#those last two episodes were over 20 minutes each

[spiderh0rse]

shephard's mind notes part 5, e21-25 + e0

e21

wonders why the lights are off. Don't maintenance workers need light

turns on his goggles to BIG MONSTER

mixes up the syllables with shit and fuck

starts killing voltigore children

doesn't respect PETA

aware of. Idk what to call it milking kink

imagines Black Mesa throws it's bad employees down here

thinks the voices he's hearing are GHOSTS

starts talking to the ghosts trying to console them

starts crying for a minute

realizes wait huh not Ghosts just Echoes

ewwww he hugged a DEAD guy

starts assigning his brand new team some manner of. Multiplayer raid boss positions

his critical hits are fucked up rn

yells at his teammates for blowing up

thinks he should spend more time on rooftops

"that's right. The aliens are cold and they want our sweaters"

doesn't know how to knit

talks to the HEV charging station

not too sure what to call the Gargantua

agent Candy-Ass!! (Grinch's ultimatum voice) it's Gman!

wants to shoot the phone out of gmans hand

thinks his cold emotionless mask makes him cool

not happy to have organs in his face. He's leaving!

falls into the wet side of the dam

needs to start thinking of names for the barnacle,,

a bit surprised at how perfectly the bridge explosives worked. Irritated that the marines didn't explode em

realizes the dam is gonna BREAK and tasks himself with fixing it

e22

OH NO A WATERSLIDE

Way out! And he missed it. Hopes there's another one! Okay yeah he's out. No infinite loop

he's hungry :(

will squeeze his lightning bug at the black ops until they die

wants to slick the black ops .50 cal on a jeep

thinks he can't really trust anyone right now, including his squad

thinks everyone else will be tired tonight but he slept on the way over so he's got the advantage

delighted to see a tank. less delighted to see a mortar gun

aghast at the mortar gun guarding absolutely nothing. Was also like this about the .50 cal

seems aware that the spore launcher is a shock trooper child

voice crack,,

HATES being shot it's like stubbing your toe repeatedly. With bullets.

he's got SAND in his boot

disgusted at how easily people die after he talks to them. Vows to hide and never talk to anyone again

knows what the Canadian version of black ops are called. (RCMP!)

He's cooking with GAS. i love that expression

"guns are for wusses! I only need aliens."

rip and tear!

has shrapnel in his ass. Man.

just wants to bomb things in peace.

playing with the mortar gun

watches both Animaniacs and Freakazoid! Finds Freakazoid better.

sniper tf2s himself

he's from Arizona! New Mexico heat still sucks more

e23

finds the aliens more friendly than the black ops. Wants to strike a truce with them

he knows the universal greeting! unfortunately he has no snacks to share and as such it fails

momentarily excited to see a helicopter. Even MORE excited to see it shooting an alien.

shoots out the helicopter's gas tank

the helicopter exploding sends shrapnel into him :(

hates climbing chain link fences. The tops always scratch his hands up

anticipates being sent to military prison if he gets caught

remembers the last time he touched mold...

aghast at the ongoing uranium-in-dumpster issue

climbing a cliff! almost out! freedom! nope there's snipers

watches or is familiar with Adam West's Batman!

still confused about how many corpses keep showing up near medkits

sings "to the vent" to the tune of. Not actually sure what it's called but it's. Horse race music

keeps singin the tune

shocked to see a car without a steering wheel

cannot hotwire this car.

GAUSS GUN? FUCK YES

no it's just a horn.

slur count: six.

does NOT want to die in a parking lot

feels like such a trendsetter with all these vent lovers other than him

a BOMB.

tries in vain to convince a Barney to open the door and FLEE with him

would like to blow Black Mesa up but will turn the bomb off for the sake of progress

he is the world's crappiest assassin

has never seen a nuclear warhead before in his life! it's terrifying! he doesn't know how to turn it off!

asks the dead black ops if they're alive and could possibly tell him how to turn it off

e24

needs to stop killing people! just because they can be useful to him!

names his barnacle Barney while busy with the bomb

decides since there are two wires to cut he's got a 50/50 chance of blowing up or shutting the bomb off. Either way the beeping stops!

survives! Phew!

he prioritizes the beeping being gone though

skitters away from the bomb

GMANS AT THE BOMB WAUGH

Adrian can't find a way out to stop him

slur count: seven.

thinks gmans haircut is stupid

Adrian is pretty sure any companions he takes will die horribly

considers knocking out the lights and making a run for it. It's what Batman would've done.

"nobody expects the Shephard Inquisition!"

some random black ops surrenders to him at the end of his rampage

Shephard is unconcerned with coercing someone into cheating on her spouse

black ops name is Lydia!

Lydia considers Xen hell

Adrian brings Gman up to Lydia. She doesn't know anything about him either he's just WAYYY high up

Adrian's dialogue is a lot more awkward sounding when said in front of another person- oh it's on purpose! Sort of!

slur count: eight. Lydia :(

familiar with the Circ De Soleil

Adrian can't imagine where a crossbow would be useful

Adrian can't knock people out very well

he,, may have killed Lydia actually.

WOAGH suddenly louder

frag off...

not sure why he's yelling when he's just thinking

he's a CHAMPIONSHIP BOXER (self-reported) (pun)

ends a confrontation in bad shape and is moderately uncomfortable for a good while

addresses himself by name again!

takes a break to fix himself up. Picks bullets out of himself with his forceps

e25

may have a bruised lung

surprised at how well his equipment is holding up

voltigores? nah. Lightning-pigs

"no pain, no. Post traumatic stress disorder."

at least passingly familiar with both military and dnd terminology

wonders if he went crazy from going to another planet. concludes yeah possibly

LEAPS onto the back of a lightning-pig. Shoots it from its back!

wants to LEAVE not FIGHT MONSTER

considers attacking Lydia for telling him the vents were clear. realizes he already has sort of so they're probably in the clear

wants to make his aliens do tricks onstage!

Operation Condor? Not too sure what this is but I vaguely gather that it's a movie from how Adrian talks about it?

adrian i don't think a bomb shelter will stop a nuke

BAD SMELL BAD SMELL

Gene Worm smells worse than anything else Adrian has smelled.

recounts tear gas experience

tries to walk through the big pink portal. doesn't work. faces away.

gives up! Decides BLACK MESA WINS, he just isn't MEANT to escape

turns around. Gene Worm.

thinks it isn't real. Checks. Still there. Only then acts shocked

going back to the wind tunnel to relax he isn't going to fight this thing even if it lets him leave

Sparky! and Gill! They seem to either be talking to him or Adrian thinks they are.

Barney isn't talking though

"I was never a good marine. I couldn't protect the people under my command. I never caught Freeman. I couldn't go fifteen meters without running into some insurmountable delay. I didn't earn my advanced training, or even my rank as Corporal. Some guys just dropped it on me! I'm not even fighting for a cause, I just don't want to die. All the good things I did today were just because I was backed into a corner, and could only keep charging forward. If I die today, nobody's going to remember. Adrian Shephard might as well have never existed. And you know what? I refuse to believe that this overconvoluted, clusterfuck of a disaster happened just so that I could get eaten by a giant squid in a dusty ventilation shaft! So screw it. I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna fight, and I'm gonna fucking win!"

runs in! leg cramp! runs back. okay now he's fighting.

OH GOD IT SPITS MOUNTAIN DEW

Adrian dislikes Mountain Dew!

considers staring impolite

"fuck you! you hit like a pool noodle!" someone I know received a bruise from a pool noodle today

wishes he'd thought of shooting smaller aliens at people. Could've if he'd had SNARKS.

glad the Gene Worm's goop isn't electrified

he's going to be the first human to learn how to cook and eat giant alien squid!

insults Black Mesa's construction quality

the GIFT SHOP only sells SHOTGUNS

insults some shockroach and apologizes for the specist remark to Sparky

but he doesn't WANT to do the dew!

one shot is all he needs! twelve shots is all he needs!

his goggles do great at blocking the mountain dew

wants Sparky and Gill to tell everyone what he did if he dies. And to get his hard drive wiped/destroyed to be safe

drops his shotgun D:

"WAS IT A LOAD-BEARING SQUID?"

Stasis. Then...

Adrian does NOT understand what Gman is going on about but is pretty quiet about it

"and nothing of value was lost :)" "quite so."

"can I go home now?" Zaps to Xen. "this isn't my house!"

Adrian tries to convince Gman that he won't tell anyone about all this. He just wants to go HOME

stuck in his seat! cant move! in the helicopter!

he won, he guesses. upset at being stuck wherever he is. doesn't know much of what's going on.

knows Gman isnt human. Mocks his speech impediment though >:(

slur count: nine

they took all equipment. He implies he'd consider shooting himself if they hadn't.

post credits! chocolate bar!!!!!

Adrian struggles with the wrapper. greatly. curses Hershey's name.

sounds SO happy to have chocolate. Says it tastes awful though. Blames the assorted fluids it's been near and soaked in

e0

REVELRY

half of what Shephard is saying here is literally spoken half is thought

drill instructor balls...

finds the training facility he's getting military training in confusing and easy to get lost in

does GREAT pushups. apparently.

compares how he looks to Popeye, the sailor.

finds automatic doors and security cameras futuristic

slams his nose into the door :(

jazzed to get his hands on GUNS

wants his PCV to have a jetpack

anticipates forgetting everything about this tomorrow

isn't terribly sure what year it is. 200X.

dumbfounded at being ordered to stand literally in front of a target. Not happy to be shot

NEXT they're not going to be serving FOOD HE LIKES

Compares the dangers of military training to haunted house

SMELLS LIKE FRENCH FRIES

mildly slippery liquid on the floor...

yes, he CAN walk through steam without his visor getting fogged up :)

oh god the early appearance of electrified toxic waste

familiar with the Predator series

compares himself to Batman for having night vision goggles

assumes a runner's crouch

insults his drill instructor's mother

thinks embarrassing his instructors would be fine if it were funny

sprains his ankle in the course

pretty sure he just sucks at rope climbing

NOT happy to see mines in this simulation

well this sure is live fire with what sounds like a .50 cal

seems actually pretty impressed with surviving the live fire course easily

only his WEAPON- is his friend. Ahem.

he's good at point and click adventure games

does seem familiar with many of the enlisted men's names

SO happy to have a sniper rifle. I am also happy to see him have one

VERY snarky to his CO

finds the ease of this sniping exercise irritating

mixes up clips and magazines on purpose to piss people off. Does this with some models of gun too

slur count: ten

INSULTS Audrey's hat. Some random guy on-base

knows the engineer he's presented with. It's Jackson! We like Jackson!

Jackson,,, cannot see right now his goggles are FILTHY

use key... Shephard has no idea what that means.

chooses codenames.... Goes for the goofiest nicknames he can come up with on the spot

feels a bit expendable

[respectthepetty]

Upcoming Taiwanese BLs

We are over halfway through 2024, and as usual, I've only had two Taiwanese BLs (Unknown, Anti Reset), so even though I'm sitting on a stack of BLs to watch every single week from other countries, call me Smaug because I need MORE!

Honorary Korean BL: Uncovering the Curse of Taekwondo (2024)

Former friends (and possibly lovers) reunite at a funeral after going their separate ways for over a decade, but, honestly, I don't care about the plot because this comes from Hwang Da Seul who was behind Blueming, To My Star, and Where Your Eyes Linger, so I know it's going to be amazing. There is a movie and a series version, and the movie already premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea at the beginning of July. The runtime was 154 minutes, but the series is eight episodes around thirty minutes each and is currently seeking distribution.

First Note of Love (August 2024)

My most beloved, Charles Tu, from my favorite BL HIStory 4: Close to You is finally returning to me in the form of a washed-up singer who stepped away from the spotlight due to a tragic event only to be dragged back in by an up-and-coming composer who is also a longtime fan. It is a joint production with Thailand's Star Hunter Entertainment (the company behind Big Dragon, Love Senior, City of Stars, and Sunset x Vibes) and features a side couple of a Thai singer and a Taiwanese agent. It will involve singing, but I'm already too comfortable in my seat with my snacks to care.

Fragrance of the First Flower Season 2 (2024)

The lone GL holding down this list finished filming late last year and Gagaoolala has been releasing BTS images since filming began, so it'll likely land there once it is released. The series is a continuation of the 2021 first season, which people were not thrilled about because of the ending, so this season should solve some of the angst we were left with by exploring the two women actually coming together to navigate life as a couple.

The Only One (August 2024)

Directed by Liu Kuang Hui, who directed Your Name Engraved Herein, written by the same folks behind The Untamed, and based on Mu Su Li's novel A Certain Someone which is about two boys whose parents are dating and move in together, so the mains go from enemies-to-??? and the only reason for the question marks on a Taiwanese BL is because the word on these BL streets (and his MDL page) is one of the actors works heavily in China, so this might be the reason this one has been was in limbo even though filming finished earlier this year, but the socials are still posting it's coming this year.

See Your Love (Filming Complete)

This co-production with Japan is about a rich man who falls in love with his hearing-impaired caregiver. It finished filming at the end of May and will have those sweet sweet Taiwanese BL cameos from some Be Loved in House: I Do and Plus and Minus folks PLUS it will be the first cameos for the Kiseki: Dear to Me guys since the company that produced their show is the same one for this show.

Impression of Youth (Filming Complete)

Very little is known about the plot of this teacher-student romance, but it comes from the same folks who produced DNA Says Love You and one of the mains, Muji Hsu, was also the lead in 2020's Because of You. Filming finished at the end of May, and the company stated it would be out before the end of the year.

Islanders (late 2024/early 2025)

This is based on a novel, Islands, by Lolita Hu, features some well known Taiwanese actors, and for a bit was under the name Sea of Intimacy. It's being presented as an 'older BL' but the MDL summary is sparse of the BL-plot: Hung, a successful entrepreneur, has three intimate relationships: his wife, his mistress, and his girlfriend. The lives of these individuals in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s are intertwined because of romance, but their story extends beyond that. When Hung faces criticism on social media and loses everything, the way they react tells us how they see the world.

Wishing Upon the Shooting Star & The Young Gangster (2025)

These two deal with completely different plots but are together because of one reason: Ray Jiang. He is the director for these two and was the director for Unknown, My Tooth Your Love, and We Best Love. The companies behind them have stated the series are coming next year, but the guess is Ray's busy schedule is part of the hold up since he has a Netflix series in the works and apparently a film featuring Sam Lin (We Best Love) on the way. The Young Gangster is based on a novel and deals with a research assistant gathering information on the mafia (and we know how the mafia works in BLs), while Shooting Star deals with a man wishing that nobody notices him once he returns to his hometown after being fired. The wish backfires and nobody recognizes him, not even his dad or the boy he confessed to in high school! BL Mafia, Sideways Wishes, and Ray Ray are my favorite types of snacks!

Pray in Love (2025?)

A police officer falls in love with a man only to realize that man is the son of a prominent leader on the day of his arranged wedding in which he was hired as security for the event. The series already released a short film of the basic premise for fundraising efforts and festival rounds. Apparently, filming has started on the series, but there is no concrete confirmation from the production company.

Eternal Butler (2025)

Edited to add thanks to @cankersoregirl! This is a sequel to VBL's Anti Reset and began filming in early July. It focuses on Ever 4 who is sent to be a bodyguard for a young rich man only to encounter a rebellious man.

That Year, 162 Rainfalls (In Production?)

Is this a movie? Is it a series? Is it happening?! Who knows, but last year, it finally got funding and a director attached to it, but the real kicker is Lin Pei Yu is the screenwriter, and she is the writer behind all of my favorite Taiwanese BLs: We Best Love, HIStory 3: Trapped, My Tooth Your Love, Kiseki: Dear to Me, and so much more. Basically, the company struck gold getting her for this story about two archers and best friends. One gets confessed to but admits he actually is in love with his best friend, but before love can happen, the best friend has an accident and falls into a coma. It is based on a novel of the same name, and the plot is way more hefty than this, but I know Lin Pei Yu will make it work!

Four Seasons (Pre, Pre, PRE-Production?)

This is supposed to be four different stories focusing on different seasons, and is rumored to be VBL's next group of shows since the company has stated it wants to continue its formula from last year of releasing slightly connected shows. VBL/Vidol was behind Stay by My Side, VIP Only, You Are Mine, and Anti Reset. Winter is about a scrooge CEO and a florist who is hired to decorate for the CEO's Christmas event. Spring is about two boys meeting on a bus and falling in love over music. Summer is about a market owner and a chef falling in love over food. Autumn is about two former best friends seeing each other ten years after graduating and exploring their hometown together.

Connecting to You (Pre-Production?)

It seems to have gotten funding, but it's been quiet since which isn't surprising because when it comes to Taiwanese BLs, nothing is really heard until filming begins or even after it ends. I still have my hopes high because this is *THE* BL for me as it deals with a man who can see colored threads connecting people and one day runs into a policeman whose thread connects to him. The thread between them begins to change color, from silver-grey to yellow, representing friendship, and even to red, representing love. If I have to sell an organ or two to fund this myself, I. Will. Do. It. I NEED THIS!

And this wouldn't be a Petty Post if I didn't include this final one:

HIStory 15: Freed (GIVE IT TO ME!)

I don't care if this a long shot. I don't care if I seem crazy always asking for this. I. Deserve. It. HIStory 3: Trapped ended with our best mafia boy in prison, and it's time he got out! The HIStory franchise has not had a series since 2022's HIStory 5: Love in the Future, and although there have been rumors that a HERstory story might be next, I think bringing back a popular story would be just as good. I will ask for this every chance I can until I get it, and I plan on living a long life, so I got time!

[corrupted-nightshade]

List of things that point towards Gojo Satoru & Geto Suguru being kissers of boys with connections to eachother

(If they did kiss though is another story)

Note: the list will be divided into different sections with space in between. So don't go speed scrolling through if you don't want spoilers. :"3

Some of these are less serious, but are still included because all the more content for these two sillies.

--- Last updated: April 26th, 2024 Note: Make sure to check the original post if viewing a reblog version in case Tumblr does not update things under the "read more" like it used to be able to.

Various

572. This number is used frequently as a ship number for the two as "GoGe" the ship name can also be produced as "GoNatsu". Go means 5 and the rest sound similar to 72. These numbers ironically show up accross the series a few times and also in official merch. (Some examples being a clock in season 2 episode 1 stopped at 5 hours 7 minutes 20 seconds or a Gojo teddy bear priced at ¥57,200)

JJK official fanbook

"Q: Please tell us his first impression when he first met Geto. A: Bangs."

"Q: He seems to be aware that he is handsome, but doesn't he want a lover? A: I can't imagine Gojo being faithful to a particular woman."

"Q: Is there anything you are particular about Geto's character design? A: Bangs"

One of Gojo's songs & one of Geto's songs given to them. "Shame on you" by "Avicii" (a break up song) for Gojo and "Come back Home" by "Two door cinema club" for Geto. Stated in volume 3 chapter 24.

The sheer amount of times Geto shows up in MMVs for Gojo and how they display the impact Geto had on Gojo (For example, the latest MMV for volume 26's release)

Their birthday's solar terms tying in with parts. (Geto being "Risshun" beginning of spring & Gojo being "Taisetsu" heavy snow.)

Rings for them that were released on August 8th, which is "Pairing day" in Japan

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Jujutsu Kaisen 0

Geto's kesa is specifically a Gojo kesa

Gojo stating in 0 that

"I've always believed... ...Love manifests the most distorted curses." / "This is my personal theory, but there's no curse more twisted than love."

Even after 10 years, Gojo recognized Geto's smell. (The mall scene after Yuta & Toge fought the curse)

Geto renaming someone to "Sato" because

"That's what I've decided, so Sato is better."

This sunset scene

Gojo's veil is black & Geto's veil is white. Gojo's veil causes darkness, Geto's does not. [Peep who reminded me]

The song "This is pure love" not only plays over Yuta & Rika vs Geto, but also plays over Geto & Gojo's conversation

The way that Geto looks at Gojo & says his name, and how Gojo looks at Geto & says his name

Geto's blushing face at Gojo that we were robbed of in the anime

Some of the lines from the JJK 0 light novel lines

"Yet Gojo's bandage-covered eyes kept watching, kept following the shape of Geto's soul."

"But to Gojo Satoru, he was —— '————, ————' '...ha.' When he heard the words Gojo blurted out, Geto couldn't help but laugh. Such embarrassing [...] words. Even why they were students, those words had never been said before. 'You should've at least cursed me a little before the end.' December 24, 2017. The curse called Geto had been well and truly exorcised."

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Season 1

JJK Juju stroll

"Q: What kind of person is your type?" Gojo: "[...]The one who seemed nice. With the notable bangs."

yes, i know who he stated but the way he answered was so half arsed as he struggled to come up with an answer as an example of his type. 💀

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Season 2

Again, the way they look at each other and say each other's names (There's another picture with Gojo looking at Geto, but I'm missing it right now)

THE HECKIN GOJO & GETO VALENTINES CAKE??

They literally even have a themed honeymoon place???

Geto makes sure Gojo has his favorite soda. :3

Part 1 / volume 8 - 9

The intro for season 2 part 1

"Even after I got to know the smell of you, different from mine"

"In such a color as if it were a silent love"

"I've got a curse word for you stuck in the back of my throat"

The outro for season 2 part 1:

"Even trivial conversations are fine Show me your blushing face once more"

"It only exists here I want to touch you"

The fish in the outro

The flowers in the intro & outro. [Peep who reminded me]

The purple ones (Located on table in the part where older Gojo is sitting in a chair by a window) are possibly Primula/Primrose flowers. They can represent young love, beauty, desire, desperate, and can be a symbol of spring and renewal/new beginnings. etc.

The yellow ones (Located in the part where Gojo & Geto are sitting together with their hands & cans of soda surrounded by the flowers) are possibly osmanthus flowers. They can represent love, passion, happiness, beauty, etc.

[See here , here, here , here , here , here ]

Geto not answering Tsukumo Yuki's question of what kind of woman is his type more than once

When Geto is asked by Haibara if he would like a sweet or savory souvenir, Geto says

"Satoru will probably have some too, so maybe something sweet."

Part 2 / volume 11

This whole image (Geto in the glasses on the left, and Kenjaku's silhouette on Gojo's face on the right)

Season 2 part 2's "Specialz" intro hidden meaning

Despite the following about Geto's state, Geto's body still instinctively reacted to stop Kenjaku from hurting Gojo.

"Q: Fake Geto's arm was moving during the Shibuya Incident, but how much of Geto's consciousness remains in the body? A: Not much. He was moving like how a dragonfly whose neck was torn off can move."

Fun fact: Some owls pair/bond for life (Whether the owl is supposed to be Geto's because Kenjaku is using Geto at the time or it's not Geto's animal because that is Kenjaku is up to you)

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Volume 26

The Camilla flowers with snow. Not only do they represent Gojo well with their meaning, including one meaning being unchanging/strong love alongside modest love / beauty for pink, but flowers are given to different dates. The birth flower of February is this flower, said to bloom on the 3rd of this month. Aka Geto's birthday.

Chapter 236

Gojo actively chose to fight on December 24th (a day considered romantic for Japan) which is now the day both Geto and him have died on. Even Kenjaku acknowledges the days significance with

"Ha ha! How romantic. Isn't it gross to make plans with each other on Christmas eve?"

These lines

Both Gojo & Geto's volumes' numbers can have bad meanings in Japan. 4 can mean death & 9 can mean to suffer/agony. (I put this under volume 26's section because of the spoiler)

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There's likely more, but this is what we could think of right now. XD If you have anything you want to add on, feel free to send it my way because the more help the better & easier this is. (^w^ ) Same for any corrections to the list (as it's just me writing up this post and I may make slip ups)

[faynthearted]

is this a safe space? because I need to have a (positive) rant but I might seem a bit unhinged in the process

but please, for the love of god, if you're a tianshan and/or He brothers fan and you're dying from the lack of 19 days content lately, let me put you on to something.

I've been trying not to talk about it because this show is a guilty (and nostalgic) pleasure of mine, but for the last week or two I've been obsessively rewatching teenage mutant ninja turtles (2012)

HEAR ME OUT. 🫵🏼

it's a nickelodeon show, yes, I know, but please. hear me out before you make a face, lol!

tmnt is one of those shows that had an established fanbase before its release so not only is the quality of the animation excellent, but the voice actors and writers do such an amazing job. the plot is well-planned and intentional, the show gets notably better as it goes on because of its growing success with its audience (it gets very obvious budget increases for each season lol), and the relationships. oh my god the characters' relationships. they're so top tier.

if you know me from my tianshan fics, you know that I'm obsessed with strained, resentful, angsty relationships that slowly improve as the characters learn to trust each other while experiencing strife and mutual trauma. it's practically the foundation of tianshan, and it's also the definition of the brother-brother relationship between raphael and leonardo in tmnt. and it's so fucking delicious every single time.

I don't want to spoil too much in case anyone actually reads this post and decides to watch tmnt for the first time, but basically at the beginning of the show (and in all other adaptations of tmnt, as far as I'm aware) raphael resents the fact that leonardo is made the leader of their team. they butt heads all the time, they can never agree, raph is a stubborn/reckless hothead and leo is (occasionally) an insufferable, self-righteous golden child in their family. they’re literally red vs blue — their dynamic could not be more oppositional.

but at the same time, they're each other's right-hand man??? it's complicated. as the two oldest(?) siblings in the family (as well as the most skilled siblings), they kinda need each other and they hate that they do — at least raph does. and for a while, their relationship goes up and down over and over again until bam — ✨trauma✨. and I won't spoil what the trauma is. but it's so fucking delicious. the cinematography and voice acting of certain scenes in the season finales keep me up at night

for a nickelodeon show, I'm impressed by the depth of the plot and characters. it's very reminiscent of the complexity of atla's plot and characters. and yes, I've only mentioned raph & leo's relationship so far, but that's only because I tend to hyperfixate on two characters in every fandom I'm in, lol. but all the characters are so meaningful and the brothers' relationships with each other make me want to slam my head against concrete because it makes me feel so much. especially raphael and michelangelo's relationship, too. iykyk.

the show is so silly but also so angsty and also so stupid but also so sincere. the vibes really do remind me of 19 days in so many ways. the boys in tmnt are 15 years old, much like the boys in 19 days. michaelangelo is basically jian yi and raphael is basically guan shan. leonardo is kinda like zheng xi, if zheng xi was more assertive and expressive. but no one's like he tian, lol. sorry. he's a beast of his own. (unless, maybe, another character named karai is comparable to him? you tell me).

anyway. whatever the voice actors, writers, and animators were getting paid throughout the show's production wasn't fucking enough. there was clearly so much heart put into the show because tmnt has been a beloved franchise for a long time and nickelodeon was not messing around when they decided to take it on.

another bonus point is that the episodes are only 20ish minutes long, there are 20+ episodes in every season, there are 5 seasons, and the show is completed. you won't be left on a cliff hanger. you can binge to your heart's content like I've been doing. and usually the season finale episodes are longer than the normal ones (they're split into two parts), which always means shit goes down. god it's so fantastic.

if you decide to watch tmnt and know nothing about it, I recommend you do not seek out spoilers. because there are many spoilers and plot twists. push through the cringe and silly moments (much like we sometimes have to do with 19 days lol) and eventually you'll get to the heart of the characters/plot. and my god, it's so worth it!

tmnt was the first fandom I ever wrote fanfic for, over a decade ago. I was watching it as episodes were being actively released on a weekly basis. and it's been so long since I've touched the tmnt fandom, so it feels like I'm watching the show for the first time again. I only have vague memories of significant plot points/scenes, so it's been such a ride to slowly remember how everything plays out. and I'm kicking myself for not rewatching tmnt sooner, because I clearly forgot how special it was to me at a certain point in my life!

the show is so feel-good and relaxing (but it does have its stressful moments, don't get me wrong). if you've got time to spare, give it a shot and let me know what you think! I'm only at the beginning of season 3, so I'm still working through the episodes myself! :)

if you want to know where you can watch it for free, DM me! <3

[bloomingdog]

Acolyte

word count: 2.7k a/n: hii i'm going through a depressive episode and this is my fic about soap with a depressed reader cos he's my babygirl. might expand on them idk i love soap i wanna keep writing for him

Johnny is a friend of Kyle’s, and Kyle is a friend of Farah, who is your friend. And Johnny, or Soap, is here because Kyle invited him since he had “nothing better to do”. And it’s alright, he’s fun and a little loud, he talks over people but always apologises. You were a little nervous to meet him, having been promised a get-together with people you were already well-acquaintances with, but the tears in your eyes, from laughing, that is, dismiss all previous nerves.

“And then he-” He’s cut off by his own wheeze, it’s been going for a couple of minutes; him and Kyle trying to retell a story about their captain, but they keep getting interrupted by their own laughter. You don’t think it’s that funny, if anything their reactions are the thing that make you all go into hysterics. It’s hard to feel sorry for all the other patrons. 

You feel drunker than you really are, save for Farah, you only had two to three beers each. It’s the kind of silly drunkenness induced by being with friends. The forgotten UNO cards on top of the table shake as Johnny’s fist hits the table trying to catch his breath.

And the pub’s playlist keeps playing every top #1 hit from the last 20 years. And at some point you’re all performing a rendition of smash hit “500 miles”. And you’re getting giggly with sleep. And Farah’s driving you home. And she’s asking you about Johnny, which makes you giggly all over. And she’s telling you he’s single. 

And then it’s morning. And there’s a message from an unknown phone number.

“Hey. This is Johnny. 

Just wanted to let you know I had a blast last night, loved meeting you :-)” 

It makes you smile trying to figure out what to write back. Why is it so hard to sound nonchalant while also a little interested in getting to know him? 

“So did I!

Haven’t laughed that hard in a while lol”

That’s cool, right? It’s half a good response at the very least, since you get a response back.

“Wanna meet sometime?”

Oh, that’s good. At best, you get a little attention and maybe a lay, at worst you get a new friend. You keep texting throughout the day, you two fit like a puzzle piece: talkative, extroverted and active. He sends you a picture of a squirrel he saw earlier on his morning run, you send him a picture of your cat back with the caption “my asshole son” to which he replies “don’t be mean to him”. Those little interactions keep getting exchanged. On Monday, you send him a fun fact about a shark that had a virgin birth. Tuesday, he’s telling you about his fear of dogs. Wednesday is the perfect occasion for a picture of your cat, Gus, sleeping in a funny position. Thursday, your phone pings with a string of texts ranting about Glasgow City. Friday you’re texting Johnny that you’re at the restaurant you’re meeting at, a hole-in-the-wall that mastered the art of oily food and crispy chips, he replies he’s running late.

“I’m so sorry for making you wait.” Is out of his mouth before any greeting. “Are ye hungry?” It’s more a conversation starter than an actual question.

“It’s okay! No worries.” You’re just happy to be hanging out, not bothered by his tardiness. 

The two of you sit and chat, you learn he has a tattoo of a revolver but won’t say where. He laughs at the face you make while imagining where it would be. “Don’t be dirty!” He chastises, it’s within the law that you steal one of his chips as payment for the teasing. You ask where does Soap come from.

“A’m good at cleaning.” It’s a short answer that explains enough, you’re not keen on pushing the topic any further. Luckily, he changes the topic rather quickly, it looks like he’s not a big fan of silences. “Tell me aboot Gus. How’d you get him?” 

“A colleague’s cat had kittens, she was trying to find them homes, Gus was the only one left, runt of the litter you know?” He nods, listening, interested in what you have to say. “Kept pushing and showing me pictures of the guy until I caved. When I took him home he wouldn’t stop screaming, I think he might be part siamese, they’re really vocal. So, he kept me up all night, I thought he was sick or something, I even took him to the emergency vet, turns out he’s just a dickhead.” He smiles at the insult. “A very cute one, though.” You add, it’s hard not to love him even if he wakes you up at 6 a.m. on the dot.

 “Can I meet him someday?” he might if you’re lucky enough.

You might as well thank every saint, divinity, and omnipotent being for your luck tonight. He accompanies you home, only because “he’s a gentleman”, according to him. The kind of gentleman that kisses you dizzy and gets invited into your flat.

You text Farah about the events of the evening before falling asleep, it’s not kiss and tell if she’s your best friend. And in the early morning you’re both woken up by an angry Gus, whose side of the bed has been stolen by a guy that almost doesn’t fit in it. You’re cuddled on his side, one leg over his.

“Gus-Gus….” It’s a groggy mumble of displeasure, you know he only wants to be beside you, but the hour doesn’t help your mood. Still, you move away from Johnny so he can jump onto your chest for cuddles.

“He does skirl alright.” That morning voice might actually be the death of you.

“Told you. He’s an asshole.” A breathy laugh makes his bare chest move as he turns to face you.

“He’s real cute though.”

“Are you not tired?” The early morning light peeks through your window, the sun isn’t even out yet and you can’t imagine anyone that is appreciative of being woken up so early.

“Naw, no’ really. ‘M used to it.” 

It feels weird, good weird, to have him in your bed like that. Barely a week since you met, and he feels so close, more like a friend than a one-night stand, more than a friends-with-benefits. He checks the time on his phone before speaking again.

“Ye want breakfast?” Your eyes are closed again, hugging Gus close to your chest, hand moving up and down his fur but not doing much to pet him. His call of your name is answered by a groan, it makes him chuckle. He scoots closer to you, you can feel his arm coming up for Gus to sniff and the cat readjusts himself so his head is closer to Johnny’s. “Hi”.

Oh but the warmth dissipating from his body is to much, that and the soft noise of Gus’ purr drives you to fall asleep again. You only half dream, a mixture of images that won’t make any sense once you’re awake again, which happens rather soon as the bed adjusts and you feel a hand run through your hair. 

“Can I make tea?” His voice sounds softer than earlier, you nod, opening your eyes just a smidge to look up at him.

“Biscuits in the cupboard…”That’s as much as you can muster now. “Wake me up when it's done?”

“Course.” 

He left with Gus following behind, but you can’t seem to fall asleep again. That was…rather intimate. Your stomach feels hot and your chest tighter. Shooting your eyes open you’re quick to grab your phone again, Farah replied an hour ago.

“Wooo! Good for you”

“You’re gonna have to tell me everything about it btw”

“Farah”

“How pathetic is it to have a crush on your one night stand?”

Oh you don’t like that, calling him a one night stand, feels too impersonal, rude almost.

You’re getting out of bed, into your restroom and to the kitchen. 

“Good morning” He leans against the kitchen counter where your meds are,he’s looking at his phone waiting for the kettle to boil, clad in his boxers from last night, hair a mess and body soft under the morning light. Even though it’s the same body it feels so different from last night, scars, bigger and small, litter his body, it’s muscular and soft at the same time, big pecs a tad too inviting and a tattoo on his forearm. Reaching for the pills would mean standing next to him, probably brushing against—no, touching him, and that makes you nervous. Oh. You’re embarrassingly down bad. 

He stayed the entire weekend, Friday through Sunday. Next week it was picnic and football. You’re convinced any major team would be jealous of your 1-person teams and 5 meter field. He’s good, but you’re full of fear as he chases you for the ball, it’s the predator-prey kinda adrenaline that makes you score. 

“Yes!” 

“Offside! Offside!”

“What do you mean offside? There’s no one I can pass the ball to!” In fact, there’s not even a goal. You grab the ball and go back to him, looking straight into his eyes in fake defiance. 

“Talking back to the referee? That’s a red card.” He looks so handsome like this, standing tall and unmovable, even if only joking, and you let him know via a quick kiss to his lips. He’s pulling you back to his lips not even half a second after, deep and slow, giggly. “Bribin’ me, huh?” You let out a soft, happy, sigh and kiss him again.

“Wanna go home?”

You tell Farah everything over a cup of tea and a piece of cake, of course. And she laughs at you, not in a mean way at all, only friendly and amused, still you hit her arm.

And the following week it’s film night. This one’s more spontaneous than the others, it’s been a tough week at work, you want a quiet evening and some company so you ask him if he wants to come hang out, he replies saying that he’ll be there in 30.

It’s the two of you, your favourite take out, Gus-Gus sitting on the back of the sofa and Fargo on the TV. He’s not paying as much attention to the film as he is to you.

“What?” You say, turning to look at him.

“Ye’r a beauty.” You smile shyly and kick him on the leg with your foot slightly. “A’m serious. I like you a lot.” A big smile grows on your face, and it’s enough confirmation for him to know you feel the same.

Or at least he thought so. There are no plans for this weekend, not for lack of trying, that is, Soap’s been trying to text you all week, it’s a big shift from your daily texting. He misses the little life updates you send him. Tuesday, he thought you might just be busy. Wednesday he stops trying to contact you, did he do something wrong? Went too fast? Are you ghosting him? What did he do that was worth the silent treatment? Thursday, he tries calling you, multiple times. Friday all rational thoughts have left his brain, did something happen to you? Are you okay? Christ, what if you’re dead? He texts Farah, swallowing his embarrassment.

“She’s okay, I think.”

“Going through a bit of a depression episode at the moment.”

“She’s going recluse, I know she wouldn’t mind a bit of help.”

“I have a spare key to her flat if you want to come get it.”

The string of texts floats around his mind, spare key in hand in front of your front door. He’s been inside before, but he was invited in, this feels invasive, but Farah trusted him, and she knew you best. He sent you a message before showing up, the last bit of chivalry he can offer before showing up in your home, it went through, and he hoped you read it even if you didn’t reply. 

He calls your name upon entering, no response. Gus comes running up to him to headbutt his legs and meow, a quick look lets him know his water bowl is clean and automatic feeder full, that’s a good sign. His voice trembles as he calls for you again. 

“You know where she is?” Great, now he’s speaking to the cat, and he meows in response, great, an actual conversation with a cat. Gus takes off and squeezes himself into a room with the door ajar, your bedroom. He knocks before entering, not expecting a response. The room is dark except for the light coming from your laptop, empty and half-full glasses taking up most of the space on your desk, chair full of unfolded clothes and a doughnut of blankets on the bed.

“Go away.” The doughnut speaks. His heart breaks at the sad, much softer than usual tone of your voice.

“Love.” The pet name slips from his lips, he notices but doesn’t attempt to correct himself. He walks closer until he’s sitting next to you. “Can I help you?” 

You shake your head no, or what’s visible of it. “Go away, I stink.” He chuckles.

“That’s fine, smell better than the lads in base.” It’s a pathetic attempt at humour, you still shake your head no.

“You don’t have to do anything.” You don’t sound sad or angry like he thought you might, it’s emotionless, almost like an automatic generated response.

“But I want to. Want tae tak’ care o ye” He wants to make everything better, wants to fix everything, wants you happy and energetic and smiling. It’s silly how much he cares for you after barely a month of knowing eachother, scary now that he’s admitting it out loud. He pulls down the blankets for a full view of your face, his hand goes to your hair, it’s tangled, he’s careful not to pull on it. “Am gunna run you a bath.” It’s not a question, you laugh slightly and he smiles, realising what he said. “Didny mean it like that, c’mon.” 

He helps you up from the bed and into the restroom. From your seat ion the toilet, you observe the way he turns on the tap and rummages through your cabinet, trying to find something to put in the water, you assume. “The orange bar in the back.” He halts, looks for a second and comes up with it, he leaves it on the sink while he turns off the water, you grab the bar and crumble a bit of it into the tub. He looks at you and gets up, you take it as your cue to undress and get in. Johnny comes back with a change of pyjamas and underwear and leaves again. You can hear him moving around and making noise, talking to the cat in occasion, while you clean yourself, when he comes back it’s to put your dirty laundry in the hamper. You don’t know why that’s the thing that makes you break and start crying. As soon as he notices, he’s on his knees next to you, softly caressing your cheeks and moving your damp hair away from your face.

“Whit’s wrong?” 

“I don’t want you to do this.” Is no reply to his question. “I don’t want you to have to do this.”

“M’eudail.” He starts. “It’s okay.”

“No it’s not!” You look up at him” I’m so sad all the fucking time and I don’t want you to have to deal with that, it’s not fair to you, you know? I don’t want you to have to take care of me or put up with me.”

“But what if I want to? Wanna take care of you, wanna put up with you.” You shake your head no, looking back down.

“Johnny, I’m so much. I get so clingy and stupid.” 

“That’s fine by me.” There’s no deterring him. He lifts your head up by your chin to kiss your forehead, bright blue eyes staring at you. 

And you realise how ridiculous this is. You’re crying in the bathtub, your friend-situationship is on his knees next to you, again, crying in the bathtub. You let out a sigh and nod.

“Okay.” 

[doctorlombax]

An Observation on Murder Drones and the Current Landscape of Stories with Female Leads

I’m guessing most of you have probably heard of the terms ‘girl-boss’ and ‘girl-power’ within the last decade or so. I see it a lot with action-based shows that center around a woman as a main character. The idea being that in the past most of our female characters were relegated to one-dimensional and helpless love interests for male leads. Now entertainment companies are realizing that women want to see themselves as the heroes of the story, so they went ahead and… over corrected.

What do I mean by this? I mean now we get shows about heroic women who and kick and punch and beat the boys around them in anything from pool to knife throwing. The lesson that writers should have learned from the past is “hey, let’s balance the skills and flaws of our girl and boy characters”. What they did instead was “okay, we will subvert the trope by having the girl take the guy’s place, and vice versa. She’s the hero and he’s the damsel. Audiences will love it!” Well I don’t. In fact I find it to be miraculously annoying (achievement unlocked: shade thrown).

For one thing, it makes the love story boring. Why would a powerful, kickass woman keep dragging around a guy that always messes up and needs to be rescued? What does he bring to the table? I don’t see the appeal because the writers are too afraid to put in a scene where she actually has to lean on him for assistance, because tHeN shE WouLd be WEAk and ThAt’s MiSOgYny.

And it’s not just about the fact that it makes the ships annoying. Even more to the point, as a woman I find it patronizing. Have you ever watched an adult play a game with a kid, and the kid trounces the adult (because of course the adult will let the kid win) and everybody is cheering the kid on and clapping? It’s sweet and cute when that happens because the person is a child. Not so much when it happens because the person is a girl.

Whenever I see these ‘girl-boss’ and ‘girl-power’ characters who never need to be rescued, always save themselves, and triumph in the face of every hurdle, it feels like the writers are saying to me “You go, Girl. Don’t worry- we’d never give this woman character flaws. That’s like taking feminism out behind the shed and shooting it. We would never bruise your delicate ego by having her be anything less than perfect!”

In the immortal words of Uzi: Bite me.

Speaking of Uzi, let’s get to talking about Murder Drones. I had heard about the show before, but only ended up watching it recently (which was lucky for me, just a couple weeks after the finale aired). For those who aren’t familiar, Murder Drones is an independent animation project on Youtube with 8 episodes, each with a runtime between 20 and 30 minutes. Quick spoiler-free synopsis: Uzi is a teenage worker drone living in a dystopia where her kind are fighting murder bots. She has a confrontation with one of the murder bots which sets off a chain reaction of events that leads her on a hero’s journey.

Uzi is every middle schooler’s edgy emo self-inset character. She’s filled with angst, has daddy-issues, and comes with a tragic backstory that is slowly revealed throughout the series. On the surface, she appears to be the exact kind of character I was complaining about disliking. Not only is she a child prodigy (built a weapon that can injure the murder drones, who up until then were believed to be indestructible) but she’s also far braver than any of the adults around her. And (SPOILER ALERT) she had a demonic form based on powers she inherited from her mother, as well as regeneration and telekinesis abilities (I bet some of you are thinking I made up those last two for giggles).

But she does not fall into ‘girl-boss’ territory. She also has moments of genuine weakness that she does not overcome by herself. She relies on luck, and has to lean on the people around her, specifically N most of the time. This is shocking because N is her male partner in the show. I know many writers of these kinds of girl-power shows balk at the idea of the main girl character being saved by her love interest, but there you have it. Uzi also has a ‘dark-night-of-the-soul’ moment where she needs her mother to pull her out. This is not some invincible character, she is flawed and needs support from those around her.

Now let’s talk a little more about N. On the surface, N appears to be your standard bumbling male-sidekick. He’s goofy, he makes mistakes, and tends to go along with whatever Uzi decides they should be doing at the moment. That being said, the writers clearly weren’t afraid to give him moments of depth and competence. He is silly, but he chooses to be kind in a world that has been incredibly cruel. He can also be protective, and is shown to have good instincts in a fight. N does drink his respect women juice, but it’s not that ultra-processed, high-fructose ‘all-women-are-queens’ garbage. He treats the women around him like people (worth noting that aside from N and Khan, all significant characters of the show are women and girls). He’s kind to them whenever he can be, but he also calls them out when they’re wrong. And when he has to fight them, he doesn’t hold back. He gave Tessa multiple chances to see reason. When she made it clear she wasn’t going to change her mind about killing Uzi, he did not hesitate to cut off her head #ActualFeminism.

I just find it so ironic how a story that touts itself as a cringy, self-indulgent and having ‘Mary-Sue energy’ ended up having one of the most well-balanced dynamics between their female lead and her male deuteragonist counterpart that I’ve seen in recent years. Thanks, Murder Drones.

P.S. Just in case there’s any confusion around my use of the word female, this post and blog are 100% trans inclusive. Terfs don’t even touch this post.

[totallynotokguys]

Lego Monkie Kid Rewatch: Special

Embrace Your Destiny 5/5

Last Time: The animators chose perspective as their secret weapon for this fight, MK and Wukong showed unconditional trust in each other, the power of friendship defeated evil, Lady Bone Demon had a moment of clarity before she vaporizes into nothingness, and I used way too many pictures… apparently.

And finally, on with the show!

“He was saving that for me, because ya know- I’m his mentor!”

Someone is still salty about s1ep9. Though seriously, I am always so amazed and grateful how quickly Wukong forgave MK for that blunder. And he really did forgive him. No holding it over the kid's head, no doubting or being suspicious of where MK’s loyalties lie. The writers could have seriously bogged us down with a ‘I don’t trust you anymore’ arc. But once again Wukong shows just how mature he can be plus how much he believes in the goodness of MK’s heart. It's almost like it's ingrained in him to just trust MK no matter what. Hehehe…. funny that, right?

Don’t think about season 5, don’t think about season 5, don’t think about season 5.

Macaque making sure to say goodbye to MK. And not just goodbye, a promise to see him again.

Welcome to fatherhood, Macaque. MK always needs more dads.

“I know I can never make it up to you. Honestly I never thought I could live as long as I have, let alone be someone’s mentor. Turns out I’m not very good at it. I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry MK, for all of it.”

I just…. Just let me cry for a moment. An adult making sure to appologise to a child. To admit their wrongs, justifying the hurt feelings of abandonment the kid may have felt because of them. Wukong really cares about MK, and is finally ready to be vulnerable and honest with him. This means so much to me!

“Sometimes I just play dumb to lighten the mood.”

Speaking of honesty. 

Man MK, way to make the audience scream. All of those fanfic writers, theorists, and artists who were headcannoning your goofy attitude as a defense mechanism to deal with tough or tense situations were basking in validation at this moment. I know I was.

Every season needs to end with these two hugging. I swear. Its so good for my mental health.

Bai He my precious daughter!

Love to see Pigsy and Mo go right back to work warming hearts and healing lives.

Its my girl! And our two favourite scoundrels!

They are friends! Oh I am so happy for her! Look at Scorpion Queen exploring new places and making new friends all on her own! She’s really come a long way from her isolation in the forest.

In a show that only has 20 minutes an episode (excluding once a blue moon where they get a short movie) quick scenes like this are the only way the show has to let us know they haven’t forgotten the side characters, and that those peeps are getting further development- even if most of it we have to glean from subtext. 

Wha- whathwhwhwhaahwahwaWHAWHAWHAAAAAAA!

I have been rewarded once more!!! Rewatch this show guys there is so much you’ll pick up that you missed or could not have possibly realised was relevant/foreshadowing/important-to-the-story-later on. The buildup of this universe is fantastic!

Anyway, that’s a wrap for the special! For real this time.

I cannot wait to get cracking on the next season. Azure was a very cool character and now that I know a little bit more about the Journey to the West, I’m sure I’ll discover new and insteresting details to drool over.

[enlightenedrobot]

So here’s a project I’ve not advertised at all. No Requests: Live! From the Tavern is an Adult focused Edutainment series focused on discussing Art, Music, and Media. Each episode is broken up into segments that work together in a playlist including various other videos on Youtube. This means Music Videos, short films, and other video essays, curated together with extra commentary from the host of the show, Tavern Barz.

That’s a weird and unnecessarily complicated format, why are you doing this?

It’s really easy in this day and age to use Youtube videos as a replacement for other content. I mean, why watch a two hour movie when you can watch a 20 minute recap? 

This is a bad habit. Critique is important aspect to a good media diet, but a diet consisting solely of critique misses the point completely. In order to talk about media, we must also experience it. 

This format means we don’t directly compete with the art featured. Rather, Tavern Barz acts as a museum curator, and the other media in the playlists serve as the actual art itself. The original videos will get their view, and… as a nice little bonus, I get to avoid the copyright bots.

Why are you using a cartoon?

I mean, I’m an animator. I don’t know what else to tell you. Why does the Chocolate guy use chocolate when clay will last longer?

But also, I don’t really have any desire to host the show as myself. There’s a hundred and ten other Youtubers who will get on camera to talk about stuff, and like, I don’t have the room for that. 

Besides, Tavern is a character distinct from me. As a writer, I have full control over the narrative I want to tell, and placing myself in the center of that just feels weird. Tavern’s allowed to act and be weird and hypocritical. Tavern is allowed to grow as a character in ways you can’t really depict through the lens of literal documentary filmmaking. 

So that Cyclops character isn’t just your rantsona vtuber avatar?

I mean, in a very literal sense, Tavern is a Vtuber. They are a virtual character serving as the host for a real show on Youtube.

But Tavern’s also an OC with lore and a planned Story Arc. The pilot is admittedly pretty bare bones with all this, but I intent to incorporate more story elements as the series goes on.

Alright, so what’s the lore then?

Tavern Barz is the Cycloptic owner of the Tavern Barz Tavern, a fifth dimensional divebar thar exists all across Time and Space. After several eternities of service, Tavern thinks they know it all.

This is not true.

Is this project family friendly?

Not really. The main character is a bartender, so there's a lot of alcohol focus. Plus, a lot of the featured videos will also contain plenty of adult themes.

The pilot is pretty mild. There's some swearing, but nothing too serious. But the non original videos might have adult themes. I have some later episodes planned, including one focused on The Male Gaze, and in those cases, I can't in good conscience recommend these videos to minors.

All in all, I like to call the tone of the project comfortably adult. I'm not going out of my way to be edgy, but I'm also not censoring myself. If this were an actual TV series, it's probably be TV-14. Edgier than the Simpsons, not as edgy as Rick and Morty, so about the level of Futurama.

When will this project release?

April, 2024. As of the time of this writing, the first episode is basically finished except for the credits, but I also need sometime to compile my sources, write descriptions, and make some thumbnails, as well as advertise the project.

Follow Me on this Account if you wanna keep up with the project. You can also see my other links at https://norequestslive.carrd.co/

[ginalinettiofficial]

hey what’s up hello okay so i finally just finished s2 e52 of dndads (had a very crazy work week so was listening in bits and pieces) and here’s the thing is that im also currently relistening to the whole season and earlier in this week, the most recent episode i finished, was halt and catch fireball, and before that ya know was mrs. swallows oak garcia’s home for peculiar teens or whatever that one is called where they are just. at normal’s house and we got to actually get to know rebecca a little bit and i have got to say that i don’t know if i could’ve picked a more painful and wild older ep to listen to as a precursor to dood riddance i really don’t!!! literally half of the shit in dood riddance just circles back to that arc in the swallows oak garcia home and it’s CRAZY

like first of all. the red vines, which they called twizzlers the entirety of e52 which was MADDENING as a person who legit just finished e30/31 where the red vines were introduced

but then like. e31 is where taylor gets the anime sword from nick!!! that he loses in e52!!!

there were a few other things that i’ve forgotten in the half an hour since i finished the ep because my brain is a sieve on a good day and i’m just getting home from two back to back 13 hour shifts (with an extra 1hr10/20 each day for the commute) so the brain machine is so fucking broke rn

but mainly. i wasn’t loving e52 esp after dood left i just was not vibing with it, i feel like the vibes were off in the room in a way that translated into the ep for a bit there, but then anthony in those last like three minutes brought it back around and with the roll of rebecca??? after i legit JUST finished listening to the eps that feature her the most prominently and like truly showcase not only normal’s relationship w his mom but also, as is said several times in e30/31 and their teen talks, just how similar normal IS to his mom and how he really clearly is a total momma’s boy and very much so seemed to be a kid who sought solace with his mom more than anyone else in his family and just. having legit JUST reestablished that in my own, made the end of e52 DEVASTATING for me in a way that idk if it was for other ppl??? idk haven’t checked the fandom yet im very disconnected this season but just.

like

i think that okay so we have ten parents it could’ve been, right? and five of those are the kiddads, and none of us want to see them die, so in that moment when anthony was telling us what was gonna happen, obviously my instinct was like “oh god don’t do this don’t do terry jr again but truly permanent” and then my next instinct was that it would be potentially even MORE awful if it was scary’s dad because finally there he is and that’s ALL she wants and for willy to take that moment from her would be INSANE and then (mind you this was my thought process over the course of literally 10 seconds, my brain is ping ponging in my head and has been since the second i got in the car to head home i need to sleep) and THEN my next thought was, oh god, but how fucked up would it be if it were marco??? oh god, how fucked up would it be if it were cassandra?!?!?!?! and then it was time for the roll and truly in those brief seconds basically my brain flicked through every potential victim and said “oh god THAT one would be the WORST”, EXCEPT for veronica and rebecca, and it made the hit of it being rebecca who was low down on my instinctual list to think of but then the second he said her name i was immediately ricocheted back to earlier in the week when i was listening to halt and catch fireball and mrs. swallows oak garcias home and how many emotions i had about normal and his mom just relistening to those episodes and then the fact that i DIDNT think to worry about her just

all of that combined to make that a CRITICAL HIT FOR ME OKAY like i am SO fucked up over this truly that was WILD and i applaud anthony burch for it and now am excited for the finale even though ive spent the last three eps just dreading it for several reasons but now im excited and devastated and i love that

anyways. that was word vomit i just NEEDED to get this out because the connections between those two episodes really will not stop hitting me in the head and i need to impart that onto SOMEONE. if u read this. ur a real one. rip rebecca swallows oak garcia you were a legend and i am so sad about u

[johanna-swann]

It's been a few days, I've had time to sleep on it and I changed my mind. The season 7 finale was the worst finale yet. In short: The entire thing felt super rushed, there was next to no emotional payoff, the main plot made no sense and I was underwhelmed / confused the whole time.

The end result, where the characters are at right now, the position from which they will start into season 8 I'm happier with than last season (goodbye forced heteronormativity), but the way we got there was... not good. (Long review under the cut. Like, long review. I have a lot of thoughts.)

Just as in 6x18 the pacing of that episode was all over the place. There was this main plot that they teased us with, the "whatever is going to happen? are they all going to survive? what will the consequences be?" and then halfway through the episode that big mystery was resolved and there were no consequences.

I remember the bridge collapse last year was super underwhelming because they just rushed through the incident in a way that gave us no time to even worry about the characters much. Buck finally was put in a position where he had to assume leadership and then that lasted for exactly the time it took him to get to Hen and once she was awake, she took over as acting Captain. Nobody was hurt so badly that we had to assume the worst. That one earthquake victim showed up which was supposed to be meaningful I guess, but it just felt random. (I doubt most viewers even remembered a random victim from 4 seasons ago. I sure didn't until someone else pointed out it was the same actor.) And then the danger was suddenly just over. The "big dramatic disaster" took up less than 20 minutes and there were no consequences. There's a reason why 6x18 only made 99th place out of 106 episodes on imdb.

7x10 repeated those very same mistakes all over again, but worse. In this case the two big questions concerning the main plot were "Who committed the arson?" and "Will Bobby be okay?". Both questions barely had to be asked at all because 1) it was very clear (and not at all a plot twist as some early reviews suggested) that Amir was innocent and the generic Latino drug smuggler cartel (loved that btw, who came up with this bullshit) was involved. 2) this is 911. The main characters don't die. The least I expected though were some heartfelt moments between the rest of the team holding each other up, people sitting with Bobby and talking to him, maybe some parallels to last season when we had a similar situation with Buck.

Instead it takes almost 10 minutes until the other characters even figure out something is wrong and we proceed to focus heavily on Athena who's going rogue again and keeps critical information from her Captain because she wants to take revenge personally. She then threatens an innocent civilian with her service weapon while off duty which - as we learnt in 2x08 from none other than Athena herself - under California law is an assault. Well done 911, a show who has previously criticised Cops abusing their power but keeps writing stories for Athena to do the exact same thing. Wtf.

Anyway, my point was that we spent so much time following Athena around on her nonsensical quest for revenge that we barely even have scenes with Bobby in the hospital. Once the generic cardboard cutout cartel is dealt with it turns out that Bobby despite having been without his own heartbeat for 14 minutes, despite having been seizing and on a ventilator last we saw him, despite the Doctor being unsure if he'd wake up at all is actually just fine. Perfectly happy and healthy even. Okay. My bad for expecting something more here I guess.

Bottom line, the main plot around the arson was very straight forward (I don't know which part here was supposed to be considered a plot twist and using Amir as a very obvious red herring twice just seems lazy), had little emotional impact and "the big showdown" was very anticlimactic. Basically the same things I also criticised about the last season finale and I don't think it's a coincedence that 7x10 is the second worst rated episode as of right now. At least the bridge collapse made sense.

One storyline they (temporarily) wrapped up rather well is the one around Mara and Henren. This will be picked up again in season 8, but for now we know Mara is in a safe place, she can have contact to the Wilsons and it might also evolve into Madney discussing having another kid in the next season. I don't feel bad waiting 3 or 4 months for how this continues. However I still think that they should've waited with the plot around the council woman for season 8 maybe. Have Henren take in Mara, show them growing together as a family, show Mara slowly opening up to them. But season 7 had so much personal drama going on already, maybe if they had pushed the incident with Ortiz, her son and her revenge plot to season 8 it would've helped keeping these last few episodes more grounded. They still could've shown Mara struggling to fit in in her new home and all of that.

Madney didn't have much going on this season. The wedding episode had its moments of course, but those were contained to the confines of 7x06. Now they've taken in Mara and there's potential to build on that, but nothing that has been explicitly teased at yet.

The Eddie/Kim Doppelgänger plot was just unhinged. It was sort of fun and I enjoyed it in a way that I also enjoy Doctor Who, Umbrella Academy or Legends of Tomorrow when they go off the charts again with their weirdness levels, but did it really fit into 911 as a show? I don't know. It's also not exactly clear yet if they're going to bring back either Marisol or Kim next season. And like, I get it. Tim Minear regrets killing off Shannon, but for the love of god just stand by your mistake. She's dead. It's been 5 seasons. We already had a plot where Eddie realised that he can't date just to give Christopher a mother figure, we already had an arc where Eddie realised that if he starts dating again he has to do it for himself, we've had scenes where Eddie admitted he was angry with Shannon for wanting a divorce, for leaving or that he still misses her sometimes, we've seen Eddie and Christopher keep up traditions to mourn her together (visiting the grave, smores). I get that grief doesn't follow a specific timeline, but still. Can we please just move on already.

Also I don't understand why they had Christopher move to El Paso. Eddie's parents are both retired, they could've stayed in LA to support Christopher instead. Chris is probably a lot closer to a bunch of relatives they have in LA than he is to his grandparents too, what about Tía Pepa? I'll be honest, even if I was in a bad place and my kid was angry with me, I would not let my 13 year old who impulsively and in the middle of the night called his grandparents (who have a history of manipulating Eddie into giving Chrisopher to them) move over a thousand kilometres away, away from his school, his friends and all the other family members he's close too. There are other options. (Also why was Buck there? He was in the room, but that's about it. Again, my bad that I had the expectation he'd be there for a reason.)

Then we have Buck and Tommy. Nothing much going on here either. I get that keeping Tommy around for 7x09 and 7x10 was a bit of a last minute decision, it was probably difficult to schedule filming with the actor etc. But that doesn't stop other characters from talking about Tommy. Instead we still barely know what's going on. Are they officially boyfriends? How do they spend their time together, do they have a hobby in common? How long have they been dating? They're still cute, but it seems a little superficial.

Which brings me to a big issue: The timeline. What the fuck is going on with the timeline? I don't even mean the obvious mistake with Tommy leaving the 118 "5 years ago". But Henren are talking about adoption and according to my research adopting a foster kid takes at least 9 months. The cruise ship disaster happened "last march". What? What is going on? How much time are we missing here? Have Bucktommy been dating for a year now and we don't even know? How long was the Eddie/Kim thing going on? Then again, if we're missing an entire year, wouldn't Buck have been with the 118 for 8 years instead of 7 as Bobby said? I am so confused.

Another thing that has been mentioned before is that season 7 barely felt like a procedural drama. It was so chock-full with the characters' personal drama that it felt more like a soap at times. How many calls did we even have this season, especially in 7b? Episode 6 was the wedding, I only remember the abduction case from ep. 7, ep. 8 was Bobby begins once again, ep. 9 only had a montage and no specific calls and ep. 10 didn't have any calls at all. Hopefully this change will be reversed in season 8 when we get more than 10 episodes again.

Only thing left to mention is the "cliffhanger" with Gerrard. Is it really a cliffhanger though? Doesn't feel like the stakes are high enough to call it a cliffhanger. They're stuck with an asshole for a Captain, getting rid of him will be an important storyline in season 8, but it's also not as dramatic as they're trying to make it seem. A big part of the reason why Gerrard's 118 was so bad back in the begins episodes is that Chim and Hen felt isolated. They didn't have back-up against Gerrard, nobody helped them or spoke up for them. That is very much not the case this time. They all still have each other and Gerrard will not stick around forever. It will suck, but it also doesn't seem like a death sentence.

In conclusion: Most of the finale was just plain bad. Not cleverly written, not well balanced, not emotionally rewarding, not planned out enough. There's little positive I can take away from this episode. Some storylines weren't explored enough, others did get the necessary screentime and still made no sense. Not all of these mistakes were made just in the finale, some have been happening for most of season 7. Let's hope for a better season 8.

[aprikosenklang]

Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action

First, some context: I started watching A:TLA when book 2 was airing. Since then, I watched it at least 10 times. Half of it in German and half of it in English. The last time was in 2020. I know a lot of lines by heart—yes in both languages. Zuko was my fist teenage crush and Oncle Iroh’s quotes helped my through a lot of dark times in my life. I might be biased because I love the original series a lot. But I try to reason everything carefully.

The Good

I loved it visually! Bending looked so cool and never felt out of place or weird. All of the shown places could be recognized in a blink. It was beautiful to see this world adapted in a realistic way.

The casting was mostly done perfect. A lot of the characters looked a lot like I would have imagine them.

The Kiyoshi Warriors were really awesome. Especially Suki—even though she didn’t got a name at all?!

I loved the addition with the 41st devision. It gave Zuko‘s crew actually a reason the respect him and fitted to his character and backstory.

Zuko and Iroh give the same energy as in the original. Usually this wouldn’t be something to mention, since I would expect this from and adaption. But due to issues you can read further below, I have to mention it. Zuko and Iroh might be one of the few characters that never felt out of character. I’m happy we got those two true to original at least.

The Bad

Since there is so much, I structure it even further into story, production and costumes.

Story:

I didn’t liked any of the story changes. I don’t even understand why they had to tangle all the storylines. The original book 1 is 20 episodes each about 20-25 minutes—which results in 400-500 minutes in total. The live action had 8 episodes each about 45 minutes to an hour—let’s say about 400-450 minutes in total. So basically, they could have taken the timeline as is is. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t advocate for a 1:1 adaption here. I just don’t get why they saw the need to tangle storylines, pull in things from later seasons and leave out important scenes, places, character traits and even whole characters. Each and every story change felt out of place, out of character and over all pointless. Nothing added anything that made sense. Just like it was changed because they had to change something.

Aang didn’t even learn water bending!!! Like what is the whole season even about if the main character doesn’t have a real character arc? All he does is having guilt over disappearing for 100 years. Yes that’s also a thing he has to overcome. But it is just half of it. And he even doesn’t really get over it. He has none of his childish fun moments like he does in the original.

Why did Sokka have SOOO much screen time?!?! Sometimes it felt like he‘s the protagonist of the series. Especially with Aang not even learning water bending.

Momo in contrast had like 0 screen time. But than in the last episode when he became important as plot device Sokka was weirdly attached to him.

Katara being her own master made it pointless to actually go to the northern water tribe. Yes there was Aang's vision. But in the original the plot is not mainly driven by what the fire nation does, but by what team avatar needs to do. Like… Aang learning bending!!!

We didn’t get the epic intro we could have. It felt like they tried to make up for it in the first episode. But having three different versions of the epic lines and finally Gran Gran dropping the original ones was actually the worst. It felt forced and as if she would read them out.

Everything regarding Azula was sooo off for me. She felt like a completely different character with other motivations and struggles. I wish she would not have been so present in the first season.

Uncle Iroh drank not enough tea. Lol. This is maybe a personal one and I cannot reason it to be honest.

I‘m disappointed by the Lu Ten moment. Fist of all, why did it need to be in season one?! But also: It was a bonding moment for Zuko and Iroh. It didn’t payed any respect for Lu Ten in my opinion. And leaves from the wine was barely noticeable and didn’t make feel anything.

Katara never lost her necklace. Which I don’t mind. But it made a huge plot hole for the headhunter Zuko hired. They tried to cover it with randomly finding a piece of fabric. But how did they know this belonged to the Avatar? This change feels similar to the one with the water bending scroll. Important things just become meaningless.

Agni Kai was once mentioned but never explained. If I didn’t know what an Agni Kai is from the original series, this would probably be either the most missed or confusing thing.

Hei Bai was never healed!!! Yeah sure, Aang saved the villagers. But what about the forest and spirit?! And why was there no winter solstice? And in general why did everything in the spirit world was so all over the place?

The siege of the Nothern water tribe being a distraction for Omashu is stupid. It would take them way too long to hear about it. So they would not be able to send troops there by time and it would not weaken them in any way.

The world feels super flat and boring. Because they tangled so many story lines, they got rid of a lot of places. No fire nation prison in the earth kingdom, no nothern air temple, almost no villages. You never get a change to explore the world and learn about the ordinary people.

Production:

The directing felt bad. A lot of people say, the acting was bad. But I don’t agree. First of all, a lot of the cast were children. I think it is not fair to judge them so easily and hard. In my opinion the directing wasn’t good. And you could tell because even the older and more experienced actors were really stiff.

The dialogs were almost always awkward. This adds to the previous point and is another sign that the acting isn’t the problem. The lines were sometimes random, jokes felt forced and original lines never made the same impact as in the animated series.

Some of the CGI green screen backgrounds were awful. They reminded you that this is a show which really pulled me out of the immersion.

Costumes:

The costumes felt lifeless. They could have added so much details to the garments and accessories. But of all things they decided to stick to the original with the costume design?! I expected the outfits to be a lot more toned down in brightness too. That’s something you need in an animated series, but not in a live action. So much missed potential.

Why could they not cast old people for old characters? All of them looked so stale, emotionless and almost uncanny.

I was sooo disappointed by Yue! Maybe I’m biased here, because she was one of my favorite characters of book one. But somehow she was the only character that didn’t felt casted perfectly. And especially her hair was awful and looked like a cheap wig.

Conclusion

Overall, I‘m disappointed. Again, I didn’t expected a 1:1 adaptation. But I don’t see that the same care was put into it like it was for the original. I would have wanted to have something that creates similar emotions and an overall known feeling. But it doesn’t. It’s confusing, flat and carelessly made. I can definitely see why the original creators stepped back from it.

If you think about watching it, I would recommend you the original. Especially because it is not that much longer. So better invest your time wisely.

[kumalimited]

Miraculous Ladybug - Awakening : a review (spoilers without context)

(Made with love by someone who went to the world premiere - seen with the French dub)

The good

Nice animation

Nice OST (excluding the musical part)

Paris being a bit more like real life Paris (we love good metro representation ok)

LADYNOIR MY BELOVED I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD

George Michael royalties draining the film budget

DJwifi shenanigans all over again

The meh

Supporting characters of the show being in the background but kinda absent

Adrien being a loner for some reason

The pacing of it all is a bit all over the place even though they had 20 more minutes than the two Origins episodes

Stuff that is both bad but also makes it a must-watch

Plagg making fart jokes

Tikki rapping

Gabriel's Abba era hair

Gabriel Winx wings

Gabriel detaining random criminals in some dungeon under his house in the catacombs and criminals being casually ok with it as well as with doing a musical number with the guy detaining them

Zag making the deliberate choice to replace the "Ma Lady" surname by "Watermelon" for some reason

Adrien missing the goddamn apocalypse caused by his father due to ugly crying to Careless Whisper

The ending is a remake of Star Wars episode III last fight

Parisians being super casual abt the fact that the Seine became LAVA and that their flats won't be restored through magical ladybugs for some reason

Astruc is barely mentioned in the credits meaning that he was barely involved in its development and it shows

Stuff that is really bad imo

The SONGS.

No really the songs are bad

i mean music is dope, lyrics are very bad

Zag wanted his own Disney musical except he cannot write lyrics to save his life and has no idea how to pace a musical number to make it interesting

i.e Marinette has three "who am I, how can I become who I really be" songs when all of her internal conflict is due to her falling randomly at times, which makes a very poor (but also the only one) character arc

i.e there are seven songs in an one hour and a half long movie

i.e those songs stop the action to make us listen to lame ass lyrics (at least in French)

if i took a shot each time a song by Marinette mentioned "être moi" (being me) or each time Ladybug and Chat Noir repeated "Plus forts ensemble" (stronger together) I'd be in ER

because the original show didn't have any catchphrase at all isn't it

since the songs are stopping the movie every time they happen, there's no time for character development so

no umbrella scene

no Adrien character development whatsoever

no justification for Marinette preferring Adrien to Chat Noir

no justification of why Adrien was chosen as a holder

TL DR : A very nice musical fanfic that I'll enjoy making fun of for the years to come

[the-rewatch-rewind]

Another new episode!

Script below the break.

Hello and welcome back to The Rewatch Rewind! My name is Jane, and this is the podcast where I count down my top 40 most frequently rewatched movies in a 20-year period. Today I will be talking about number 15 on my list: Columbia Pictures’ 1940 fast-talking comedy His Girl Friday, directed by Howard Hawks, written by Charles Lederer (and uncredited Ben Hecht and Morrie Ryskind), based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, and Ralph Bellamy.

After a four-month absence, reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) returns to the office of The Morning Post to inform her ex-husband/boss, editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant), that she is about to marry insurance agent Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy), settle down, and quit the newspaper business for good. Desperate to win her back, both professionally and romantically, Walter entices Hildy to write one last great story for the paper, while doing everything he can to sabotage her relationship with Bruce.

I don’t remember any of my first impressions of this movie, or if I had seen it before I started keeping track. I assume it was one of the many old movies I got from the library relatively early in my foray into Old Hollywood, so I might have seen it in 2002. I definitely saw it once in 2003, once in 2005, once each in 2007 through 2009, three times in 2010, three times in 2012, once in each year from 2013 through 2016, twice in 2017, once in 2018, twice in 2019, and twice in 2022. I know that in 2010, I took a class at community college called “film as literature,” in which some assignments involved picking a movie and three different aspects of filmmaking, and discussing how those three aspects enhanced the story of that particular film. The instructor advised us to watch the movie we were writing about three times, focusing on a different aspect each time, and His Girl Friday was one of the movies I wrote a paper like that about (I focused on dialogue, props, and lighting), so that explains the three times in 2010. But I can’t think of a good explanation for why I watched it three times again in 2012, aside from the fact that it’s a great movie that I always enjoy watching. It’s also one that feels particularly appropriate to include in my annual Cary Grant birthday marathon, because it happened to come out on his birthday in 1940, so that’s part of why I watch it almost every year.

By far the best and most noteworthy aspect of this movie is its rapid-fire dialogue. Yes, a lot of old movies are very dialogue-heavy with people talking pretty fast, but like, His Girl Friday takes it to a whole other level. A typical movie averages around 90 words of dialogue per minute; His Girl Friday averages around 240. Many lines were specifically written so that the beginning and the end didn’t matter, allowing the actors to talk over each other, as people do in real conversations, without preventing the audience from understanding what was going on. All the fast, overlapping talking is particularly impressive given that multi-track recording hadn’t been developed yet, so they couldn’t adjust the volumes of different speakers separately in post-production; they just turned different overhead microphones on and off so the primary speaker was louder when they were recording, with some scenes reportedly requiring up to 35 switches – shout out to that sound department. At the time, the record for fastest film dialogue was held by the 1931 version of The Front Page, and director Howard Hawks was determined to break it with this adaptation, which he later proved he had done by screening the two versions next to each other. He also encouraged the actors to improvise, which made filming take longer – as it had with his earlier Bringing Up Baby – but helped the conversations feel even more authentic. Rosalind Russell felt that Cary Grant had more good lines in the script than she did, so she hired her own writer to help enhance her dialogue. Apparently at one point, after she did something unscripted, Grant broke character and said into camera, “Is she going to do that?” which Hawks really wanted to keep in the movie, but ultimately didn’t make the final cut. But several noteworthy ad-libs remained, including at least two, possibly three, amazing inside jokes. One is when Walter says, “He looks like that fellow in the movies…Ralph Bellamy” about Bruce, who did, in fact, look exactly like Ralph Bellamy, the actor playing him. And then there’s the part when the mayor says, “You’re through,” and Walter replies with, “The last man that said that to me was Archie Leach,” in reference to Cary Grant’s birth name – yes, he had the same birth surname as me, but we’re not related as far as I know. And the third, which has not been officially confirmed as an ad-lib or intentional reference but might have been, is when Walter calls the man hiding in a desk a “mock turtle,” which was the character Grant played in the 1933 Alice in Wonderland movie.

So basically, this film was made specifically for Cary Grant fans, and that’s a big part of why I love it. Walter Burns is one of his less likable characters – he’s selfish and deceptive and manipulative – but also one of his most fun to watch. Grant nails every beat of the breakneck-paced dialogue, knowing exactly when to pull focus toward himself and when to fade back to let his scene partner shine through. He still keeps going in the background, though, which helps make this movie especially rewatchable. As you can probably tell from the mere existence of this podcast, I enjoy rewatching movies anyway, but with His Girl Friday in particular, there are so many excellent moments that I didn’t notice until I’d seen the whole film many times, and I’m still noticing new things with every rewatch. While you don’t need to hear the overlapping bits of dialogue to follow the movie, once you’re familiar with the story it’s very fun to go back and listen for the parts you missed before. And several actors – Grant in particular – make some great reaction faces in the background that are worth watching out for. So if you’ve only seen this movie once, I would highly recommend revisiting it.

And it’s not just Cary Grant – Rosalind Russell is absolutely fabulous in this movie. Hildy Johnson was a man in The Front Page, but when Howard Hawks heard his female secretary reading the lines during auditions, he thought they sounded great coming from a woman and decided to turn Hildy into Walter’s ex-wife. It would have been nice if they could have changed one of the main characters into a woman without making her automatically romantically involved with the other main character, but we can’t have everything. Many actresses were considered but ended up either turning it down or being too expensive to hire. Russell knew she was not a top choice and was apparently very insecure about that, but she had no reason to be because she was perfect. All the reporters in the movie talk ridiculously fast, but she leaves them in the dust and makes it look easy. It took me many takes just to quote part of one of her many rapid monologues at the end of last episode without tripping over my words; I don’t know how she did it. And while she’s talking a mile a minute, she’s also portraying an incredibly layered and nuanced character. The wonderful character actors playing the other reporters do a great job of conveying that they have embraced the cold, detached mindset of caring more about the scoop than the story itself. Hildy shares this to a certain extent, but she hasn’t completely lost her sense of empathy the way they have. She fits in with the guys, but she’s also better than them, both as a journalist and as a human being, without seeming too perfect to be realistic, which is an incredibly complex and difficult balance to strike, but again, Rosalind Russell nails it. Much as I love Grant’s performance, Russell is really the glue that holds the whole thing together, and she commits to that role completely.

Hildy is such a strong character that I’m always disappointed when she goes back to Walter at the end. She is clearly a much better match with him than with Bruce, whose slow, deliberate speech contrasts rather jarringly with Hildy and Walter’s snappy patter. But Walter has learned exactly zero lessons by the end of the movie, and there is no reason to believe that any of the problems with their first marriage will ever be resolved. Throughout the movie, Hildy is torn between wanting the domestic life of Bruce’s wife and the more hectic life of a newspaper reporter that still has a hold on her. When Walter tells her she can’t quit because she’s a newspaperman, she replies that that’s why she’s leaving, so she can be a woman. But as much as she complains about it, she makes it pretty clear that she does love being a reporter. I think there is a part of her that genuinely likes the idea of settling down as a housewife, but it seems like the main reason she wants to do that is because society is telling her that’s what women are supposed to do. So I’m very glad the movie doesn’t make her marry Bruce. I also recognize that at the time it was rather radical to suggest that a woman should pursue a career in something other than homemaking if she wants to, let alone suggest that she doesn’t have to completely give up the idea of having a husband to do so. In 1940 it was highly unusual to show a man wanting his wife to also have a career like Walter does. So from that perspective it is kind of nice to see them get back together. But at the same time, he treats her pretty terribly, and it kind of feels like it’s saying that a career gal should be happy with any man she can manage to get, regardless of how slimy he is. Not that Hildy doesn’t also treat Walter pretty terribly too. I guess they show their affection by hurling insults at each other, which is a type of relationship that makes no sense to me, but they seem to be on the same page about it. Still, I would love to see Hildy walk out on both Walter and Bruce like the strong, independent woman she is. At least the movie makes it clear that, despite its title, she is nobody’s assistant, or “girl Friday.”

The progressive for 1940 but doesn’t quite work now theme extends beyond feminism. Besides the Walter/Hildy/Bruce love triangle, the other main storyline in the movie involves a man named Earl Williams, played by John Qualen, who is about to be hanged for killing a policeman, despite some legitimate questions regarding his sanity. Walter wants Hildy to do one final interview with Earl to show that he definitely wasn’t responsible for his actions, and that he’s being strategically executed a few days before an election so the incumbent sheriff and mayor will look tough on crime and win. Most of the reporters don’t seem to care, asking the sheriff if he can move the execution up a few hours so it can make their morning editions. The sheriff refuses, but it is very clear that he could not care less about upholding the law, and same with the mayor, because when a messenger from the governor arrives with a reprieve, they try to bribe him to leave and come back later so they can still execute Williams and pretend the reprieve arrived too late. And it’s not just the politicians who are corrupt. Hildy bribes a prison guard twice: first to get an interview with Earl Williams, and then to find out how he managed to get a gun and escape. Then when Hildy and Walter find Williams, they hide him, not because they think he’s innocent and want to save him, but because they want to be able to turn him in after they’ve written the story of how they captured him. The movie’s statements about the way American society treats working-class people on the fringes, like Earl, and the way the criminal justice system is easily manipulated for political or financial gain, are honestly still pretty accurate, for the most part. But in a bizarre twist, Walter tells Bruce and Hildy that the policeman Earl shot was black, and that the politicians are trying to get votes from black people by executing his white killer, which is just, so completely backwards from how anything actually works that it kind of detracts from the legitimate points the movie does make. Everything about this story just screams late 1930s/early 1940s, from the characters’ world views to the costumes to the current event references, which makes sense given when the movie was made, but is completely inconsistent with the written prologue at the beginning, which states: “It all happened in the dark ages of the newspaper game – when to a reporter getting that story justified anything short of murder. Incidentally, you will see in this picture no resemblance to the men and women of the press today. Ready? Well, once upon a time—” It’s like, nice try, but in 1940 you can’t pretend this is set in a bygone era and then talk about Hitler and the European war. I don’t think they were really fooling anyone, but at least this allowed the filmmakers to get away with criticizing journalists without getting sued or censored.

Speaking of being censored, one of the few female characters in this movie, Mollie Malloy (played by Helen Mack), kind of seems like she’s supposed to be a prostitute, but of course they weren’t allowed to say that so it’s not super clear. What we do know is that she befriended Earl Williams shortly before he was arrested and has visited him in jail, and that the press has been inaccurately representing the nature of Earl and Mollie’s relationship. I don’t know if it was partly because of the Hays Code that they specifically state that Earl and Mollie haven’t slept together, but regardless of the reason, I’m always a fan of platonic male/female friendship. And the way the movie shows that they care about each other deeply in a non-sexual way, while portraying the reporters as wrong for sexualizing their relationship, feels almost like it’s saying “asexual rights” and we love to see it. We don’t really know what’s going to happen to Earl and Mollie after the events of the film, but I hope that Earl gets the mental health care he needs – he won’t because it’s 1940 but we can pretend – and that Mollie fully recovers from jumping out of the window – we know she’s alive but not how badly she’s hurt – and that they remain close friends.

While this movie touches on a lot of dark themes, overall the tone is lighthearted. It feels like it’s exposing the world for the hellscape that it is and laughing at it. And while some of its attitudes feel very outdated and problematic, that mood is still relatable. His Girl Friday is hectic and chaotic and screwball, but it manages to remain at least somewhat grounded and real. So watching it can feel like either escaping from the real world or looking into a mirror held up to the real world, depending on what the viewer chooses to focus on. This makes it an appropriate movie to watch in many different moods, which helps explain why I revisit it so often. That and the incredible fast-talking performances that I’m still in awe of. And, of course, Cary Grant’s presence always helps.

Thank you for listening to me discuss another of my most frequently rewatched movies. Next up is the fourth and longest movie I watched 22 times in 20 years, which is also from the 1940s, so stay tuned for another oldie. It is also probably the most disturbing movie on this list, just to warn anyone who may be watching along. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Are you suggesting that this is a knife I hold in my hand?”

[officialvoiceofgenerationx]

I had my adolescent girlhood in the early '90s when I was in my early 20s. I was married at the time, which is weird. I'm not sure how that happened. I was drunk 24/7 for a few years and then I realized I was about to be married and I decided I should lay off the booze, with the result that I went into a major depressive episode that lasted a few more years. Really, the marriage never had a chance.

I treated my depression with depressants - a lot of pot, of course, and we had a connection in the medical field who hooked us up with painkillers - Vicodin and Percocet, mostly, and this cool new drug called Xanax. When we weren't fighting, we were sitting on the sofa staring off into space and Nickelodeon was part of our cable package.

I discovered Clarissa Explains It All and was totally in love. I also got really into My So-Called Life and The Adventures Of Pete And Pete. I found Sassy magazine, which got problematic later, but it seemed pretty cool at the time. I didn't get to have an adolescence when I was an adolescent and my late teens were pretty chaotic - I never knew where I was going to pass out or what was going to happen. The marriage wasn't good, but we did have a somewhat stable place to live and it was fairly quiet - between the drugs and resentments, we didn't talk much - so I was able to just dig into adolescent culture and Clarissa was there to explain it all.

The episode I attached is available to watch for free. They all should be - it's a fucking 30-year-old sit-com, for shit's sake. And it's about as representative of the show as it needs to be. The family takes a break from TV, which makes them all miserable - the show doesn't explicitly state that TV is the only thing that makes it possible for them to tolerate each other, but there it is. The mom starts smoking again - all of our parents smoked, for fuck's sake - and then quits. Happy ending achieved.

Clarissa Darling was a normal TV kid - her family was well-off and they lived in California. There was no abuse, all problems were solved in 22 minutes and there was a laugh track in case you didn't get the really lame humor. I am not pretending that the show was ground-breaking or deep - it was a sit-com on Nick. Still, it was fun. Clarissa broke the fourth wall constantly, directly addressing the audience. They touched on the topics that the writers wanted to believe were important to teenagers and it was a fun, cheesy, day-glo diversion from reality. The Adventures Of Pete And Pete was a lot weirder and My So-Called Life touched on weightier topics - I couldn't find those shows for free either. When none of those were on, I had the latest copy of Sassy to fill the gap.

Eventually, we had to give up cable because we were broke. Sassy got taken over by a different publisher and stopped being cool. I found someone who was able to give me the active abuse I wasn't getting from the marriage and had an affair. We separated in '95 or so - got divorced a year or two later. I started doing meth on top of the other shit and eventually returned to alcohol. Somehow, I survived.

Mostly, I focus on the older Gen Xers - those of us who were born in the late '60s and through the '70s. The subjects I'm on about here were made for younger Xers and the up-and-coming kids - Xillennials, I guess. Still, the relatively cool teen fodder of the '90s had some affect on me. I was able to take a break from the truly toxic shitshow that was my life and pretend that acne was a really important problem for a little bit. It was nice to pretend I was a twelve-year-old girl who had friends and a family that cared, even if it was fake as shit.

Clarissa, So-Called Life and Pete And Pete really should be available for free streaming. I'd love to bore the shit out of my 14yo with some truly lame old TV. That kid has had it pretty easy.

[lovecolibri]

I know that tonight we have two lone star episodes, and who knows what will happen there, but, could it actually be that s4 of freaking Lone Star was overall (because there were storylines that made no sense like the Carlos being married) way better than s6 of OG?!?!? How is that possible?!? I can't believe it, but at this time, I will say it is, and that is mind blowing

Sorry I didn't get to this before but...I honestly got whiplash from BOTH LS and OG's finales and neither in a particularly good way. I said in another post that it was odd that LS was supposed to have a wedding ended up being depressing AF for like, 99% of the 2 hours while OG was supposed to be suspenseful and everyone in major danger and then it was like, 15 minutes with cool stunts but barely a chance to feel an emotion before everyone was saved much less hit an actual emotional beat, and the last 20 was them pretending nothing bad just happened and everyone was fine so they could make time for their 25 guest characters and forced LI's.

I will say that I don't fully take issue with the CONTENT of the LS finale (still not happy about Gabriel's death after barley getting to see him and Carlos talk and share scenes just the two of them but I can deal with it and GOD Rafa is a force to be reckoned with), so much as I think it was WAY too much/too heavy to pack into the end of the season and should have been spread out to give those really emotional storylines some space to breathe and to not clash so heavily with the fun, joyful vibe I think they WANTED to have for the wedding.

the OG finale needed to focus so much more on the firefam being hurt and in danger and talking to each other! Remember when Hen got trapped in the earthquake and the team is frantic looking for her? And we KNOW she makes it out, but she leaves that voicemail for Karen that absolutely reduces me to tears every time? Remember when Buck gets crushed and how everyone is vibrating trying to get to him and we see Maddie watching him on TV and the crowd rushing in to help save him? This episode could have had that same kind of emotional build, with the bonus that this emergency actually has every main character re-facing a trauma of theirs! There was SO much they could have done! Hen was the first out, but she was heavily concussed and we could have seen Buck needing her help to get Eddie and her not being able to and him having to leave Eddie to go save Chim, and we could have had more with Athena having to sit by Bobby and not be able to help him and the team fighting together to get to him. I just....don't understand how you have the whole setup for a PERFECT episode right there and then...don't do anything with it. It's 6x11 not focusing on the firefam and their emotional moments with their Buck all over again!

ANYWAY. I'm glad it's hiatus time. I'm gonna read some fics and maybe finally work on mine too. ABC, ball is in your court.

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

➖ Mature content, 18+ ➖ check the trigger tags each time ➖      

Chapter 20 - Reunion. Episode 1.

Andy: *It's here! The day where we will go to our high school reunion/prom theme night! I jumped out of bed, and chuckled softly as Evan grabbed my arm and dragged me right back in.*

Evan: Hey hey, where're you running off to so fast? *His voice was tired and hoarse as he moaned*

Andy: *I chuckled softly and kissed his forehead* I'm just too exited about tonight. *Two days ago, Evan had spontaneously invited me to prom over Facebook. And I hadn't been able to get my feet back on the ground since then. I had been asked to prom, by the man I love, well one of them at least. The one who was terrified of being seen with me in public, and on top of it all, he had told me he wanted to be seen with me in public, as a couple, would you believe it? Of course I was in heaven!*

Evan: *He chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around me, whispering in a hoarse voice* Well… there is many hours till tonight… what do you say we spend some of that time here in bed?

Andy: *I felt his boner poke against my lower back, and it instantly made my own morning boner pulsate. I wanted him so badly. Always. So of course it was impossible for me to say no to him, as he was laying there with messy hair and sleepy eyes. I turned around slowly and moaned softly as I felt one of his palms lightly brush over my dick*

Evan: *He smiled softly and bit his bottom lip* You're so gorgeous in the morning. I could look at you for hours.

Andy: *I smiled bright, as his words made butterflies flutter around in my stomach* You're gorgeous too… *I frowned softly as my stomach suddenly felt weird. Was that? Oh fuck! Yeah, that's definitely! I jumped out of bed and sprinted to the nearby bathroom, quickly dropping down on my knees in front of the toilet, just in time to see something I assume was last nights dinner pour out of my mouth. I coughed hard, and yet another round of dinner came up.*

Evan: *He entered the toilet half running, with a concerned look on his face* Are you oka… *he didn't finish the sentence as I puked a third time* Hey… *he sank down behind me and gently placed his hands on my shoulders, rubbing them softly* take a deep breath…

Andy: *I shook my head and once again stuff I assumed was food at some point, poured out of my mouth and into the toilet*

Evan: *He reached backwards, grabbed a small towel and quickly wet it, gently pressing the chilled wet towel against my forehead* How's this? *his voice was soft and caring*

Andy: *I nodded softly* Better… I feel a bit better… *I stayed over the toilet a few minutes, until I decided nothing more was going to come out. Then I let myself bump down on my ass, landing between Evan's legs.* So much for foreplay huh? *I grunted dissatisfied and frowned* I'm sorry..

Evan: *He smiled softly and kissed the back of my neck, as he wrapped his arms gently around me* never apologize for feeling sick. Okay? Never…. *he started softly caressing my hair with one hand, leaving his other arm wrapped gently around me. We staid like that for almost an hour, until I felt fine again.*

Andy: *As we late that same evening were on our way in the limo all teamed up with Daniel and his date, which happened to be Sparkle for the evening, yeah, I ca'nt say that one didn't come as a surprise, we had all expected a blonde bimbo, well I guess at least the blonde part didn't fail? -And Thomas which we today had put on a blind date with Evan's sister, Rose. Thomas and Rose knew each other already, so we thought it was the less uncomfortable way to hook him up for the night, so the shy guy didn't have to go to prom alone, or to prom on a real blind date, as those can be teeth pulling even for outgoing people. The mood in the limo was high, as we all had reached the state of tipsy before we had managed to leave our house. Evan had grabbed my hand as we went into the limo, and had promised he wouldn't let go of it the whole night, no matter what. He seemed confident, but under the surface it was easy for someone as close to him as I have become, to see that he was nervous. And as we got closer and closer to our old school, I felt his nails dig into my skin. I admired him for trying to still be so calm on the outside. As we pulled up at the parking lot, and everyone got out of the limo, he took a quick look at me, smiled softly, kissed my hand he was holding, and elegantly stepped out of the limo. I have to say, as I followed him, I had a rush in my stomach as it dawned on me, no one really knew I was gay either. It had taken up so much of my focus, always trying to keep Evan's and my relationship out of the spotlight for Evan's sake, I had completely forgotten I wasn't out yet in the media. And suddenly I got anxious that people might take pictures of us… pictures that could quickly turn up on front pages of magazines. Not that I was still hiding the fact that I was gay. For fuck sake, I'm like uber gay! And although I'm not flamboyantly gay I'm still gay enough that it cant be hidden. But my publicist had advised me to stay out of the media for a while. At least till the end of this year when I had hopefully been on a bit of touring. 'Fans are important' she said. 'Going from one genre of music to a completely other one is bound to cost you million of fans. But it can also bring you millions more, if you play your cards wise'. She didn't care I was gay, so it wasn't anything homophobic, it was simply business. And I can't say I wasn't just a bit relieved that I could get to avoid judgement for as long as possible. Truth to be told, on most days I have a 'fuck it' attitude towards most things, specially whether people like that I'm gay or not. What do I care? But some days, I just crumble. I'm still not fully recovered from all my mental instabilities, to say it nicely, so some days I just don't have much self esteem. I sighed deeply as I felt Evan give my hand a light squeeze*

Evan: Are you okay? *His voice was soft and caring*

Andy: *I chuckled softly* For real? You're asking me if I'm okay? I should be asking you.

Evan: *He smiled softly* So far, I'm as okay as I can be. As long as I hold your hand, I'll be okay.

Andy: *Why did he have to say things like that?! Why did he have to melt my knees here in this parking lot? Damn you Evan and your Hazel green eyes. Damn you and your soft beard stubbles, damn you and you full lips! Which I want to kiss so passionately right now!*

Evan: *He chuckled softly and shook his head* Andy, you are spacing out again.

Andy: *I do that a lot, don't I?*

Evan: *He chuckled even softer and grabbed my chin with his thumb and pointing finger* Where do you go when you space out like that? *As he leaned in to kiss my lips I could feel myself blush, he was really going to kiss me right there in the parking lot? Sure there was no people around except Thomas, Rose, Sparkle and Daniel, which all had seen us kiss by now, but… people… people could show up…. people we used to go to school with. But then he paused only millimetres from my lips, and as I opened my eyes to look at him, he was looking up at the sky with a small crooked smile on his lips, and right there I noticed a rain dop on his cheekbone* Hm… I guess we better get inside? *He winked at me and slowly started walking towards the big entrance door. Still trying his very best to cover the anxiousness in his eyes. I was relieved he was still holding my hand, and I was honestly starting to believe he wouldn't let go. But as we stepped inside the big iron front door, I froze as I felt his hand quickly let go of mine, and as I reached towards him to grab his hand again, he stepped few steps away from me so I could no longer reach him. And then I noticed her. Pale skin. Long black hair. Big boobs. skinny figure. Aka Hailey, his ex girlfriend, or rather said his high school sweetheart. His first love. Tomboy Hailey had grown up to become a stunning woman, dressed in along black and dark red gradient dress, complimenting her incredible feminine figure. Long legs, great hips, long slender fingers. Everything Evan ever wanted.*

Hailey: *She smiled bright as she walked up to him* I had a feeling I would see you here tonight.

Andy: *I watched in slow motion as she dragged him into the crowd of people, and few seconds later I had lost sight of him.*