#this scene in particular was visually striking to me

[ap-menz]

**psychedelic prog metal music plays in background**

[sammaggs]

4x02 Easy Money // 3x01 Burning Down the House // 3x02 Eclipse | Rift

Something that always strikes me about Ray's moment of reconciliation with his father (in a show that might as well be subtitled Fathers Kinda Suck Huh???????) is the way this scene in particular is shot.

They focus especially on Ray's bracelet as he extends his hand:

Which isn't the only time they've focused on Ray's bracelet during Important Character Building. There's of course, his intro in Burning Down the House,

The close-up on the similarity with Marcus Ellory's bracelet in Eclipse,

And a bunch of other moments over seasons 3 and 4 that basically use the bracelet as a quick visual stand-in for "Ray Kowalski's a little bit different."

It’s something Ray Vecchio would never wear; hell, it's something most cops would never wear. It's a little bit, as Ray Kowalski would say, queer.

And so is Ray Kowalski.

The decision to focus on this bracelet during the exact moment he offers his hand to Damian as a peace offering is therefore, to me, worth considering. I personally read this as an indicator that part of the reason for Ray's rift with his father was his queerness.

And the first thing Damian says to Ray after they shake hands?

He compliments Ray’s experimental hair! He mentions another “queer” element of Ray’s physical appearance—one his father has likely given him a lot of grief for—and accepts it. Metaphor!!

It is, of course, understandable that Damian would have wanted better for his son than to be a cop, and this isn't to say that there isn't a world where that might have been enough to cause Damian to lose meaningful touch with his son for a decade. It certainly made sense for Ray Vecchio's father, who was likely involved with low-level mob business. But it does seem pretty extreme for Damian!

There's also the beautiful scene where Ray tells Fraser about his family in the precinct mess. At the very end, it really does look like he has something else he wants to say... but then Huey interrupts.

Now I am, of course, aware that Ray was dating or engaged to Stella at the time he graduated Academy. So what could his queerness possibly have to do with anything?

Well, as much as many of us wish it would, your queerness does not disappear when you enter a straight-passing relationship. I've even seen interesting ruminations in fic that some of the early hardship in Ray and Stella's relationship—remember, they broke up for a while during her college tenure—might have been due to the fact that Ray was interested in (or even caught) experimenting with men.

A personal anecdote, if you'll indulge me: I was in my mid-twenties, four years into a relationship with a man I thought I was going to marry, and tormented constantly by the idea that I was, probably, queer. I had no way of finding out while I was in a committed monogamous relationship. When I told my own mother that I thought I was bisexual, she told me it was all right—but also to never, ever tell my father. Even though I was in a relationship with a man, the knowledge of my queerness would have been enough to potentially cause a rift between my father and I that I don't know if we ever could have repaired. [editor's note: i'm a lesbian now and my dad and I have a stellar relationship ftr but i did have to marry a whole man first so] [editor's note: i am also the editor]

Ray gets caught with a man while Stella is in college? Or Stella knows and tells Ray's mother while they're drunk on wine one night? Or Ray's parents find a magazine... or a photo... or a stamp from the wrong club... anything. There's a million reasons why Ray's queerness could and may have come up even while he was with Stella, even while he was monogamous. Because he was still queer.

I know there's a certain element of "sometimes the curtains are just blue, dude, chill” to all of my meta, but when it comes to this show in particular I very much operate in my analyses from a place of "everything is intentional." Small details really do matter; the way scenes are shot matter, the words that are used matter, there's intentionality behind it all. We can't know or understand authorial intent, of course, but we can read our own interpretation of that intent into it. (The author is dead but Paul Gross thought Callum Keith Rennie was hot, so)

This is, after all, another episode directed by George Bloomfield, who also did Burning Down the House and is responsible for that "love at first sight" moment in Say Amen, so the direction here is in the hands of someone who is clearly in lock-step with Gross around the inclusion of queerness in the latter seasons of the show.

This moment is interesting to me in particular when considering intent because I actually would prefer to see Ray and Damian's faces in this moment! I want to know what Damian is thinking, or if he frowns. I want to know if Ray looks nervous or concerned. We don't see that at all.

Instead of seeing them over the GTO, we get the close-up on the hands and the bracelet over the rebuilt engine.

Rebuilding!! They're doing it.

And that makes my little queer heart pretty happy.

[espumado]

Guys, you don't know what just happened to me!! I love soundtracks so I stopped to listen to The Bear's, i found the official FX playlist on Spotify and was listening to it when suddenly a podcast starts and I was like???? So i looked and it was about a horror film??? I, tring to understanding, went to the FX site to see the playlist and the episodes and saw that it was the song from the beginning of the ep5- Children (the lullaby) with our beloved Natalie💖...So what happened was that the music is from a horror film and instead of putting the soundtrack they put on this podcast!!! And I don't know if it was on purpose or just a mistake!!! (And all this reminded me of the people here who started a tag, I don't know who, about The Bear being a haunted/ghost story💀)

It's this scene, with this song:

And the Playlist has this podcast:

But i was like Nat why you have a horror movie song playing in your head??? And cause I'm curious, I went to find out more about the film, cause I didn't know the movie (horror isn't really my thing) and I discovered that: 

The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American film noir thriller directed by Charles Laughton. Despite receiving negative reviews upon its original release, it has been positively re-evaluated in later decades and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. “The movie is best known for Robert Mitchum's extraordinary performance as serial-killer-posing-as-priest Harry Powell, a menacing religious misogynist who marries widows for their money and kills them off in the name of the Lord. Having been jailed for stealing a car, he shares a cell with father-of-two Ben Harper, soon to be hanged for murder and the theft of $10,000. Before his arrest Harper hides the money in a rag doll belonging to his little daughter Pearl, making her and his 10-year-old son John swear never to tell where the money is hidden. The plot hinges on Powell's pursuit of the money and John's determination to protect his sister and escape from a psychopath whom others assume is virtuous. Hiding his past, Powell woos, then marries Harper's widow Willa (Shelley Winters). When she discovers his motives he murders her, and the children escape on a boat down the river. A tense chase ensues. The film exists in that cinematic no-man's-land of fairy tales for adults, is a children's fairytale – strange and idiosyncratic – but also a noir thriller, laced with the darkest elements of both genres: death, guilt, greed, poverty, cruelty, biblical references and a terrifying pursuit by the scariest of bogeymen. Laughton described it as "a nightmarish sort of Mother Goose tale". John, played superbly by the steely eyed Billy Chapin, is pivotal as the boy who is alone in perceiving Powell's true motives. In a tale of innocence and experience, he must quickly grow up in the most sinister of circumstances; he must resist adult hypocrisy and stupidity, and a new "father" who pretends to be loving, but is secretly abusive. Gripping in its narrative, the film is also frequently and darkly humorous.”

“Thinking of The Night of the Hunter in terms of its visual impact on other filmmakers, there’s a striking echo to be observed between its unseen presence in films by Scorsese, Spielberg, the Coens, even Ari Aster, and the influence of silent cinema on Laughton’s own filmmaking choices.”

“We can notice the importance of one particular scene: the escape of the children in a boat (they are running away from the killer). This scene, being so important, is also one of the most memorable of the entire film. The components that make it so memorable are: setting, lighting, framing, blocking and music. In the river sequence, the usual realistic environment of the film disappears, giving place to such an artificial setting that it seems that we are watching a whole new film.[...] Again, we feel that the children are safe again in the boat, as they run away from their hunter.

“The river symbolise safety – it is what separates (even temporarily) John and Pearl from Powell. In a way, it is a metaphor for the transformation of a past full of terror into a brighter future¹ with Rachel.”

About the music: “Composer Walter Schumann called the heavy four brass chords that often accompany Preacher a “‘pagan motif, consisting of clashing fifths in the lower register,’” which cede to the lullaby “Dream, Little One, Dream” with a shot of Gish. This celestial lullaby foreshadows her adoption of the children after they escape downriver. In the opening and river sequences especially, audio-visions juxtapose fantasy and reality, and good and evil, to propel the children to safety.[...] In these sequences, Laughton’s visual constructions and Schumann’s score establish abstract contours that take root in spectatorial memory. When the overture transitions from Preacher’s pagan motif to a tranquil lullaby, celestial sounds and Gish’s presence seem to safeguard the children from Preacher’s tyranny.[...] Schumann’s pagan motif, Miz Cooper’s lullaby, and the sounds of the children’s river journey mix realistic tropes and emotional flourishes in the manner of 1950s melodrama films, which especially employed music to articulate these opposing poles. For Peter Brooks, music punctuates the wordless gestures of the melodramatic “text of muteness”: its sweeping rhythmic motions render space and time tangible to imbue characters—especially muted victims—with emotional depth².[...] Analyzed through a motivic model that binds characters to themes, Hunter’s river lullabies foreshadow the children’s eventual safety with Miz Cooper even though maternal figures are not visible.”

So there is this important and well-known scene in the film when the song plays. When the kids are finaly safe in a boat on the river (the part of the song they use in the series starts at around 3:55):

So basically: there's a father who hid some money in the kid's toy (which reminded me of the money in the cans of tomatoes- KBL); an orphaned brother and sister; children looking for shelter; during the escape they are they feel safe in a boat on a river (when the lullaby plays) and in the end they are adopted and everything is fine.

I wanted to understand what this means for Nat, what it has to do with her. When the scene starts the song says "fear is just a dream…" then she thinks about her fears: her brother, mother and a mom's funeral (Marcus), then the song continues "so dream, little one, dream", like, it's not real, no need to fear it!

So…this is ep5 called Children, where: 1-Syd and Marcus take his mother's stuff out of the house and talk about their family 2-we find out that Ever is going to close (a funeral will happen) 3-Marcus and Nat talk about his mother and to start a new project to honor her while Nat is resting from pregnancy discomfort 4- it's the ep The Computer appears and Nat defends Marcus 5- there are the Faks, including John Cena, talking about their family and the hauntings 6- Syd and Uncle Jimmy talk and he says he wishes he had done more for the kids (she reminds him that he is there for them) and finally 7- Carmy goes to the basement and finds a box with photos of the family (Donna and Mike and himself too and a baby that could be Nat?!!!) then some riffs of the song Mixed Emotions by Rolling Stones start and it cuts to the credits with the lyrics right in the part: You're not the only one, You're not the only ship, Adrift on this ocean. And that's it! Just these lyrics and then just instrumentals. They cut the song to fit the scene and without any other part of the lyrics!!!

Carmy my man, Nat needs you! And she was the one who reminded him in the first season: "did you know i recently had a brother die too?" She's trying. She wants help, she already told him, "the thing that pisses me of is that you never ask her how i am doing!!!" but he can't ask her that "because he feels trapped, because he can't describe how he feels, so asking someone else how they're feeling seems crazy to him" (like, he literally told her that in S1). They need to talk, they need each other, they need family (a new one probably...the restaurant...uncle Jimmy too?? She talked with him about be a parent last season and he is always there for them, saving them). Nat managed to talk to her mother, even asked for help (it’s not a solution for everything, but it was a start)...but Carmy...there's still a long way to go, a next season thing. But I think it may be a thing they need to do together somehow, i dont know...

Nat is afraid of her past, motherhood and knows family is complicated, she is looking for a brighter future¹. She and Carmy (and Mike) are children of a abusive/alcoholic parent and live with the consequences of that (some people here have already talked better about the subject). So they are like the kids from the movie, who are muted victims—with emotional depth², in a complicated family, going throught the river until they reach a safer place with better people.

And also, last seasons they showed the "pyromaniac tendencies" of the Berzatto brothers, there were these references to setting the restaurant on fire as if that was the solution to their problems...and now in season 3 I thought that had been forgotten...instead, the ep1 already starts with (first a train, and then) a lake, which appears other times throughout the season... Copenhagen Carmy living in a boat on a river!!!, and all happy and safe, drawing on a bridge over a river!!!

We also had a scene with water being thrown on the kitchen countertop and "flooding" the space (with a song by Trent Reznor and Atticus for a war doc! that the director describes as profound, haunting, unsettling and deeply moving!!!) in a moment that the crew is cleaning the kitchen and everyone is tired and overwhelmed; there is Donna talking about the fish tank that breaks in a dream that takes place in a place she doesn't know that looks gray except for the tank (surreal, like a noir thriller maybe). These don't seem so safe, but they seem to be about the past, something to be overcome... And there's even a scene of Syd reflecting in front of a lake... Several water references...and I have no idea if that really means anything...or if i am going to deeper into this?😅

...but Nat, dear, are you okay?!...you feel like in a horror movie with your remaining brother seeking safety together somewhere or with someone, running away from a curse, a haunting in your family??? (in S1 Carmy talks about how she blames the restaurant, not her mother or Mike, she says the place sucks up all the work, money and time and all they get back is chaos and resentment) But seriously, someone help her!!!...and Carmy...She must have felt very lonely this season with Carmy like that...But I guess this all means that everything will be fine in the end, like in the movie!

Seriously, I couldn't come to a better conclusion about this but it left me curious and confused... And of course, it might mean nothing and just be an interesting song from an amazing movie that director Chris Storer likes because he likes great movies and that's all 🙃 But with all the movie references, great directors and hauntings...maybe I'm not so crazy😅 <<<I tell myself to feel better🫠

[tossawary]

I finally saw "Transformers: One" and I really liked it! If you like Transformers at all, it's a really fun and solid movie. Not, like, deeply sophisticated by any means, it got a little silly at times, though with the usual amount of on-screen robot death for the kiddos and everyone else to enjoy. But the movie was also compelling and colorful, visually striking and with pretty solid emotional beats, and it's perhaps the first time that I've actually really enjoyed Megatron as a character (as opposed to just being mostly neutral) out of what TF stuff I've seen. His voice actor really did a great job.

I wasn't sold on the animation, exactly, the first time that I saw the trailer. I do love stylized 3D generally, but I was still a little dubious with how shiny everything looked. Walked out of the movie at the end honestly loving the overall style choices: the still frames of the movie sometimes looked like really, REALLY well-done photographs of toys / photoshop edits of toys, and I liked it? Like if video game animation and stop-motion done with Transformers action figures had a really vibrant baby. Reminded me of an "I Spy" book for some reason. The backgrounds looked really great. It was different! And neat! I enjoy things that look a little unique.

It was fun to see what felt like really fresh takes on Optimus and Megatron. Like, I'm not married to any particular canon, so I don't really care about lore and characterization overhauls with new continuities, since TF has been doing that for a long time now anyway. I just want any given continuity to own its choices. It was funny to see Optimus as a "information and mobility and freedom of choice should be available for all! and I am going to pursue those things with the stupidest fucking stunts and schemes you've ever seen" guy and Megatron as a "believe wholeheartedly in suffering for the system until its deceptions are stripped away" guy. It felt almost like a role reversal sometimes, with certain lines, which was cool, but the conclusions felt very natural. Elita and Bee were also fun.

I liked how alien and scary the Quintessons looked compared to everything else. Cybertron as a constantly shifting planet was a fun and visually striking choice. Of course, the worldbuilding quickly starts to fall apart if you poke it too hard with a stick (intrigued as to what the hell was happening with Starscream and company's backstory), and I had some personal quibbles with the ending, but that's normal for TF stuff. I liked how fast-paced the movie was, I thought the humor worked better in context than it did in the trailer, and the action scenes were all a lot of fun. It was super cool to see them actually transforming and shifting between forms and into hybrid forms during fights.

Overall, it was entertaining! I'll probably go see it again for the visuals. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this continuity.

[nandysparadox]

six hundred strike may not be my favorite song of the saga, but it is the one i think about the most 😆 i have a lot of ideas of how that fight could've gone down, and since i'm not an animator, i figured i could at least write it down. i apologize in advance for the long post haha

it bears mentioning that i don't find issue with odysseus defeating poseidon as a plot point, i think it works thematically and since i try to take epic as a work separate from the mythology it doesn't bother me. it's alright if it does not work for you! that just mean this won't be the post to fix this song for you (not that that's my goal, i just wanted to share my interpretation)

second to this, i think it's important to keep in mind that in epic, functionally, the gods work like videogame bosses. this is established well in god games, in my opinion, and i take it as a feature of the universe.

the thing that made the vision of six hundred strike click for me was a video where jay explains how the gods' powers work in epic - particularly the sections where he discusses hermes and poseidon. well, i'm afraid to say jay hid the biggest spoiler for six hundred strike in this unassuming video 😆

about hermes - jay mentions that he relies on speed and flight, and that although his hits are not as powerful, he can get a lot of them in quick succession, and cause a lot of damage. does that remind anyone of something? yes, that is pretty much how odysseus attacks poseidon! using the power of the windbag to be faster and fly, and then landing the 600 strike move (on its own, i already think this is a cool detail. especially since hermes helps him so much)

and now, about poseidon - he's a long range fighter, it means most of his attacks involve things like overwhelming tsunamis, the shatter the ocean move where he gets a big water monster armor, etc. it also means that his weakness is close range attacks. he's still strong up close, but not nearly as strong. normally you wouldn't even be able to get close to him, for that to be a problem, but in particular, jay mentions someone like hermes could be able to get the jump on him. do you see where i'm going with this?

so yes, i think this is the vision of how that fight went down. i still think the visual execution was a bit lacking, considering i only got it after watching a video on jay's youtube channel '^^ but i also think it is possible to convey this visually! here's how I'd go about it, without contradicting canon (although some headcanons with the ghosts are so cool):

let's start with the windbag. listen, i love whimsy, but i also thought the jetpack thing was a little too silly 😆 i'm fine with it as a means to propel himself out of the water, i thought that was awesome, actually. but out of the water, why not keep it a little more unpredictable? odysseus struggles to use to zip around, but manages to control it enough to avoid poseidon's long range attacks. this is an opportunity to showcase that this is poseidon's attack style. then, unleash the power of the storm to break poseidon's water cthulhu. i think using expressions here would be the best way to show poseidon is now out of his comfort zone. he holds against odysseus for a while, but then with the speed of the windbag, odysseus unleashes an overwhelming six hundred strike attack. poseidon can't keep up with it, and odysseus manages to throw him to the shore, getting him out of his domain. I'd make poseidon more active in this bit, just so he isn't lying there and taking it.

then the trident scene follows as it - because i like it that way (using poseidon's own trident is a good explanation of how he did all that. also it is wicked cool, sorry)

this post has ended far longer than i expected, oops. this is just my interpretation of how things could've gone down, at least in a way that doesn't change canon too much. i will say, i love the idea of the ghosts helping (which would explain the chorus!) and i want to see someone tackle that in an animatic so bad 😆

TL;DR: with some visual changes, like keeping the windbag more unpredictable, showing explicitly that odysseus was able to get poseidon out of his comfort zone, and keeping the fight more dynamic, i think the first half of six hundred strike would've worked a lot better, but that's just my opinion

@glacierruler @caruliaa

[atamascolily]

The mirror crack'd from side to side; 'The curse is come upon me,' cried The Lady of Shalott. --Alfred Lord Tennyson

One thing that I appreciate about the ending of Rebellion is how reality literally splinters when Homura grabs Madokami's hands. It's such a visceral and compelling way to illustrate what is happening as everything that we took as "real" falls apart. This isn't quite what people mean by "breaking the fourth wall," but it's a similar effect, as it draws attention to an invisible barrier that we in the audience didn't even realize was there until it was broken. And of course it mirrors--pun 100% intended--the shattering of Homura's own soul gem moments earlier because any distinction between them no longer exists.

We often talk about a "mirrorverse" (thanks, Star Trek!) as a parallel universe where everything is reversed/inverted, but isn't that exactly what Homura has created here--a mirror universe?

And with the mirror come reflections. Lots of them. Everything is doubled, again and again.

It culminates with the tearing apart of Madoka from the Law of Cycles, complete with the sound of breaking glass.

What I hadn't quite realized before I watched this scene in slow motion is that as the glass continues to crack, it ends up forming a shape very similar to Homura's own soul gem--both have simultaneously broken and re-formed. (Note that even with all the "cracks", a series of nested diamonds--Homura's signature visual motif--are visible within it.) Only then do the "curses" come out and envelop everything...

...which leads to this fascinating series of everyone and their reflections being swallowed up.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret what happens next, but there's actually two parts: a crystalline structure that comes first, followed by the "curses" themselves.

Both end up covering the universe--but the "curses" end up forming a shield-like design while the mirror fragments/crystals remain in place.

Then, of course, Homura shatters her soul gem in her mouth, and it re-forms into Dark Orb (omg, I cannot write that with a straight face), which is basically the same thing that we already witnessed with a different set of symbols. At this point, the cracked glass imagery disappears, having fulfilled its purpose: the universe might be different now, a mirror version of what it once was, but it's no longer broken because it has been remade.

Breaking soul gems/glass is a major visual theme in Rebellion--Homura shatters her own soul gem with a bullet (doesn't take, because it was never real to begin with) and she and Madoka shattered the soul-gem shaped glass "bell jar" the Incubators have put her in--and here it reaches its apotheosis along with Homura, in a compact and striking sequence. On first watch, this scene feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on reflection (sorry not sorry), it's clear the entire movie was building towards this moment from the beginning.

I initially didn't read too much into the first key visual for Walpurgis no Kaiten because I assumed it was a placeholder from footage already on hand because they hadn't actually made the movie yet, but looking at it again in light of this discussion makes me reconsider my stance. This is not to say that I think this particular image will necessarily appear in the movie, but it does tie into the themes established in Rebellion of broken reality symbolized by a cracked mirror, and of Devil Homura reaching out to Madoka (hands again!) but being unable to connect because of a barrier between them, one that Homura no longer can control. However, my guess is that Walpurgis no Kaiten will express these same themes with unique and different imagery rather than completely re-hashing that of Rebellion.

That said, we're clearly not done with this theme entirely, because the second key visual has Homura facing off against a mirror version (mirrorverse?) of herself.

(in light of this discussion of cracked glass re-forming, that salamander head on the phone starts to make a lot more sense)

Furthermore, the trailer heavily features inverted/backwards writing, which also ties into Tarot symbolism and the concept of "reversed" cards--again emphasizing mirrors and mirror images. If Rebellion had echoes of Alice in Wonderland, it sure seems like Walpurgis no Kaiten is going for Through the Looking-Glass!

All the mirror/double imagery in Walpurgis no Kaiten didn't come out of nowhere--like so much of the movie, it appears to have been subtly foreshadowed in Rebellion, and is almost certainly a direct consequence of Homura's actions in this particular scene. All actions have consequences, and we'll find out what they are in the next movie.

tl;dr: It's all done with mirrors. :)

[chuuyadelune]

one thing that struck me about today’s BSD season 4 episode (aside from the world-turning-to colour moment, which was super dope!), was the use of levels and positioning. in particular, i’m referring to ranpo’s scene here, where he makes his address to the audience.

first of all, the imagery of him being on a throne directly calls to his self-proclaimed new status as the “world’s greatest detective”. but what’s also interesting is just how high up he is.

it’s not so clear in those first screenshots, but here, you get this very clear view of how high up he is. he’s on the tallest level of the stage, above murakami, the policemen, and the audience.

this whole sequence takes place after fukuzawa hands him those infamous glasses, and tells him that he’s gifted. ranpo believes he’s an ability user, and so, this separates him from the masses in his mind, who are visually represented here by the audience on the ground (including fukuzawa, who hasn’t discovered his ability yet at this stage). and this not only separates him from them — it elevates him. putting him on, not only the stage, but the highest part, emphasises the difference in his self-perception. he is different from the regular ‘monsters’ because he is an ability user: a rarity, an urban legend of sorts.

even here, when the police officer (who is definitely not suspicious at all) comes over to compliment ranpo and fukuzawa, the concept of levels is at play. this police officer is, to our current knowledge, a regular, non-gifted human. he even expresses shock and awe at the fact that he’s in the mere presence of an ability user. ranpo is at the top of the stairs, again, emphasising his position as a gifted ability-user, someone beyond the skills of a regular human.

and ranpo’s (literal) elevation, especially in the stage scene, is also linked to the themes of the play itself, i’d argue. and like, full disclosure that i’m long overdue for a reread of untold origins since my memory is very blurry at best, so i’m just going to be basing this off what the anime does with the play (since, after all, this is a post analysing the relevance of positioning and layers/height/elevation in the anime).

at the start, it’s stated that angels are ‘gifted’ beings — and the word used here is, to my knowledge, the same as the word for ability user (please correct me if i’m wrong!). so the association is immediately established: gifteds — ability users — are strong, beyond human comprehension, and powerful enough to strike a fallen angel down. so that is to say, stronger than the normal, status quo.

there’s religious (largely christian) imagery written all over the stage. at the start, one of the fallen angels in the play is ‘murdered’, and the imagery behind is undoubtedly a nod towards the crucifixion of jesus. and this position and framing here very much reminds me of an altar. especially with murakami’s ‘corpse’ under the (white!) cloth.

ranpo’s position, above everyone, being deliberately above the cross, the centre of the spotlight — it’s almost as if he is some higher being. something there to cast judgement above all. something like… an angel. who are gifted beings, according the play, as he himself believes he is, since he’s been dubbed an ability user by fukuzawa.

indeed, the murder and the play are deeply connected — but so’s the symbolism of ranpo rising above everyone else and the concept of ‘gifteds’/‘ability users’ and the concepts laid out in the play. at least, in my view.

positioning has always been used in the BSD anime to display power dynamics and relations, and it’s a similar concept here. the subtle details make all the difference to the way we view the anime, i think. and that’s the power of visual storytelling!

[swan-orpheus]

Finally rewatched it. Still have many reservations. I cannot fault a bit of the Tantiss stuff technically. Still feels like they had just barely enough time to carry out the mission and the late introduction of the Bizarro Batch, Scorch death, Zillo escape, and Rampart/Nala Se encounter still feel flat to me. Very nice visuals. The music was a little underwhelming at times, almost trite and perfunctory which I found distracting as it has been so striking and compelling all series long. Echo is a highlight as usual and one of the very best parts. But there is an emotional core that feels missing/rushed past. Could have kept the epilogue or not. I very much like the parting visual of them under the tree together. The Hunter and Omega convo is nice. (I am very curious to know why Crosshair and Wrecker need to have eyes on them. What exactly do they get up to??)

Still find it very weird that we do not get Phee (was she cut?). She introduced them to Pabu and the people there and she seemed very fond of them all and a part of their large family. Feels very offputting that she was their ride to the prison and nothing more this season.

So it had a handful of great moments and far too many moments that were necessary to keep things moving but not gripping in their execution. They were not bad if isolated but unfortunately colored by a lack of emotional urgency. Might improve over time if I step around some of the gripes, but I hate that I have to do it. The rescue of the children and the clones felt rushed. The sweeping away of Tantiss was abrupt cause we had to hurry and get back to Pabu. Loved Pabu and I'd honestly swap some of the lackluster action for more Pabu at this point, including the Bizarro Batch and the drawn out capture of the Batch with Hemlock's feeble attempt to be menacing. I honestly was not at all afraid for anyone's survival at that point. It was all show and hot air. Like let's go back to Pabu and meet up with Rex and co, tell stories, and have space margaritas. the end. The Bridge scene was striking but the hug still leaves me kind of numb in the face of it all. The glaring omission of particular people and things felt anticlimactic. Certain things/people/... *coughs* should have been made clearer at the outset of Season 3 so that we could focus on a more emotionally coherent story going forward.

The tree scene on Pabu and Omega smiling over at Echo were definitely the highlight for me. And sheesh, the freaking colors and landscape shots.

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #85

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 6, Every Day, bees

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are long, as expected at this point in the story. Neither sideburn reaches longest-length.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak of hair can be found.

...

Hairstyle Changes

I am focusing on the style before Crowley changes his appearance.

The lighting has lost the greenish tent that the demons gave over the elevator when Crowley was inside it.

Instead of one tiny pocket of hair before those elevator doors closed, Crowley has two more obvious pockets of hair. The top hair swoops upward and tilts to Crowley's right.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

As noted in the last post, the bookshop doors were open when Crowley went up in the elevator. Something somewhere made them closed again at the start of this episode. While Shax is not seen physically touching the doors or heard making a miracle sound to open the doors, the doors open with a sound that, to me, indicates it was most likely that she kicked them open.

That means those doors opened while Crowley was going up in the elevator. The bookshop now has an open broken window and its double doors open while Crowley is in Heaven. I don't know why it's important that these things are happening, but I think it is important and done on purpose by the overall story.

...

In Heaven, as an initiating touch for the scene, Crowley's left hand touches the wall of the elevator.

So, he's touched that bigger threshold with a physical touch while avoiding the buttons and doors.

He starts with a question, "Right, where do you keep your records?"

From this point onward during this scene, he and Muriel do not touch any physical earthly objects with their hands. However, what they do touch is their own reflections on the floor. In particular, Crowley keeps moving, occasionally pivoting with a squeaking noise using one of his shoes to indicate his altered touch with his reflection on the floor. Well, that's what I assume is the intent anyway.

My general understanding through my play is that Crowley is taking advantage of the reflections to handle the touches during their dialogue. In order to use this method, he is allowed to retie his Tied Hands three times. He makes use of having his back to the camera to extend or manage this play.

The first retying happens while Crowley is walking backwards. He does not make a point with his index finger, and neither does Muriel. He has a pocket made with his legs and his right shoe tip is visible, so that's probably what makes up for the lacking extended index finger. His Belt Head is visible, and there are plenty of potential Overhead Lights above and to the left of his left ear. If I want to find two in particular, I would pick the two visually pocketed between him and Muriel.

Muriel has an extended index finger before the rest of the second retying happens. Because the question occurs to me, I have checked that Muriel's pocket chain is also visible on screen when they make that point. Soon after, there are two cuts that could have the rest of the retying. The first cut is from a further distance from the camera where it's difficult to confirm if a clasp strikes a lapel edge. Crowley says, "It's fine." He had his back to the camera at the start of the cut. In the next cut, he says, "You're forgetting about the bees." Both of these cuts make sure Crowley's Belt Head is visible. The second cut gives him an Overhead Light.

For the third retying, Crowley is the one with an extended index finger, and he seems to extend the retying session due to how he keeps moving and circles around until he says, "unescorted." Again, the Belt Head is visible. He has two stronger Overhead Lights in the later part of the sequence to help further indicate that yes, he is extending the retying to have the clasp strike in this cut.

Another thing Crowley does during all of this sequence is make sure that he is in front of Muriel or visually on the camera's right hand side up until he changes the appearance of his clothes.

When the two are on screen together after Crowley's clothes change, Crowley is behind Muriel with Muriel now being on the camera's right hand side. Additionally, Muriel has both of their index fingers extended.

In the cut before Crowley changes his appearance behind a pillar, the tie is blurry with the tassels ensured to be off screen. The tassels are the thumbs of the Tied Hands.

After Crowley changes appearance, his gold tie is pocketed into his gray jacket. He has a gold headband, and he no longer has a belt. The Belt Head has moved to become his headband while he is in Heaven.

Crowley's chosen new sunglasses actually make his snake eyes more obvious. His snakeskin boots are gone and replaced with sandals, so that we can actually see his feet.

Near the end of the cut, he hops as probably a last altered touch to the ground. Now that his Tied Hands are pocketed, he can't use that reflection method anymore with the retying.

...

This Heaven visit will give an overall strong clue about Crowley's special sight and The Window Trick. In this scene, Crowley's body language as he slithers around this floor talking to Muriel indicates that he is seeing Muriel. Instead of seeing Muriel, he's sensing Muriel with his eyes. To communicate this special sight, his sunglasses lack reflections of Muriel or reflect the lights in this well lit space.

I credit the Heaven visit as a strong clue because it was the first one I found that led me to take notice of the moving people reflections in Crowley's sunglasses when he enters his car at the end of this episode.

...

The bees dialogue is a meta reference to the Good Omens book. Speaking of books, as an update about my reading progress in a desperate attempt to improve my play, I am currently reading Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett. That puts me at book 17 out of 41 of the Discworld series.

...

Story Commentary

I would think that Heaven is supposed to be an equivalent inside the pub despite its vast expanse. That way, Crowley's car is Hell, and the pub is Heaven. But I'll admit, I can't really confirm it for myself by trying to look at the clues from the story, such as where the lights are and when.

...

(For reference: Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel (Part 2))

The below is largely copied from the first link above with some edits now that I understand how active the Tied Hands and Belt Head are throughout Good Omens 2.

As the two arrive in Heaven, Crowley makes sure to exit the elevator first. His foot decidedly makes sure to not touch the lower threshold of where the doors slid open. His shadow can be seen to his left side. When Muriel follows, they don't have a shadow to their left side at all. That could be a clue about their angel light.

Crowley quickly refers to Muriel's rank when asking about records. We've already seen Muriel know Crowley's name without us knowing how they got it. Now we see Crowley know Muriel's rank without us knowing how he got it. We're even going to see both of them receive each of these pieces of information later on this trip in Heaven.

Not long after the rank reference, one of the lines Crowley says is, "You're forgetting about the bees."

Crowley, how many times has Muriel helped you break into Heaven by this point?

I hope it's not more than one, but it's going to be awhile to get such an answer.

Muriel's "forgetting" are they? Does he know that Muriel knew about the bees before? Did they talk about it? Did they work together?

As noted in the Earthly Objects section, Crowley is pocketing his Tied Hands when changing his clothes. He's doing that because Muriel led him to that decision.

Neither one seems to truly remember the other, but both are guiding each other to certain ends.

...

The Bookshop

It's probably worth checking in with the events of the bookshop while Crowley and Muriel are in Heaven. After this particular scene for their entrance, the story goes back to the bookshop.

Gabriel is instructed to go and hide. Aziraphale eventually decides to leave the area to get a candelabra. Maggie seems to accidentally invite the demons in. Shax's posture is stiff and suggests she has retreated into preferring to not have any visible physical touches on earthly objects herself.

When Aziraphale returns, he finds out that the demons are entering.

As they enter, the standing chandeliers near the front of the bookshop are affected. The way I interpret this part of the story is that change is to convey demon darkness. It surrounds them as a collective aura.

Aziraphale addresses the circle, and it lights up in response.

The story shows that these lower-ranked demons were actually willing to retreat before Shax threatened to hurt them.

Who is on the other end of that circle? My guess is Saraqael though the Metatron is certainly a possibility. In season 1, it was the Metatron. While it could be him again, it's hard to be sure since I think the story has hinted that Saraqael is who can and does watch and look in on the bookshop from above the circle, notably during the episode 1 miracle to hide Gabriel. Plus, I think the Metatron is an outside force slowly entering the book that is this story during these particular events.

We'll see Saraqael approach Crowley and Muriel while they are in Heaven and before we see the Metatron.

This sequence ensures that it's understood the broken window is still broken and open, and that those two bookshop doors are still open. In fact, the doors still being open is confirmed in the last video frame before the episode 6 opening theme song.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

[smugpugchimera]

God damn I just woke up from dreaming about a non existant piece of media that I wish was real.

I even tried to look it up In My Dream cause it was bonkers, but alas, it's but a figment of my mind

I dreamed of watching a small portion of it, so I don't know (or understand?) the plot necessary, but it's style and surrealism blew me the fuck away. We follow some kind of girl-entety protagonist, and the entire environment is an abstract mesh of 80s-style abstract geometric surrealism, old math book covers, and encyclopedia illustrations. The places are disjointed in space and get simplified in a single void of color when far away. Everything has a vibe of living on a microscopic level. While at it, there're were also kinda, gruesome scenes with other characters that don't quite make sense but left a very visceral impression, the way gore felt in that environment (and how weird and nonsensical it was) is very striking. For a bit, we follow a sentient cat-like entity that has some trouble delivering its kitts. They meet with the protag and hide together from some sort of a giant fish predator. I won't describe any of the strange gore things cause I honestly don't know what that was, necessary, but the situation ends in the protagonist having to take care if the kitts of the cat-adjacent being. prologue is spent in a kind of a primordial space that also distinctively feels like the periphery of the local society. I think I'd also draw a similar vibe comparison to Samurai Jack environments. Though, again, more abstract, but also more well-rendered? It's as if it's an older film that uses mixed media animation, paintsprayed backgrounds, and early 3D to achieve this very particular type of uncanny. Later in the plot, our protag has to move into a different place, that is like, an industrial core of the area. Even compared to the previous location It's a blight of abstract geometry. It has this unnatural, AI generated polish and artifacting. Things are less cluttered, more spread out, and have a strange regularity. There're products and brand names all around, all scrambled to the point of being unrecoverable. And the empty spaces, softly lit, as if, non tangible voids of color that surround everything. It's mostly bright, synthetic green. The skybox but a gradient of a few colors, no clouds or celestial objects to be seen. The plot didn't progress much further than that, but despite the very strange cover, the core of it felt like a Don Bluth film in a sense, specifically "All the dogs go to heaven", kinda? Again, just a vibe.

I tried to search for some visual aid and surreal 2000s encyclopedia art I'm referring to is Impossible to find, but I tried to find some other things in the similar vein. First area was very organic on a macro scale, but did manifest strange regularities too.

All "land"scapes featured both ringgit geometry and lava lamp like formations

The spacing of things in the second location reminds me also of this old puzzele game "Balance", tho that has to do with the feeling of the gameplay too :0

I'd say the disjointed-ness and unrecognizability of the familiar also gives me the work of Ivan Seal

Idk I'm just saving this for later inspiration, I lament many imaginary media my brain comes up with aren't real :(

[toytle]

can i see 5 + 6 plsssss 🤲🏾

5) bedtime story [halbarry]

i must confess, this was simply a pre-sleep scenario playing in my head while i was settling into bed, no plot, no punchline. sometimes your brain just plays movie scenes of your fav characters, and you have no choice but to get back up to write it down before you forget. not much happens after this, but i wanna save it jic this does end up being drawn bc, well, i think it’ll be even cuter visually ☺️

6) pretty ugly [t4t hb au]

at the risk of word vomiting my process, i planned their first meeting since the very inception of the t4t childhood friends au, but i keep delaying it bc frankly. idk if i trust myself to handle kid hal yet. he was such a sweetheart back then, but every time i look at the way i portray him, it doesn’t feel like i represent the full picture

kids act differently around peers than they do authority, so i thought i would still be able to maintain his “childhood innocence” if i threw in some arrogance/ignorance to reflect how easily influenced he is by his environment too. i’m not sure if i strike the balance. i worry that the way i push his more immature qualities misrepresents him as a simple-minded meathead stereotype instead

i also have mixed feelings abt this one bc even tho i wrote this before i found out, i keep getting flashbacks to the childhood hal + carol first meeting retcon where hal goes from “no way, you wanna be a pilot too??” to “psh, girls can’t be pilots!” which is not at all supposed to be the read on this. not to mention, this particular au has slight dcshg influences, so it’s also an expanded characterization, but maybe a counterintuitive one. as if this wasn’t complicated enough, like how the hell is anyone supposed to know any of this thru a jokey comic lol

and btw, i don’t think this is smth anyone would criticize or even think abt, fanart tends to get way more leniency than fanfic from what i’ve seen. but this isn’t abt anyone else, this is between me and hal, and unfortunately those are just the types of things i have to consider when it comes to my personal quality control

[ask game wip list]

[fablesrose]

Ch 17 - The Three Strikes Job

Series Rewrite Masterlist 

Pairing: Eliot Spencer x Ford!Reader

Description: When Lieutenant Bonanno gets shot, the team goes after a corrupt mayor to get justice.

Words: 4682

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, is he going to be okay?” Parker asked.

Nate had just come in and explained the situation. Lieutenant Bonanno from the State Police was in the hospital after a shooting. It was pretty serious and while it was likely he would pull through, it wasn’t a guarantee. He was still in a coma and there were no current suspects.

“They don’t know,” Nate said, pacing the front of the room, clearly upset and drunk. 

“Okay, this guy’s a cop,” Tara pointed out. “You’re thieves-”

“I’m not a thief!” Nate declared, but then sat down. “Bonanno, is the cop we tip off when we need to put the cuffs on a mark.”

“You do realize we’re gonna be covering the same ground as the state cops on this one,” Hardison asked. “Hundreds of angry, highly motivated state cops.”

“By the way guys,” Eliot piped up, “whoever shot him up, was using military grade weaponry.”

“Well you know what, I don’t care!” Nate yelled. I flinched back, not expecting him to raise his voice so suddenly. He continued, his voice still raised, “I don’t care about that. This guy dedicated his life to doing the right thing! And this is his payback? I mean, his family’s pain is what he deserves? If we don’t settle the score on this, why do we do this? Do you understand?”

I curled myself into the corner of the couch. I could feel my eyes tearing up, both at the visualization of him and his family suffering and the fact that I didn’t like when people yelled. As far as I could remember there had never been a reason for the discomfort, maybe it’s something natural. And though Nate or my dad very rarely yelled when I was growing up, when they did, it was understandable if not deserved like when I did something stupidly dangerous and it did scare me enough so I never did it again. 

There was an ever stretching silence before Eliot leaned forward in the chair next to me and asked Hardison, “What are Bonanno’s active files?”

It didn’t take long at all for Hardison to pull them up on the screen, “According to the State Police database, Bonanno had half a dozen open cases. The most recent one was a protection racket out of Arcadia, but the cops were focusing on an auto theft ring out of Waynesboro. Let’s just say if you’ve jacked a car in Massachusetts in the last year, your head’s gonna be bouncing off a cruiser by dinner time.”

Nate stared at one case on the screen in particular, “What’s that one?”

“That’s public corruption,” Hardison answered, “there’s practically no files on that thing.”

“That’s it,” I blurted out before I could even process the thought. There was something about that case that just felt right. Or more accurately, it felt wrong in a way that mattered in this scenario. A public corruption case with no files on it was fishy on its own, but the fact that it was one of Bonanno’s cases, a guy who seemed to live for justice and from what Nate said, ‘doing the right thing?’ It pushed it over the edge of deniability. 

“What? No, no, y/n-” Hardison insisted, “These other two files, they involve violent criminals. This one? It, its-”

“No no no,” Nate cut Hardison off, “she’s right, that’s it. Just… check the shooting, put up the scene.”

Hardison quickly threw the crime scene photos up on the screen. All concrete and blood splatters. 

“Okay, so Bonanno goes to a remote location,” Nate talks it out, “alone, no backup. That means he knows his attackers and he’s not expecting any trouble. What did you just say?” He asked Hardison, “No files on it?”

Hardison shook his head. 

“So,” Nate continued, “Bonanno, was keeping this investigation, off the books.”

“It explains the secret meeting,” Tara relented. “Off hours, away from any witnesses.”

“Cops are looking in the wrong place,” Eliot said. He then leaned towards me and whispered, “Nice job, sweetheart.”

I couldn’t help the shiver that I felt flow through me at his praise. I smiled softly at him with a nod before turning my attention back to Nate who was pacing in front of the room. 

“Absolutely, so,” he muttered, “That leaves, I mean, that leaves us.”

“So who’s the bad guy?” Parker asked. 

Hardison looked it up quickly and when it seemed he had the answer, he proposed an alternative, “or, or or, and I’m just spitballing here, we could just let the state cops handle this one. Call in an anonymous tip.”

“Come on Hardison,” Nate said. “How bad could this be?” It didn’t seem like he believed the statement, and looking around, none of us were convinced either. 

Our skepticism was warranted when it was revealed that Bonanno was investigating the mayor of Bellbridge, Massachusetts, Brad Culpepper the third. Someone who was surrounded by security, the press, and probably had half of the local cops on his personal payroll. No wonder Bonanno was keeping it off the books. 

Nate and Tara attended Culpepper’s re-election fundraiser posing as a real estate developer and a PR rep to gain some insight on him, maybe even getting an in. Parker was casing the mayor’s office, and the rest of us, Hardison, Eliot, and I went over to the Bonannos’ house to see if we could find anything there. One problem, there was a police officer watching the house for the family. 

Hardison dug through his box of different jackets, tossing out ones that said FBI, DEA, and others until he grabbed the ones he was looking for: Crime Lab. 

“You spend your weekends making these things, don’t ya,” Eliot asked distastefully. 

“Yes I do,” Hardison replied, “and does anyone appreciate that?”

“I do,” Parker said on comms. “I like the costumes.”

“I actually helped make these ones,” I said as I shrugged a jacket on. When Eliot gave me a puzzled, unimpressed look I said, “What? You have cooking, I’m still exploring creative, ‘making things’ outlets.”

Eliot muttered something but I couldn’t hear it over Parker saying, “I wish I was there.”

“Parker, we need someone to sweep the mayor’s office while he’s here at the fundraiser,” Nate explained. 

“Fine, but I never get to do anything fun,” she reiterated before she jumped off a roof, something I knew she enjoyed an unnecessary amount. 

As we approached the house, I had to jog to keep up with the boys’ swift pace. When we got up the front porch where the officer was sitting, Hardison cleared his throat.

“Is this Lieutenant Patrick Bonanno’s place of residence?” he asked the officer. Once he affirmed Hardison continued, “Alright, we’re from the crime lab. Here to collect evidence from the crime scene.”

“Oh, this isn’t a crime scene. We’re just watching th-” the officer tried to say before Eliot cut him off. 

“Wait a minute, I’m sorry, he just said this wasn’t a crime scene.”

I stayed on the front step as Eliot and Hardison opened the front door to look in the house.

“I’m just house sitting,” the officer insisted. 

“Oh no, he’s right, this isn’t a crime scene,” Hardison said. “Cuz he done walked all over it!”

“I smell soup,” Eliot said seriously. “You smell soup?”

Hardison and I sniffed the air. While Hardison said “I do,” I said, “I’d say tomato and beef, yes.”

ELiot gave me a slightly amused look, lifting the corner of his mouth and an eyebrow before passing Hardison to go into the house. 

“What happened, Goldilocks?” Hardison asked the officer. “Get a little hungry and decide to make some lunch in the middle of an active crime scene?” 

“I would never do that,” he said, lifting his iced tea in the process, looking between the two of us before lowering his hand, realizing his mistake. 

“Eh, uh, mm- Let’s see what you would do, move,” Hardison said. 

To the officer’s credit, when he looked at me and saw that I was carrying a camera case he offered to take it in for me. I adopted the boys’ stern demeanor though, scolding him, saying it was delicate equipment and ushered him into the house. 

Hardison dropped some yellow crime scene numbers around the living room, next to toys and what not and got the officer started looking for suspicious fibers in the carpet. He instructed us to search the rest of the house for evidence and DNA. 

I was searching odd rooms here and there, taking odd pictures mostly for the noise, ones I planned on deleting later. Eliot passed by a doorway where I was when I was taking one of these pictures, fiddling and experimenting with settings. 

“That another one of your ‘creative outlets?’” Eliot asked. 

 “Knowing a little bit of photography was helpful in freelancing every once in a while,” I said offhandedly.“Besides, it’s nice to have good pictures sometimes.” I looked up at him and saw that sunlight was reflecting on him from somewhere I couldn’t quite determine. It seemed to be hitting him just right, he had a slight smile on his face that I wasn’t sure was conscious. It was a moment I wanted to capture. I lifted my camera and was pleased to see that he paused for just enough time for me to take a picture. I looked it over on the screen and then looked up at him in the doorway, “it’s perfect.”

He shook his head, “Come on, you’re gonna delete that right?”

I hugged the camera to my chest when I passed him, walking into the next room, “Never.”

As we searched, Tara coached Parker through convincing the mayor’s secretary that she was pregnant with his baby from a one night stand to avoid her getting kicked out for searching his office. I struggled not to cringe at the awkwardness coming through in waves through the comms. I could only imagine what that secretary was thinking, but I had a pretty good idea. 

Eventually Eliot found Bonanno’s investigation notes taped to the bottom of one of his office drawers. The officer proudly came in with a twig from the carpet, delaying us from looking through them until Hardison praised his efforts and encouraged him to keep looking. 

“Looks like he was investigating a company called Kirsch Industries,” Eliot said, reading the notebook. 

“Seems like Bonanno found out that for the past couple of years, Kirsch industries has been buying up property on the waterfront,” Hardison said. 

“Found a file in the mayor’s office for Kirsch Industries,” Parker said. “It’s incorporated in the Cayman Islands.”

“The only industry in the Caymans is scuba diving and tax evasion,” Hardison said. 

“It’s a front company for the mayor,” Eliot concluded. 

“The mayor did say he wanted to build a park on the waterfront,” Hardison realized. 

“So,” I chipped in, “Mayor buys land from his own company with city money, free cash.”

The boys nodded with me before asking Parker what else she had from the mayor’s office. 

“Yeah, I mean, there could be a safe in here, but I don’t have time to move all the balls and bats out of here. He could start a baseball team with all the crap he has in his office,” she complained. 

We listened as Nate cut off his and Tara’s conversation with Culpepper and told us, “Alright guys, wrap it up. We’re gonna go on a little field trip.”

The three of us shared a look and went to start packing up our stuff. Before we got too far I stopped the boys, “Wait, since I have my camera out, let me take a picture.”

Hardison instantly wrapped his arm around Eliot’s shoulder with a comically large smile and pointed at the evidence in Eliot’s hand. Eliot gave one of the biggest eyerolls I had seen. I quickly took a picture of them like this and smiled at the results. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here.”

Turns out our little field trip was to the local minor league ballpark. We were some of the few people in the stands as the team was just practicing in the field. 

“I don’t know,” Tara said, looking over the field and then at us, “Culpepper doesn’t strike me aa the type to order a hit. Especially on something like a graft case.What’s the big deal, you know? You get caught, you go on TV with your wife, you cry, you get re-elected.”

“Yeah, it’s the American way,” Parker agreed. 

“Exactly.”

“Naw, this guy’s been caught in the middle of a dozen corruption cases,” Hardison said. “Each time he’s walked away and somebody else took the fall. This guy does not get caught.”

“Don’t know, still doesn’t feel right,” Tara insisted quietly. She looked over at Eliot, “What’s that?”

“It’s a page I found out of Bonanno’s notebook,” he replied as he stared at the writing on it. 

“The Maltese Falcon,” Tara read. “The book or the movie?”

“It means something,” Eliot insisted. “I just…”

“Okay,” Nate said as he finally joined us. “This is how we’re gonna take down the mayor,” he gestured to the stadium.

“Baseball?” Hardison asked. 

“Yeah, we’re gonna steal this ballpark,” Nate nodded happily and started to walk away before he stepped back to us adding, “And the team. Not necessarily in that order.”

Nate and Tara posed on the waterfront to get Culpepper’s attention. The plan was to convince Culpepper that we were gonna build a ballpark there and try to get him to get in on the action with some bribes from his re-election campaign. A federal offense. But first, we needed a team to play in the ballpark. 

Eliot snuck into the team, posing as a transfer and a spy for the owner. He started spreading rumors that the team we were just watching practice was going to be moving to our new stadium. 

“There’s only one problem,” Eliot said after Hardison explained his fabricated baseball history, including a catchy Japanese energy drink commercial. “I don’t like baseball.”

“What? Everyone likes baseball,” Hardison insisted. 

“I don’t like baseball, man,” Eliot reiterated, “Alright? I don’t like sports where you can’t score on defense. Football, hockey, even basketball. But baseball?”

Hardison turned to where I was sitting on the couch, “Back me up here, y/n.”

I glanced up at him from where I was examining my nails, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it's fun going to a game with your friends on a sunny day, getting to see some home runs…”

“But?” Eliot egged me on.

I dropped my hands to my lap and made full eye contact with them, “It can get boring sometimes, especially on TV. I only watch if I can go to the game.”

Hardison shook his head at the two of us, “I’m not even talking to you.” He then walked away. 

Eliot repeated me under his breath, “yeah, it’s boring.” Before Hardison was completely gone he did ask for him to put on the commercial again, to which he obliged. 

Later that day, Hardison, Parker, and I were calling into radio stations with different voices and accents, further spreading the rumor that the Beavers baseball team was leaving their town. Hardison and I were equally surprised when Parker angrily burst into Spanish on her call.

“You speak Spanish?” Hardison asked. 

Parker just looked between the two of us, “Si.”

On the plus side, the rumors bumped ticket sales to the Beavers’ games by a hefty margin. Once Nate and Tara let Culpepper swipe their fake baseball plans, he was hooked. Luckily, it was game day, so we all went to the baseball game. Hardison, Parker, and I started a protest outside the gates to keep the Beavers from moving, dressing up and making signs. Nate and Tara were meeting with the owner, giving Culpepper the impression that the move was actually happening, and Eliot was playing catcher in the game. 

Once the protest was well underway, I set my poster to the side and headed into the stadium to watch the game. Hardison was able to get us seats behind home plate if we wanted them and I happily decided to take advantage of the opportunity. 

The game was pretty exciting, quite a few hits and runs by both teams. When the other team got a particularly good hit, the runner was looking to score, but Eliot threw his helmet to the side to catch the ball from second base and body slammed him, getting him out. I could see the smile Eliot had from the stands, clearly being won over. He shook out his hair with some of the most beautiful curls I’d seen before heading to the dugout. 

It wasn’t too long before Eliot was up to bat.

“Meet me outside,” Nate said over comms after his brief meeting and agreement with Culpepper. It seemed we had this in the bag. 

“What?” Eliot said in disbelief, “I’m three for four. This guy’s throwing great, I’m not going anywhere.”

I whined too, “Nate, I’m sure it can wait until after the game, let me just watch. It’s been ages, and this is a great game.”

Right then Eliot hit a great ball, he’d at least get to second or third base, if not a home run. 

“Alright, good news, bad news,” Nate said to the others though I could still hear him through comms. 

“Good news?” Tara asked.

“The mayor’s hooked, we’re in the pinch.”

“Bad news?”

“I think we lost Eliot and y/n til the playoffs.”

“Please, Nate,” I replied, “it’s one game. Relax. Not sure about Eliot though.”

Like I had said before, it could have waited until after the game was over. Once Eliot and I got back to McRory’s the team was sitting there still discussing the logistics of framing the mayor. Eliot jumped right into how great the game was and his performance. 

“Excuse your rudeness,” Hardison said, “I’m explaining the con. It’s very complicated.”

“Really?” Eliot asked, “the mayor gives us a check and you deposit it in some company and you connect it back to him. Looks like he’s embezzling from his campaign funds.” He then made a shocked face that made me laugh. 

“At least you can’t say he isn’t picking up what you do and how all this usually works, Hardison,” I said. 

Hardison gave me a bitter nod before cutting Eliot off again when he started gushing again, “but that’s not all there is, alright? There’s the Bonanno thing.”

“What? We give Bonanno’s notes to the newspaper, man? They named a sandwich after me ad T.J. Philbin’s!” Eliot would not be stopped. 

The rest of the team was finally very impressed. 

“I’ll give it to you, man, the sandwich thing’s pretty cool,” Hardison finally relented. The two of them shared a fancy little handshake in excitement. 

Nate’s phone rang, “I’m sorry, this is the mayor, is this an okay time to take the call or…”

Eliot gave him permission and Nate stepped to the side with a “congrats on the sandwich.”

Eliot finally sat down with the rest of us, still excitedly telling the team how the game went and his last time at bat. I couldn’t help but just watch him. His excitement was infectious. I only tore my eyes away when I thought I felt eyes on me. I turned my head slightly to see that Tara was looking at me with a slightly tilted head. I tilted my own back at her in question but was denied an answer when Nate came back over to the table with an address written down, asking Hardison to look it up. 

“The address is right in the middle of the Bellbridge waterfront,” Hardison answered. 

“It’s a walk away,” Eliot said simply. 

“Look, this is even better,” Nate insisted, “because he has partners, so this is our chance to bring them down too.”

“But if the bribe is in cash, the con doesn’t work,” Parker pointed out. 

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash we’re gonna get? It had to have come from somewhere. Hardison can track it.”

“Uh, no Hardison can not,” Hardison corrected. 

Nate was not giving up, “Look, you kept saying you don’t think the mayor’s the kind of guy to kill a cop, right?” He asked Tara. 

“So let’s go meet the kind of guys who kill cops on the waterfront,” Tara repeated condescendingly, “That’s a solid plan.”

“I’m sorry,” Eliot said, “Where are these partners coming from, huh? And why did they just show up?”

“This is such a bad idea,” I said to myself. 

“And the Maltese Falcon thing, it’s just weird,” Parker pointed out. 

“Okay, enough!” Nate blurted out. “We are talking about bringing down a corrupt mayor and cleaning up a city. I mean, it’s huge. It’s probably the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”

“They’re not handing out trophies for this,” Eliot retorted. 

“Why does it matter that it would be the biggest thing we’ve ever done, Nate?” I asked him seriously. “I don’t know if we should put our lives on the line, we don’t know how far this corruption goes!”

“We don’t always win, man,” Hardison said. 

“But we never quit,” Nate emphasized. 

“Maybe we should,” I said before I could stop myself. 

Everyone looked at me, no one agreeing or disagreeing with me. 

Nate gave me a hard look, “I never asked you to join the team, y/n. I love you, but you don’t have to be here.”

He waited for me to say something, to stand up and walk away. I didn’t though. I stared him down with a clenched jaw. I wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how manipulative he was going to be. This was my team, if not my family. Whether Nate or anyone else wanted me here or not, I was staying.

“Okay,” Nate said once he saw I wasn’t leaving, “you guys check out security,” he said, gesturing to Eliot and Hardison. He then turned back to me and Parker, “you two do the perimeter, yeah? And we’ll be on the inside,” he finished with himself and Tara. “Look, we’re gonna do this, we can do it. We’re gonna bring this guy down.”

There was no acknowledgement from the rest of us at the table as he walked away. This was dangerous.

We all loaded into Hardison’s van to go to the waterfront. Hardison and Eliot posed as the Department of Homeland Security to “check out anti terrorism security measures” as a facade to bug the security. What they found instead was no security at all, meaning that the $20 million in federal funds to install high end equipment went missing. 

Nate and Tara walked into the suspicious looking warehouse to meet with the mayor and his partners while Parker and I split up to check the perimeter. Parker went under the dock and discovered guys with guns guarding boxes labeled soybeans. The boxes were filled with guns and hand grenades. Probably where that $20 million went. Everything was quiet on my end of the area until six or so black sedans came careening around the corner towards the warehouse where Nate and Tara were with the mayor. They were discussing where the mayor’s partners were when I spoke up to warn them.

Before I could do so, a wicked amount of feedback came through the comms causing me to cringe. 

“Someone’s transmitting on our frequency,” Hardison explained. 

“Yeah, well, Nate and Tara, you have company from out here, six cars just pulled up surrounding the building,” I rushed out, hoping to give them some time. 

“It’s FBI,” Eliot said, “and more than six are coming!” 

I looked across the water front to where they were and saw more suvs pull up with sirens blazing. I had already ducked out of sight when the first cars came, but now I started making my way around to the others, staying low. Once I got back to the van, I saw that the others were already there, pulling on FBI jackets with Hardison doing stuff on his computer. 

“So the guy who put out a hit on a police detective is an FBI snitch?” Parker asked. “That’s not fair.”

“Of course he’s a snitch,�� I sighed in resignation as Eliot handed me a jacket to pull on. 

Hardison was able to identify a nearby federal ID cell phone and called it, “you come in and we kill all the hostages. … Oh you thought the mayor was the only one? No, we got a whole Sunday school up in here, we got old folks, we got nuns, and we have explosives. You come in and you make headlines.” He hung up before the agent could respond, back to working on his laptop. 

“Scary, but effective,” I commented as I watched the warehouse, the agents not moving in. 

“Well now we know why he didn’t go down for any of the corruption cases, cuz he’s a snitch,” Tara said angrily. 

“Well, you know, it’s possible that he doesn’t know anything about Bonanno getting shot,” Nate thought out loud. 

The mayor in fact did know about it. Nate got as angry as I’d ever heard him, yelling about Bonanno’s family and how he almost died. 

“Nate I bought you some time,” Hardison said, “but about now we’ve got a whole army of five-O coming down on us… It’s a big day, big big day for us.”

“You have to let him go,” I heard Tara say. 

“No!” Nate said.

“Then kill him now, we have to get out of here!”

“Shit,” I whispered to myself, this was getting worse by the second. 

There was a large crash, but it sounded like the mayor was still alive.

“Alright, we’ll deal with him later,” Nate said. He then relayed a plan, a dumb plan, to get him and Tara out of the warehouse. It involved them all walking out of the warehouse as hostages, a sign of good will, releasing one hostage. What would really happen would be that one hostage would come out of the three doors of the warehouse, one for Nate, Tara, and Culpepper. 

“No, Nate, man, are you kidding me? That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard!” Hardison said. 

“Look, he needs a distraction,” Eliot said. 

“I mean, we did just find a box of ammo and explosives,” Parker pointed out. “Boom, I’m just saying.”

“The problem is in the delivery,” Eliot said. 

“And the detonator,” Hardison added. 

The rest of us looked at the van with some hope and an idea. Hardison was not happy to say the least. He nearly cried when we started to unload the gear to prep it. 

“Sorry Hardison, it’s all we got right now. We can get you a new van, I can’t get another uncle Nate,” I said as I pulled one more box out. 

“Are you sure you want one?” Eliot asked me. 

“Still deciding.”

We got the van rigged up with boxes of grenades and got to work. Right as everyone exited the warehouse, Hardison drove the van via remote control towards the building, and caused it to explode, causing confusion and panic. 

Eliot, Parker and I nabbed one of the agent’s cars to use as a getaway vehicle. Eliot was driving, I slid into the passenger seat and was relieved to see that the front had a middle seat so it would fit all of us somewhat comfortably. Eliot picked up Nate first, who shoved me into that newly discovered front middle seat and Tara slid into the back seat easily when we pulled around the building. We finally had to persuade Hardison to get in. He was upset that Nate didn’t listen to us when we said it was a bad idea and the fact it led to ‘Lucielle’s’ death. We peeled out of there once Hardison took the last seat in the back. 

What a nightmare. I had a feeling this wasn’t over yet.

A/n: Reblogs and comments are welcome and encouraged! Thank you for reading!

Tags: @instantdinosaurtidalwave @kniselle @technikerin23 @kiwikitty13 @plasticbottleholder @mushycore

[velvetwyrme]

So OG Sans can play the trombone, Underfell! Sans plays a trumpet according to his creator. Do you think any of the other au skeletons play instruments? Part of me wants Swap! Papyrus to play the drums solely so he can make the ba dum tss sound. Other other half of me wants to give him an electric keyboard that is always set to the silly sound effects setting like duck quacks and dogs barking.

Ooooo that's a good question!!! 👀!!!!!!! I have many many thoughts on this and have settled on exactly 0 of them!! (I have multiple opposing headcanons and simply pick and choose whatever I think is funniest/most interesting for the situation)

ONE of them is "all the Sanses play brass wind instruments, and all the Papyri play percussion or strings" (One of the bits in the Papyrus QnA also reinforced this for me)

I love love love the idea of Swap!Pap playing drums!! He also strikes me as a guitar guy tbh (*pointedly looks away from the Bard in Flipping Fate*) I feel like he's also the most likely to own a kazoo or a ukelele though. Maybe even an omatone.

... Funny you mention using a keyboard for silly sounds! In a deleted scene from EOVD, Swapfell!Papyrus has a soundboard lmao. I can also see him playing a cello or bass... (or at least, for the way I write him.) Speaking of the way I write him- I've also made reference to him being a trombone player for a one off gag lol. Bwuuu.

In the same vein of "things I've written about/gestured at before", but I don't think classic Pap ever settles on an instrument. He tries out a bunch but never ends up playing one more than any other. So in a way I can see him with any and all instruments lol.

If sticking by the Sans=Brass rule, I feel like Swap!Sans and Swapfell!Sans would have either a saxophone (more like saxobone) or a tuba. Either combination works in my mind. If not sticking by that rule, I could see Swapfell!Sans playing a string instrument maybe? Or a clarinet lol. Swap!Sans also strikes me as a trumpet guy, if you don't mind overlaps.

Underfell!Papyrus ... I like to think he plays piano :] In contrast to the existing discussions about where the piano falls on the scale between percussion and strings; any instrument is a percussion instrument if you hit it hard enough.

Additionally. I think he was taught to play piano by UF!dyne and you can pry this headcanon from my cold dead hands !!!!!!!

Also as a bonus, I think Horror!Pap would play the harp. No particular reason, I just like the visual of it lol. Horror!Sans probably just... stopped playing his trombone, and after getting his head injury either picks it up again or resorts to humming/tapping along instead because fine motor control is harder for him :p

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

fuck it. ethan hair ranking

it's saturday im bored i don't want to practice mozart anymore. let's go

I'm gonna rank bottom to top this time and include visual aids. none of my choices are going to be much of a surprise to anyone who knows my particular tastes I think.

7. Dead Reckoning Part 1

Ethan is just gorgeous in this movie but his hair doesn’t do it for me. It’s short enough that it can’t have the same personality as it does at Fallout or MI1 length. It looks good on him! But it’s kinda flat. It's just fine. Also it doesn’t strike me as being a character choice so much as a “McQ likes TC’s hair better short” choice

6. Fallout

I would like to formally apologize to arc @callmearcturus i am sorry for slandering your boy like this. I love him too. fallout ethan is objectively the finest look that ethan has ever had I love him even above my dearly beloved MI1 ethan. He's deeply beautiful and i love him so much my heart hurts. but for me it's not the hair it's the Vibes. the vibes are here but the hair is just. it's a haircut. It's just normal to me, it’s floofy which I appreciate but. still. It’s a nice looking cut. Good for cosplaying a man. Utilitarian. It works well on Ethan but it doesn't capture my fascination.

5. MI3

it might also be time for me to formally apologize to mar @malewifebillcage for slandering her boy.......mi3 ethan's hair is also just a cut to me. and objectively i think the fallout cut even looks better on him. but I love MI3 hair dearly and deeply for character reasons because it’s such an aggressively rom com cut it really feels like Ethan googled “house husband” for reference pics. so i like it better cause it amuses me

4. MI1

I'd like to formally apologize to myself for slandering my own boy. (Also Luther in the back hi Luther I love you.) Ethan's hair in this movie is also excellent characterization and provides a perfect baseline for all my Ethan Hunt hair meta thoughts. And it’s so expressive! I love how spiky it is! That being said while it has a lot of personality it is simply not as aesthetically gorgeous to me as some of the cuts I ranked higher. MI1 Ethan I’m sorry

3. Rogue Nation

rogue nation Ethan literally takes my breath away at times with how beautiful he is. I am obsessed with the subtle length and swoop and the way it falls over his forehead. It’s the kind of hair that says “I had my gender crisis years ago and decided my gender was Gorgeous”. And yet it isn’t Character Driven enough for me to have it at the top

2. MI2

mi2 hair i think about you all the time.

both rich in Character Implication and mind-blowingly pretty. This is his hot girl summer hair his cherry bomb by the runaways hair it’s his ‘blew up my dad who wants me’ hair. It’s so far from the MI1 ingenue that it leaves manwhore in the dust and wraps back around to ingenue again. This is the hair of a man (????) who is trying so very hard to be absolutely anything other than what he is that he becomes exactly what he doesn’t like being. Every single image of him with this hair is like a masterclass in gender and rebellion and trauma and self discovery. and I Want To Run My Hands Through It.

But! there is something about the MI2 hair that feels. Styled and calculated and superficial. Hair for an Effect. Which is part of what I love about it! It’s also why this hair isn’t my absolute favorite. That title goes to:

Ghost Protocol

Ghost Protocol hair my absolute fucking beloved. What tips this hair over the edge for me is the way it looks when he’s tired and disheveled, in the prison breakout scene, in the car after the Kremlin, etc. This hair feels so natural for him, it’s a bit wild and floppy and makes him look kinda like a Creature instead of a man (I mean this in the most flattering way possible). He’s not trying to claim gender the way he is in MI2 or MI3, he’s…doing his own thing. It’s somehow both a utilitarianism and an indulgence. He’s not trying to fit in anywhere, he’s not trying to be anything, he’s in his base state and it’s fucking gorgeous. I guess for me this is the thing—MI4 is the movie where Ethan doesn’t have to function as a member of society, and has been free of functioning as a member of society for a while now. And this is the result. I could stare at him forever<3

[dracuquest]

1. Dracula, 1931

dir. Tod Browning

For the past 4 years I have been trying to watch every Dracula movie ever made, currently at number 164. Most of them suck ass. This quest has brought ruin to my life. I have lost the respect of my friends and loved ones. Horrible, burning welts and boils have broken out across my body. I am disturbed by dark dreams of huge, black bats and baying wolves. Nevertheless, I will keep going. Because you, the good people of Tumblr, deserve someone to review every Dracula movie. So, for my first entry, here's one of the good ones.

"Velcome... to my blog... blehoy..."

From director Tod Browning and cinematographer Karl Freund, this is the first OFFICIAL Dracula movie and one of the most iconic, for good reason. A lush, gothic film with delightfully heightened performances from its cast. Bela Lugosi is both suave and imposing as the Count, but Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloane deserve equal praise as Renfield and Van Helsing respectively. All three, and the rest of the cast really, deliver such fantastic melodramatic performances, playing up the eery, moody script. The rivalry between Dracula and Van Helsing, who exudes such calm confidence despite being in grave danger, is highly compelling.

Of course, it's also a visually impressive film. The sets are wonderfully gothic, all foggy verandas and old, creepy castles. The cinematography is dim and gloomy, with great use of light vs dark, long shadows creeping from every corner, and characters lit harshly in a way that adds a lot of depth. It's very striking!

As beautiful as this movie is to look at, there are a few elements that don't work for me, mostly involving the script. I don't think it's necessary for a Dracula adaptation to be accurate, but this film in particular feels overly abridged, resulting in a blindingly brisk pace and the omitting of some important scenes. I personally find it confusing at points because it seems like the movie moves so fast that we're missing out on necessary details. But if you've read the book or are already familiar with the story, this isn't a huge issue.

All in all, Dracula 1931 is a very pretty film that is effectively creepy even now. There are a few better Dracula movies out there, but it's a great place to start for any Dracula freak. I give it 7 BATS OUT OF 10.

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

[ystk-archive]

[Translation] capsule in girls '60s magazine (Feb. 2004)

When I first saw their music videos, the striking visuals immediately caught my eye. Simplistic designs, vivid color schemes on the outfits and sets… I can't describe the style as anything other than '60s-inspired. For the first edition of our "Pick Up Artist" feature, it's one whose existence fascinates me — let's take a look at the charm of capsule.

capsule is a music unit consisting of Nakata Yasutaka, whom manages the sound, art direction, design, concept work and so on, and vocalist Koshijima Toshiko. Nakata directs the image, visual aspects, and songs while Koshijima performs it all, resulting in their unique style. - original interview by Aikawa Chisato, translation by ystk-archive -

The reason behind their '60s-inspired visual style

Nakata: To be honest, I don't have any particular attachment to the '60s. I just like unique and minimalistic things, stuff with interesting shapes and clean designs and whatnot. It started when I got into interior design, and at first I especially liked Space Age furniture.¹ That's changed a little recently — I like pieces made out of wood but still with that outerspace kind of vibe. Even when it's made from wood, it doesn't feel natural, it still has this sort of odd look. When it comes to the '60s, I like the plywood that they often used. But I'm intrigued by Karimoku furniture too (laughs).²

— So would you say you're more interested in space and not the '60s?

Nakata: Yeah, and I guess sci-fi movies played a part in that. In movies like Men in Black you often see Tulip chairs, though I don't think they were used to evoke a retro or '60s feel on purpose.³ With films like that I tend to focus more on the furniture and not the overall atmosphere; if anything, I see furniture along with fashion as objects that look nice when put into a scene you're taking in as a whole. I like to come up with unconventional settings. Women are usually depicted in sci-fi films as secretaries, all wearing identical wigs and uniforms, and I like that kind of weird atmosphere. So instead of me consciously liking '60s aesthetics, I wound up thinking they were cool without making the connection that they were from that decade. I also love clothes that incorporate simplistic, striking designs, since they're like spacesuits (laughs).

— How do you feel about wearing clothes like that?

Koshijima: I'm also not obsessed with the '60s or anything, but I like to play around with that era's clothing and makeup styles. It's more fun than just wearing normal clothes.

— Have you two had similar tastes all along?

Nakata: Our tastes used to be completely different. I feel like she's adjusted to match me.

— So Koshijima-san is committed to being a model?

Koshijima: Yep. I haven't changed my approach, ever since the beginning.

— Are there times where you feel like your tastes really are different?

Koshijima: I don't think so. If we actually were fundamentally different, I don't think we'd be working together. Strangely enough, when I look at the materials I'm given, I start to think they're cute. Nakata: When I get an idea, I suggest it first. Koshijima: But he doesn't show me clothes or anything directly, instead he shows me photos and videos… Like I'm being brainwashed (laughs). The more he introduces me to all kinds of cool things, the more similar we become. After I watched the materials he gave me, poses and dance moves just started coming naturally to me without even realizing it.

— Maybe you ran across something from the '60s that left an impression and that ended up coming through in your image.

Nakata: Yeah, there are a lot of easy explanations for it. I wonder if we're more like a new product with a retro design that would fit nicely in someone's living room, rather than something that could be found in an authentic '60s vintage shop. I think even if we intentionally collected oldschool aesthetics from that era and tried to copy those, it'd still turn out differently, because peoples' concept of the '60s and the real '60s are two different things. But if you take parts of that concept people have of that decade and use them, you wind up with something that has the right feel to it. For me right now, the concept I have in mind is the "style" of the '60s. Instead of making clothes or objects to match up with the '60s aesthetic, the styles are already floating around in my head, and then I make content that reflects that. There were a lot of useless shapes — like aren't record players from back then weird-looking? The technology of them and the half-dome shape are of that time, but the way they look on the outside is as if someone was imagining the future while designing them. It's interesting how these days it's the opposite: now the exterior designs of things are retro while the tech inside is highly advanced. And I like both (laughs). I even like things that seem out of place. I'm drawn to a sense of disharmony.

— Would you say the essence of the '60s is woven into your music?

Nakata: Not intentionally. I think the things I like tend to show through my music on accident. Basically I want to make any music, as long as it's cute.

— So do you feel like music is essentially an object?

Nakata: Music is something I started doing because I thought I could create it. It was right when I was in junior high school, they'd made a lot of progress with technology so making cassette tapes became fun. Part of that was because I liked the feeling of winding a tape up. I liked playing around with machines more than the music aspect itself and, when it comes to decorating, I even like the look of a tape deck sitting in a room. So that's why I want our CDs to be sold in regular stores along with other kinds of merchandise. I don't think music should be classified as something special and separate; it's good if it's just one part of the total amount of belongings in a space. Rather than wanting people to listen to our music seriously, I'd be happy if they enjoy the atmosphere it gives when they play it out in the open.

¹ Space Age design was characterized by "sleek, aerodynamic lines and geometric forms," "dominated by bright, bold hues" and was often constructed of manmade materials such as plastic. You can read more about it here. ² Karimoku is a Japanese brand of all-wood furniture boasting superior craftsmanship. You can read more about it and look at examples here. ³ This is the famous Tulip chair.