never came. 3. The awful Blood Moon cutscene. Good for the first time to introduce it. Bad every other time. Like the moon is red and fire-y ash is practically floating down everywhere–we can kind of tell. I get that you can skip it, but it still felt frustrating to even see it come up? Even just the option to turn it off permanently. We once had the cutscene pop up 6 times in a row. I wish I was kidding. 4. Not being able to complete the 3rd stamina wheel or the 2nd Heart row :/ Even if you do everything, you’ll be 3 short. I hope maybe you can get more in the DLC. 5. I wish there was some gear to make rain not effect your climbing because wow, does that ruin things a lot. 6. Please stop making every Zora Princess/member of Zora royalty be in love with Link. It’s always unrequited and they deserve better characterization at this point. 7. I really disliked how the Fairies were done in this game. Ignoring the creepiness of some of the cutscenes, I just don’t like the whole “give us tons of rupees to let us help you” thing from it and I would’ve preferred some kind of puzzle or other aspects over paying them tons of money. The Horse God is really the only one I can understand the “money to open” thing, though, they also terrify me in a whole different way so… 8. More Rupees. I get that there is a reason for them to be so scarce in this game, but it still felt like too much. 9. The lack of Saria’s song in the Lost Woods or even by the lake named after her. Saria is one of my favorite side characters in the series and that is one of my all-time favorite songs (In fact, I used it as my town theme several times in Animal Crossing–the original, Wild World, and City Folk). 10. I REALLY WISH THE TRUE ENDING LET THEM HUG. They just walk off together and they both just need a hug, okay? 11. It’s silly that the Champion Powers/Gifts will only recharge once you fully use them. If I use up one of Daruk’s charges essentially, I shouldn’t have to wait until I use up all of them before it’ll start recharging any. It can be a longer charge when there’s at least one left, but it’s incredibly silly to be wandering around for hours on this last charge only to get somewhere I may need to use multiple, have just the one left, and then get stuck waiting. 12. Not an actual dislike, but I genuinely do want to know why the Gorons were let into Gerudo Town. The fact that you never get some kind of answer to this bugs me. 13. The Yiga Clan are just super annoying. The stealth mission was also kind of annoying–I wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t for the fact that being caught made it an endless stream of them attacking you versus just the group of three that initially attack. 14. While I do love most of the tools in this game, I genuinely miss the Hook Shot/Grappling Hook.

Which, speaking of tools in the game, I know some people are mixed about getting everything at once and while I’m a bit mixed myself (mostly because I wouldn’t have minded if we got a few things later on similar to how we got the camera feature), I actually really liked that we did. I think it gave people a lot more freedom to experience the World in so many different ways versus having to do it in the same order every time and/or get certain things before being able to go back to properly solve a puzzle. There’s many things where I’m sure we didn’t solve it as intended, but I think that also makes it a lot more fun too.

So yes, overall I really enjoyed the game. I have a lot of feelings about it, clearly. I’m really anticipating the DLC and I hope they bring out more information soon. Despite being nearly done with the game, I think we’ll still be finding new things overtime, even once we 100% it. Also I really hope someone makes Sand Seal Plushies:

Ramblings about Breath of the Wild (Unsurprisingly, I had a lot to say :P) So after 180+ hours, my husband and I finally bothered to beat Ganon and finish the main story of Breath of the Wild.

[kassna]

The Rogue One novel, schaloime and I: A Christmas cry fest

Sooo around Christmas I read the Rogue One novelization. And because I lost it at the first few pages already I decided that I couldn’t suffer through this perfection alone and started texting quotes and comments to @schaloime​ (mainly KRENNIC ALL THE WAY)... And, well. I don’t want to lose this list of hilarity and heartbreak, so I’m posting it now for everyone’s amusement. :D (Comments are of course translated from a wild English/German mix and a bit edited, but convey the fun we’ve had really well. X’D)

This book gets a very high recommendation from me, just saying before the cut! I love it to pieces, it even made my second trip to the cinema a lot better and gave me so much! 11/10 pathetic wine mom Orsons, would (and will) read again

(Come yell with me about it, please!)

He had killed a city. He could kill a world.

Boy, Krennic is such a pathetic squabbling schoolboy X'D lots of fun when he’s pleased about something he did well, like "I AM THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE fuck off Tarkin noooo" When they’re in the same room he’s always THIS CLOSE to stomping his foot, crossing his arms and whining                   

He felt like he finally deserved some attention from the emperor.

What is this book. Help.

[insert a lot of fangirling about the way the characters are written, how you’re in a different head with each part/chapter and how they all have clearly different ways of thinking and decision-making]

He’d settled himself in his seat with a glass of wine and a datapad by the time they’d left the docking bay.

Already the second scene in which Krennic lounges around and drinks wine. (This time the flight to Eadu, first time was after work on the Death Star. He also apparently likes to walk miles and miles through the construction and is quite pleased about having built all this and knowing every lil detail.)

Galen Erso, whom he’d given every chance. Galen Erso, whom he’d nearly died for once on that sad scrap of farmland. “I thought we were past this,” Krennic murmured to himself, with a bitter smile."

Just in - Krennic’s fuckin’ gay for Galen (as if we didn’t know that) and ALWAYS thinks about either him or Tarkin.

He’s really like HALF OF THE FANON!HUX headcanons I’ve encountered in fics. [slime and I began to flail helplessly because we can’t handle him. spoiler: we didn’t really stop screaming until the end.]

During the flight to Eadu, Krennic had stoked the fury in his heart. Fueled by outrage and humiliation, its fire burned bright enough to warm him in the chill that swept through the shuttle.

... Am I reading fanfic for real now or what.

Krennic smiled acidly and said the words he had selected with care aboard the shuttle:

Also just in: Krennic spent the trip to Eadu drinking wine and writing a speech. An epic speech:

“Gentlemen. One of you has betrayed the Empire. One of you conspired with a pilot to send messages to the Rebellion. I urge that traitor to step forward.”

Krennic. How often did you practice that in front of a mirror until you made sure you won’t forget a single word of it?

If by some miracle Cassian got off a second shot, he decided Krennic would make an excellent target. The Empire could only be improved by the loss of another high-ranking blowhard.

GOOD BOY. (Cassian’s thoughts are really interesting in general.)       

“Very well,” Krennic said. “I’ll consider it a group effort, then.” The words were cruel and sweet. Krennic felt no shame in deriving satisfaction from justice ruthlessly applied.

PLEASE. slime: gaaaaaaaaay

He looked down at himself and straightened his uniform with a tug. He noted black smudges from smoke and charred metal, a patch of red where someone—probably him—had bled. He wondered if he would have time to clean up before arriving. Or maybe Lord Vader would respect a man who’d seen combat.

Or: Krennic fainted right after entering the shuttle for departure from Eadu, got the order to go to Mustafar upon waking and dives headfirst into the REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. I wish I were kidding.                        

Was Vader mad? Was this his homeworld? Perhaps he wasn’t human beneath his armor; perhaps that forbidding black suit did more than replace lungs and limbs damaged in battle, and instead allowed a creature born in magma to survive the chill of space. Or maybe he lived on Mustafar because he enjoyed burning his victims alive.

... Krennic lands on Mustafar and has some thoughts about how Extra™ Vader is.

Vader had let him live. Vader had judged him too valuable to kill—and by extension, the Emperor recognized his value as well. Tarkin’s mutiny, his seizure of the Death Star, had been forestalled. And Krennic had yet to reveal Tarkin’s greatest error—how in destroying Jedha City, Tarkin had failed to blockade the moon, failed to ensure against survivors. For how else could the rebels have infiltrated Eadu? The traitorous pilot had come from Eadu and fled to Jedha; his message had escaped. Only Tarkin could be held responsible for that.

Oh BOY. Hubris much? slime: “ "Look at me, Look at me!" me: Everyone else in this book has thoughts that are more than that pathetic blubbering. Even JYN, who’s at war with her hatred for everyone who’s ever left her, EVEN HER WHO HAS BEEN A REAL EGOIST UP UNTIL NOW. But nooooo, Krennic is the only Special Snowflake™ in the universe. At least in his own head.

He was ready to leave the madhouse that was Mustafar, but he was suddenly uncertain he could ever escape Vader’s shadow.

How about you don't even try.

She held back a laugh and looked to Cassian. The man who’d betrayed her. The man who’d admitted his guilt and decided to fight for her. He saw her staring and looked back at her quizzically. It wasn’t how betrayals were supposed to go.

U don't say.

It was a bad plan. It had all been a bad plan, of course, starting with Galen’s message and ending with this unauthorized raid on Scarif. Now he was, what—defecting from his defection? If he survived, he’d be an Imperial traitor and a rebel mutineer. He’d be lucky to see the inside of a Yavin prison cell.

Bodhi, talking a mile a minute even in his thoughts. But he’s happy that there are most likely no mind-reading tentactle monsters on Yavin... At least something.

She almost winced when she looked at Cassian, wearing an officer’s suit and cap like they were perfectly tailored. Even the code cylinder in his pocket was at a regulation angle.

Jyn has her priorities straight. Always get a look while you can.

He stood at a metaphorical cliff’s edge, stamping his foot in an effort to cause an avalanche. With Galen Erso’s treachery undone, he would gain the allegiance of Vader. With Vader’s backing, he would expose the incompetence of Tarkin—the revelation of rebel survivors from Jedha. With Tarkin humiliated, Krennic’s command of the Death Star would be uncontested, and he would confer with the Emperor himself as to how it might best be used. Krennic would be, in every way that mattered, the most powerful and decorated man in the Empire.

I... Wait, what. Krennic, daydreaming.

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin made it a point not to dwell on the flamboyant ambitions of Orson Krennic. Over the course of more than a decade, the director had gone from a nuisance to a genuine threat and back again, all the while demanding far more attention than Tarkin was prepared to grant him.

Thoughts from Tarkin! As if Krennic was a lousy annoying little fly.

Cassian had denied him that exquisite sense of purpose and replaced it with individuality. With individuality came doubt and cynicism: an awareness not only of the odds of success or failure but of those outcomes’ repercussions.

Individuality creates cynism. Now I have feels for a droid, thx Kaytoo.

With one second left until total shutdown, K-2SO chose to mentally simulate an impossible scenario in which Cassian Andor escaped alive. The simulation pleased him.

KAY. T___T

[everyone’s last sentence in their last part is amazing tbh]

As he emerged from the command center, two death troopers fell into step behind him and he thought of another day long before: another planetfall; another squad of troopers; and another danger to his life spawned by Galen. That day on Lah’mu had ended in victory, too. Orson Krennic was going to war.

Drama much! Firm belief now: He has that cape only to imagine himself in such a moment, with that last sentence as caption, for the epic picture he strikes in his own imagination...

But before Baze could fire, Chirrut rose from the bunker and stepped into sunlight.

First thought: oooh why do scenes with those two always feature such impressive pictures in my head Second thought, because the part was over and another person took over: FUCK YOU ALEXANDER FREED FUCK YOU SIDEWAYS I waited the WHOLE DAMN BOOK for a scene from Chirrut’s POV and just accepted that I won’t get one AND YOU DROP THE PART AT THE MAIN SWITCH ON ME FUCK YOU FUCK YOU HARD

[This was also when I started crying. I cried during three books my whole life (I cry frequently at movies, and I read a lot, so it takes a special something for that to happen). Be proud of yourself, Alexander Freed. You wrote *bawled her eyes out*-book #4.)

(...) without the temple he could not truly be a Guardian of the Whills; without joy and frivolity he could not be a clown and jokester among sober peers; without the Holy City he could not be a protector of his beloved world (...)

Fuuuuuck youuuuuu. T____T

He was dying, of course. He felt Baze’s heavy, familiar tread pound the ground, smelled his brother’s sweat as he leaned close. He wanted to say, Baze! My eyes—I can’t see! but Baze Malbus had always needed comfort more than humor.

THIS GUY I S2G.

But of course the Force had reunited them before the end.

Alright, I died, see you on the other side.

At last report, the data vault itself had been breached. It was a show of incompetence so great that Tarkin was almost curious to know how Krennic might explain it away.

Tarkin is a lil bitch sometimes. It’s great.

He was not the Empire—not every moment of oppression and indignity and torment she had ever suffered. He was an Imperial, a petty, spiteful, scared little man who’d forgotten his own atrocities. And he didn’t know her at all. She decided to make him remember.

Jyn can’t read a lot of people, but it seems to be easy for her with Krennic. X’D He only ever was “the man in white from her nightmares” until they finally meet. And up until his death she does know who he is and what role he had in her life - but never his name. Well, Orson. Sucks to be you. No immortal name.

He could follow Galen Erso’s thread through his life. He could see the full extent of the tragedy, the waste of effort on a wasted man. But what about before? He sought refuge in his childhood, tried to recall an Orson whose hopes had not yet been cast in shadow…

KRENNIC. Can’t you even in your LAST SECONDS stop thinking about how deeply ingrained Galen was into your life and how pathetic you were??? THIS GUY.                

Orson Krennic, advanced weapons research director and father of the Death Star, died alone on Scarif, screaming in fury at Galen Erso, at Jyn Erso, at Wilhuff Tarkin, and at all the galaxy.

... In his very last moments he imagined himself in full glory on the Death Star, his triumph, and in the middle of those cozy thoughts about his creation, the one thing he knows in and out, he finally noticed what Galen sabotaged. Ooops. Sucks, right?

I cried a lot. Slime cried a lot. And I’ll end this with the one sentence that really stuck with me and won’t leave my head for a long time...

Like a pilot should, he died with his ship.

Goodbye, Bodhi. Not all alone after all.

[newyorktheater]

James Russell Morley in “The End of Eddy” at BAM and Laurenz Laufenberg in “The History of Violence” at St. Anne’s Warehouse, adaptations of autobiographical novels by Édouard Louis

The same gay character who is bullied in one play is nearly murdered in another play in a theater some two miles away. In an unusual collaboration, two Brooklyn theaters are simultaneously presenting stage adaptations of two autobiographical novels by 27-year-old French writer Édouard Louis. Both officially open tonight – not a coincidence – and have much in common, including innovative stagecraft with a heavy reliance on videos. But they differ markedly in tone, and in any case are separate shows with separate admissions, and so I review them separately below.

The End of Eddy at Brooklyn Academy of Music

James Russell Morley and Oseloka Obi on the video

Oseloka Obi

James Russell Morley l and Oseloka Obi

As they bounce onto the stage, two young actors dressed in identical striped shirts and bright white sneakers tell us that the play we’re about to see is based on a book of the same name by the French writer Édouard Louis, that it was published when he was 21 years old and that it focuses on the life of one Eddy Bellegueule between the ages 10 and 15, growing up in a small, grim rural village in the North of France. It was a bestseller in France, they continue, it has been translated into more than 25 languages, “and everywhere it’s been praised for its open and honest discussion of poverty and violence, and sex and homosexuality.”

Clearly, parts of “The End of Eddy” resemble a book report for school. Over the 90 minutes of the show, they even read or recite passages directly from the book. This reflects the initial audience for this adaptation by Pamela Carter. It was presented at a children’s theater in the UK — which explains why “we’ve had to leave a lot out.”

But for all the self-consciously childlike tone in the storytelling, “The End of Eddy,”which is having a brief run through November 21 as part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival, cannot be dismissed as a simple story hour for children.

This is for two reasons.

One is because of the inventive stagecraft. The two performers (Oseloka Obi and James Russell Morley) are not just narrators, talking  straightforwardly to the audience. They also portray Eddy, sometimes separately, sometimes simultaneously – and often in pre-recorded videos, on four video monitors lined up behind them. The videos often also offer texts as well, in what feel at times as if lifted from “Sesame Street.”

(Why four videos? At one point, the Eddys explain: “There were four televisions in my house….My father used to find them at the rubbish tip, and bring them home and repair them.”)

The two actors, who are ultimately as persuasive as they are energetic and charming, also portray Eddy’s mother and father, siblings, friends, people in the village and, most memorably, two bullies – all of whom interact on screen with the live actors on stage.

The main reason “The End of Eddy” is an effective work of theater is the rawness of the stories — his harrowing accounts of the relentless bullying, the deadened people in the dying factory town, his sad and funny efforts to “be a man,” his sexual experimenting. If it’s toned down from the novel, “The End of Eddy” is blunt enough so that the theater only recommends it for ages 16 and over.

It’s no spoiler to point out that “The End of Eddie” ends with the end of Eddy, because the two storytellers tell us that in the very beginning. But if that sounded ominous at the outset, “The End of Eddy” ends hopeful and warmhearted, with Eddy Bellegueule at age 15 getting a scholarship to study theater far away from his hometown tormentors. It’s the end of Eddy because Eddy Bellegueule changes his name to Édouard Louis.

“In an interview,” our two narrators tell us near the end, “Édouard said the reason he changed his name was not because he wanted to kill off Eddy but because ‘Eddy’ represented his father’s idea of masculinity. Eddy was the name of a man he could never succeed in becoming.”

History of Violence at St. Ann’s Warehouse

“History of Violence” begins with a crime scene. Three people wearing the disposable white suits that peg them as forensic technicians dust for fingerprints, as we can see close up in a live video projected onto the back wall. It will take quite a while into the two hour play (with no intermission) before we find out precisely what happened, the story parceled out the way it might be in a mystery or a police procedural. But “History of Violence” doesn’t fit those genres; it’s autobiographical: The crime reportedly happened to Édouard Louis for real in 2012. It strikes me as primarily an examination of trauma; that is in any case the most consistently insightful aspect of the play. The traumatic impact on the victim is evident from the first glimpse of the disconsolate blond man in a pink shirt sitting upstage (portrayed by Laurenz Laufenberg.) We’ll call the character Édouard, although he’s not named in the play. At the start, while the crime investigators do their work, Edouard moves to the lip of the stage and talks into a microphone (The play is in German, with English captions projected onto the back.) “In a week you’ll think, it’s been a whole week since it happened; in a year: it’s been a whole year.” Edouard narrates how in the immediate aftermath he did the laundry, burned incense, used air freshener, scrubbed the door knob, poured bleach into the sink, squirted saline solution into his nostrils, did everything and anything he could think of to get rid of the smell, the presence, of his assailant. But nothing worked. There are other characters, and other actions, but they all in different ways revolve around Édouard and the incident. He visits his hometown, staying with his sister (Alina Stiegler), where he’s reminded why he left; he overhears his sister telling her husband about the crime. Édouard is also interviewed by the police, who are casually racist, assuming the assailant was Arab. These scenes weave in and out of the moment-by-moment direct encounter with the man who became his assailant, which is re-enacted in bits and piece — arguably the way an individual reconstructs the memory of a trauma, out of order, unbidden. Eventually, the full story emerges. On Christmas Eve, a man who says his name is Reda (Renato Schuch) flirts with Edouard on the street, convinces him to invite him into his home. Reda tells a long story about the arduous journey his father took from Algeria to France. Then the two have sex repeatedly; they fall asleep in one another’s arms. When they both wake up, Edouard goes to take a shower. When he comes back, he notices that Reda has stolen his iPad and his smart phone. He politely asks for it back. Reda becomes enraged, takes out a gun…and rapes Édouard. This is reenacted in such explicit and extended detail that three different members of the audience rushed out across the stage to exit as if in urgent need of the restroom. I didn’t need to rush out. But, I left the play feeling as if there must be something missing in the translation from page to stage (not to mention the translation from French to German to English subtitles.) “History of Violence” offers a committed performances by the four-member cast, aided by meticulous stagecraft involving artistic projections and a live drummer dramatically underscoring the action. And somewhere along the way there is a suggestion that Reda’s explosion was motivated by self-hate and shame. But the point of the production ultimately felt more like an exercise in stagecraft rather than an exploration of history or violence.

  The End of Eddy Untitled Projects/Unicorn Theatre (UK) Based on the book En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule by Édouard Louis Adapted by Pamela Carter Directed by Stewart Laing Set and costume design by Hyemi Shin Video design by Finn Ross Lighting design by Zerlina Hughes Sound design by Josh Anio Grigg Cast: Oseloka Obi and James Russell Morley BAM Fisher (Fishman Space) 321 Ashland Pl Nov 19–21 at 7:30pm Tickets: $25 (recommended for ages 16+)

      History of Violence Adapted from the novel by Édouard Louis and directed by Thomas Ostermeier Dramaturgy by Florian Borchmeyer, set and costume design by Nina Wetzel, lighting design by Michael Wetzel, music composed by Nils Ostendorf, video designed by ,Sebastien Dupouey, choreographd by Johanna Lemke Cast: Christoph Gawenda, Laurenz Laufenberg, Renato Schuch,andAlina Stiegler,and drummer Thomas Witte. Running time: 2 hours with no intermission Tickets: $46 to $71 “History of Violence” is on stage at St. Ann’s Warehouse through Dec. 1 Due to depictions of nudity and sexual situations, History of Violence is recommended for ages 17+.

The End of Eddy and The History of Violence Theater Reviews: A Bullied Gay Boy Becomes A Nearly Murdered Gay Man The same gay character who is bullied in one play is nearly murdered in another play in a theater some two miles away.

[cover2covermom]

*Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sarah Clarkson, Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) by R.F. Kuang, and The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

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» Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sarah Clarkson

Book Girl is what I like to refer to as a “reading memoir.”  I love reading books by people who are passionate about reading & share their experiences with reading and the books that have shaped their lives.

I loved learning about Sarah’s journey & her connection to books.  We learn how Sarah & her siblings were encouraged by their parents to read, and how reading was a big part of their family dynamics growing up.  I think Sarah has excellent reading tastes, and will probably borrow the physical copy from the library to copy down all the reading recommendation lists.   *Spoiler alert: Sarah is a BIG fan of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein.*

Sarah is a beautiful writer and you can tell that she is a very educated woman.  Some reviewers found her a bit pretentious, but I did not get that feeling while reading Book Girl…. I’m wondering if this is due to the fact that I listened to this book via audiobook that was narrated by the author herself… Her tone in the audiobook did not come across as pretentious.

I gave it 3.5 stars because it was too heavily focused on religion & faith for my tastes.  Now, this rating should definitely be taken with a grain of salt.  Had I known this book was classified as “christian fiction,” I probably would have passed on reading it.  I am not one for books that are overly religious or faith centered as they tend to feel pushy & preachy to me.  Another criticism is that her book recommendation lists are lacking in diversity in regards to authors & content.  If you are looking for classic books by white men & women, you’ll find a plethora of them here.

> Recommended to: fans of christian fiction & bookworms

> Book Recommendations if you enjoyed Book Girl: I’d Rather Be Reading the Delights and Dilemmas of a Reading Life by Anne Bogel

» Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Gods of Jade and Shadow was one of my most anticipated books of 2019.  When I heard that it was a Mexican folklore inspired fantasy set in Mexico during the 1920s, I could not wait to get my hands on it.  Historical fiction & fantasy mash ups are some of my favorite types of reads!  Did it live up to expectations?  Unfortunately it ended up being a bit of a disappointment for me…

Set in the 1920s, Gods of Jade and Shadow is about Casiopeia, a young girl that aspires to more than her current station in life.  Casiopeia is treated as a servant by her Grandfather & other male family members, but years for more.  After a series of events, Casiopeia must set off on a journey to help the former Lord of Mayan underworld, Hun-Kamé, reclaim various belongings in order to be restored to his former glory and defeat his traitorous brother.

With the fantastical elements & quest style plot, Gods of Jade and Shadow reads very much like a fairy tale.  As a reader I felt like I was listening to a story that had been passed down from generation to generation.  My favorite aspect of this book was that it was brimming with Mexican culture & folklore.

Casiopeia was a stereotypical Cinderella-type of character.  She waits on her Grandfather & cousin hand & foot while enduring their emotional abuse.  On one hand, Casiopeia was spunky & brave, but on the other hand she was impulsive & proud…  I had a hard time connecting with Casiopeia, thus having a hard time feeling invested in her plight.  

Despite Hun-Kamé being one of the main characters in the story, I do not feel like he was well fleshed out.  It was hard to feel the urgency of his dilemma when I knew little about him or his back story.  

I did not feel the romance in the story was believable or necessary.  I actually think the story would have worked much better without the romance sub-plot.

While I did enjoy the concept for the story, this book was lacking substance & development.  Gods of Jade and Shadow is a very plot driven story, but the focus was almost too plot heavy, which did not allow for enough character development.  The story line felt very jarring as we watch the characters bounce around from place to place.  I typically adore stories that include a journey/quest, but only if I get a strong sense of the setting, the characters, and the actions of the characters.  That did not happen for me in Gods of Jade and Shadow.  If I am being honest, this book felt very surface level.

> Recommended to: fans of fairy tale style novels; those interested in Mexican folklore

> Trigger/content warning: psychological abuse 

» The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) by R.F. Kuang

After reading The Poppy War earlier this year, The Dragon Republic was another one of my most anticipated releases of 2019.  The Poppy War set the tone of the series with excellent world building, a unique magic system, an awesome school setting, and a gruesome war.  The Dragon Republic follows Rin post Third Poppy War as she must deal with the consequences of her decisions.  Not only is Rin racked with guilt, but she is also battling an addiction & struggling to control her powers.

I’m happy to report that there was no second book syndrome for this epic series! The Dragon Republic was an excellent follow up to The Poppy War.

If I had to classify this series, I’d consider it fantasy with a heavy military fiction feel to it.  While the bulk of The Poppy War is a military school setting & revolves around Rin’s education, the bulk of The Dragon Republic centers around Rin joining up with the Dragon Warlord with the intent of overthrowing the Empress & establishing a republic.  The Dragon Republic is full of military strategy, gruesome battles, political intrigue, brutality, and back stabbing.  While TPW was a dark novel, TDR is even darker.  Kuang really explores the effects of war on her characters.  You may find that many characters from the first book are not the same in this book. 

This series is just so damn good.  Highly recommend.

> Recommend to: fans of military fiction

> Trigger/content warnings: drug addiction, suicidal thoughts, & graphic violence

> Book recommendations if you enjoy The Poppy War series: Book of the Ancestor series; A Song of Fire and Ice series

» The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

*4.5 Stars*

The Great Alone is about a a family’s journey to escape a father’s torment by relocating to Alaska.

Set in the harsh wild of Alaska in the 70s, The Great Alone was an excellent frontier/survival type of story.   I’ve always been fascinated by frontier style novels in which the characters must endure great hardship & show resilience in order to survive the land where they live.  I was engrossed watching Leni & her family grow and adapt.   The Alaskan setting of this book was my favorite aspect about this story.  Hannah paints a vivid picture of the Alaskan landscape in all its beauty and treachery.  Winter time would be the perfect time to pick this book up.

Themes included in The Great Alone include survival, coming of age, PTSD, domestic violence, family, & resilience.  This book was a roller coaster of emotion & heavy topics.  While reading I thought Hannah was going to go the cliche route a few times, but she kept on surprising me.  My only criticism of this book would be one particular portion of the ending.  It just didn’t feel believable, and felt too convenient.

> Recommended to: fans of survival/frontier stories; fans of dark family dramas; book clubs

> Trigger/content warnings: PTSD, domestic violence, & alcoholism

Book recommendations if you enjoyed The Great Alone: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Have you read any of these books?  If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

      Mini Book Reviews: September 2019 - Part 2 #BookReview #BookBlog #BookBlogger #Books #Reading #BookTalk *Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures and Transforming Power of a Reading Life…

[airoasis]

Workout Inspiration from Physical Fitness Stars

If you don't know these names, you need to.

You know how an Instagram feed that's full of delicious-looking food can make you want to get all up in that? The same goes for fitness. Follow badass women who post photos and videos of themselves dead-lifting twice their weight, showing off their chiseled legs, or sculpting a sick core, and you might be more inclined to hit the gym.

Here's a list of Instagram stars that hundreds of thousands — and in some cases, millions — of people are following. Get on it!

If you have any doubts about female weightlifters' capabilities, Christmas is your girl: With more than 391,000 followers, the CrossFit competitor and Olympic lifter posts photos and videos of herself lifting insanely heavy shit.

This Australian goddess hasn't racked up more than 638,000 followers for nothing. The exercise physiologist, yoga instructor, and CrossFit coach posts G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S photos of herself sweating everywhere you want to be.

Cassey Ho is a body-positive certified fitness instructor and Pilates maven loved by more than 1.3 million Instagram followers. Her feed is full of graceful poses and Pilates moves interspersed with healthy foods — and adorable animals. (Because why not?)

For her 361,000-plus followers, this celebrity trainer posts motivational quotes and selfies in fun fitness clothes and body-baring outfits.

More than 1.8 million people follow this beautiful Australian model-turned-personal trainer, who mostly posts photos of her covetable six-pack, flexing up a storm.

This triathlete calls herself the "Thick Fit" trainer. Her plyometric exercise videos and motivational captions keep her 420,000 followers around.

Some 2 million followers are obsessed with this Canada-based trainer known for her hourglass workouts. She posts creative exercise ideas that you can do anywhere — and selfies that prove her workouts actually work.

This fitness fanatic and instructor shrunk down from a size 16 to 6 — and shares photos with her 215,000 followers to prove it.

More than 4.1 million people follow this fitness model to see how fitness magazine cover stars (like Michelle) keep their shape. (Spoiler: It's no walk in the park.)

12. Katrina and Karena, @ToneItUp

Cali girls Karena, a triathlete and model, and Katrina, a health science student who once struggled with her weight, met at the gym, eventually collaborating to launch their own fitness studio, crazy popular YouTube channel, and 859,000-strong Instagram following. Their fitness account features healthy foods, inspiring before-and-after photos of women who've stuck with the Tone It Up fitness program, and workout ideas.

This yoga guru hasn't built up a following of 2 million for nothing. She posts beautiful yoga selfies and smiles with upbeat, borderline prophetic captions that just make you feel good.

Fact: This Australian fitness instructor's Insta vids are exhausting to watch — she works out hard. But because she relies on her own body weight or easy-to-access props like a pillow, set of swings, and chair, her posts provide actionable ways for you (and her 351,000 followers) to work it Tanya-style.

This college student and Crossfit competitor's account has a girl-next-door feel. She toggles between silly pics and seriously impressive fitness feats. If the combo makes you want to be her BFF, you can join her more than 690,000 followers.

Sixty pounds down from when she started, this single mom and functional fitness trainer from San Diego, California, is a stronger, leaner version of her former self. She posts quick, multi-move workout Instagram videos from her living room, to the delight of her 513,000 followers.

This French certified personal trainer and body builder doesn't just have a contagious smile (which she Instagrams on the regular) — she has an enviable body from head to toe. Her training is clearly responsible for it, and her Instagram account, which about 579,000 people follow, bears the evidence — as well as some fun stunts here and there.

This Australian certified-fitness trainer has a cult-like Instagram following of 6 million users. Her feed is full of incredible transformations (Hello, abs!) from fans who swear by her Bikini Body Guides.

This Italy-based fitness guru has a strength-training program of her own called The Fit Body Guides. Her 1.1-million strong following loves her body-positive instant transformations (#SoReal) almost as much as the newlywed's throwback wedding photos (#Gorgeous).

With a booty pop so famous its got its own hashtag (#Seltering!), this Instagram star's incredible butt has helped her rack up a following of more than 10.4 million people.

This strong AF fitness fanatic shares abs-pirational snapshots taken at the gym and everywhere else she sculpts (or simply shows off) her sculpted body, to the delight of her 8.7 million followers.

This certified fitness trainer fills her feed with proof that her I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E booty is 100 percent real. Nearly all of her posts are videos of creative exercises she uses to round out her butt at the gym.

If you're still one of those people who believes that yoga is a sport designed for certain body types, Jessamyn's account will set you straight. Her posts, which often involve difficult inversions, showcase her talent, while her captions spread the body-acceptance advocate's uplifting message.