#we will not discuss how i whaled for Phantom

[cryptid-crusader]

Ah, my fucked up husband's. 💖😘✨

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase Character Discussion (for your local Cyberchase trivia quiz) - #2: Matt

I made a post while back talking about archiving material from the Cyberchase website, including the now-removed character bios. I made a post about Inez, intending it to be the first in a series, and then I put it aside. Now I'm getting back to it.

#2: Matt

So, let's start with his character bio in "Meet the Cybersquad". This was released in 2001, before the series started airing in 2002. I don't know how much of this is still canon, given how much time has passed.

We learn that Matt, like Jackie, is 11 years old. He is presented as Cyber-detective, which is interesting. All of the kids engage in problem-solving. I never really thought Matt was into detective stuff specifically. He is big on the use of his yo-yo when thinking, and he does come prepared with tools in his backpack.

His favorite color is green, which makes sense, as he wears a green turtleneck in almost every episode. He enjoys pizza and pancakes. He enjoys Brian Jacques's "Redwall" books, so we know he isn't squeamish. I love that his favorite is "anything by Will Smith". This bio really is a product of its time. His favorite movie is "Star Wars". He might be referring to "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" back when it was titled just "Star Wars", or he could be referring to the franchise as a whole. I wonder if he canonically liked "The Phantom Menace", which would have been the only movie from the Star Wars prequel trilogy out at the time.

His listed pet peeve is waiting (for anything). That part is definitely still canon, though he has gotten less impulsive and more patient as the series has progressed.

He also has a ton of pets, and this isn't even counting any livestock his family owns on the farm. He has:

A Bearded Dragon named Boomerang

An Armadillo named Spike

An African Water Frog named Sharky

An African Water Frog named Fins

A dog (mixed Golden Retriever and Yellow Lab) named Obi Won Kadoggie

I didn't even know pet Armadillos were a thing.

That's it for the "Meet the Cybersquad" page. I'm a little surprised that they didn't mention that Matt lives on a farm with his family. They also didn't mention his love for Greek Mythology.

We can also look at his introduction from the official Cyberchase prequel web comic, "How It All Started: Episode 3", for this information.

Narration: Matt lives on a farm with his family, and dreams of being the homerun champ. Little does he know he'll soon be a hero of a different kind.

Narration: Matt is into Greek Mythology big time!

Here is Matt's official Cyberchase trading card.

His favorite line, as listed here is "OK, what do we know?". I thought that was actually one of Jackie's common lines, right next to "Let's get organized". I would have used "Touchdown!" here. It also talks about him being interested in magic. I don't remember that interest coming up, even in the Shari Spotter episodes. He's great at skateboarding, yo-yo tricks, milking cows, and trying new things.

He can also be ruthless, like that time he threatened to destroy The Hacker's Grim Wreaker ship.

We can talk about his impulsiveness and recklessness, like in Season 2 Episode 8: "Whale of a Tale". He saw a steam-filled death pit, where he couldn't see the other side, and tried to jump over it. He thought it was only one meter, due to a partially-obscured sign.

It wasn't one meter.

This is not good! This is not good at all!

Off topic, I love how expressive they made Inez in this episode.

And of course, he wants to try again.

He was also at the center of the Cybersquad's disastrous attempt to promote Motherboard's re-election campaign against The Hacker in Season 2 Episode 4 "True Colors". He accused The Hacker of lying about his good deeds without any proof, and it turned out that The Hacker was telling the truth about them after all. Matt's efforts to bring up The Hacker's prior crimes were also seen as mud-slinging.

I'm not here to bash him as a character. I like Matt, flaws and all. He's a member of the Cybersquad. All three of these actual children have been in way over their heads since the start.

Even in these two instances, the show is careful to show that he learns his lesson. In the incident with "Whale of a Tale", he is one who has Glowla re-check her work and catch her addition mistake when she is computing Spout's new shutdown code.

In the incident with "True Colors", Matt admits that he was wrong in his emotional accusation against The Hacker. Then, he corners The Hacker with the question about curing the virus, which forces The Hacker to lie about the cure. Finally, the Cybersquad as a whole catches The Hacker in the lie about the triangle-based cure. I really need to do a full post on that episode, as it was brilliant.

Let's look at something else. Matt is quite strong. Here he is in Season 2 Episode 6 "Mother's Day" with Inez standing on his head, while Digit stands on Inez's head.

And here's Matt effortlessly lifting the "Good Vibration" artifact, which is bigger than him, from Season 2 Episode 9 "Double Trouble". Even Jackie and Inez are fleeing from his power. Okay, so they were probably fleeing from The Hacker, who was off-screen, but still.

What else can we say about Matt? Well, he was originally going to be called Kyle, who had a different haircut and smaller feet. Apparently, Kyle wasn't considered a good name for a farm boy.

No disrespect to whoever made Kyle, but I prefer Matt's final design. We have the Who's Who document. It does give us a few nire pieces of information. For example, he loves jokes and puns, which I don't remember coming up much in the show. It also confirms that his favorite cybersite is Radopolis.

I swear that I read some source that claimed he was the "leader" of the Cybersquad. However, I cannot find it now. I didn't think this team structure had a true leader, since all the kids here equal partners.

That's about all I can think to say about him for now.

EDIT: I forgot that Matt had a bio on the Nelvana website as well. I thought only Jackie got one, since I found one for her. I never found one for Inez, Dr. Marbles, Motherboard, The Hacker, Buzz, or Delete. It doesn't help that they used a picture of Jackie on Matt's bio.

I like the line about him inventing trial and error. If he can collect royalties off that, then he is set for life. It talks about his hands-on learning style, which was a major point in the episode "Problem Solving in Sangri-la". This bio emphasizes him charging forward without a plan, which is a well-known character flaw.

[sarahthecoat]

i don't know much about anything in the first post, but forums and message boards were how we did fandom back when i first had internet at home. this would have been circa the phantom menace coming out in movie theaters. there were web rings where you could go from one star wars fan site to another. each one made and curated by a person who looked after the setup and running and moderation. if the membership got big enough, that person might bring more moderators on to help keep up. anyway, the forum was a list of discussion threads, you tried to stay on topic for that thread. it might be dissecting a costume for the cosplayers, or squee about the movie, or someone is writing a fic and posting the chapters in that thread. maybe there was an option to get an email if something updated, but mostly you just went to the website, scanned the message board for theads with new posts, and read them. print the fic chapters to read off line, because the computer was tying up the telephone, unless you paid for a second phone line just for the computer.

there are still a few sites using message boards. if you're into folk music, you probably know about mudcat, (dot org? i forget, probably) where you can look up lyrics, ask stuff like "what are some songs about railroads/logging/whaling/sheep/springtime/etc for my event/pub sing/classroom unit on the topic" and get loads of recs. like aziraphale's library, but for folksongs, and searchable. highly recommended, actually an excellent way to organize discussion for retrieval.

i kind of miss that, tumblr is nice but it's still a Giant Fire Hose with each day being washed away by the next.

...can someone tell me what 4chan and gacha life are. and what's an... scp.

It's 1:45 in the afternoon and I am so tired coz I just woke up (my timezone is long since abandoned). hello uh good omens mascot here so I suppose I should be known for cluelessness that's how the fandom kidnapped me but WHAT ARE THESE THINGS AND WHY ARE @orpiknight and @mystic-mae so horrified that I don't know about them. From their scandalised comments this is what I have gleaned:

Gacha life is the thing that shows up on youtube. But there are others.

There's a club. Not sure why.

There's a gachapon. Is it like Dashcon?

What's 4chan is it like... an older version of tumblr. Or is it another game.

Is gacha a dress up game? I had assumed it was. But them Mae's friend Toki Toki said it's something to do with gambling.

Is Gacha like. Online poker. Is it one of those poker games.

...Is 4chan one of those poker games.

Is 4chan a "chatroom" I'm not sure what that means but people keep talking about them and old internet things.

What's SCP. Why is there containment involved.

WHO IS HATSUNE MIKU I GOT THE VOCALOID PART KINDA BUT WHY'S SHE LIKE. A PERSON.

What's a 076.

What are backrooms?

Is SCP worldbuilding (?) (I only know that word in writing contexts) for gacha life?

I'm so tired. What is anything. Who am I.

[twinkylilstar]

Hunter x Hunter Discussion, Hisoka Theory

I cant help but wonder if Hisoka will eventually "change his ways" later on in the manga. Not entirely, perhaps. But in a sense of Hisoka finding his own worthiness on a deeper spectrum.

Due to the fact Hisoka is probably a protagonist (Togashi's Hxh's birthdays = protagonist layout), the thought of Hisoka making an entire 180° (or close to it) and becoming "good"/"improving" in some way, lives in my mind rent free. Leaving Hisoka's strange and inappropriate strength attraction out of the matter, maybe a character such as Gon, for example, reminds him of a person he wants to be or a persona he presented in his past before his upbringing?

(I'm fully aware that we may never learn about his past)

In addition, there must be some sort of symbolism with Hisoka's views on a person's strength and how he deems those possessing it as attractive or worthy. SPOILERS below,

Possibly, his near death experience via Chrollo altered his perception on those qualities, and applied them to himself. That could explain the chastity belt get up, right? He isn't focusing on others anymore, he's focusing on himself- besides being a sexy clown slut with a horse penis

This device eliminates the SCHWING!

Hisoka is well known for exhibiting self-destructive and impulsive acts in order to carry out his passion; his love for fighting strong opponents. What if this event triggers Hisoka into changing, but it's only the tip of the iceberg? He finally realizes that it isn't logical to "play" while fighting. He changes in the sense of being able to fight others, while also reflecting on himself to feel that "thrill". He wouldn't allow himself to make rash decisions that leads to injury or death if he found himself worthy.

The thought of Gon inspiring Hisoka to change or even sacrificing himself (on his own terms) in the future is STRONG. I feel as if this would happen after Hisoka "kills the Phantom Troupe" on the Black Whale.

Gon is well known for impacting others in a positive nature, including his enemies, and its tends to be unexpected. It's plausible to say that this is possible, right?

Hell with it. Maybe the character that changes him wouldn't be Gon, but someone associated with him. But, it just feels right to say that it would be our sun child that often brings darkest people/situations to light.

Feel free to have a discussion with me or add your thoughts 😉 nicely.

[write-like-you-mean-it]

A Hunter’s Prey: Clouds and Letters

Airship rides became a monotonous chore when you’ve become so used to riding with others. Illumi was able to get me a first class seat upon one of the soonest boarding ships to depart. He didn’t want me to have to see him off like this. We stayed in each other's arms until right before the last call. 

“Gon, shouldn’t be an issue,” said Illumi while handing me the bag of clothes and a card with an unknown amount of money. “Kill, on the other hand, might be. If you get in contact with Kill, then return home. I don’t need you dying while I’m not here.”

Our parting kiss was one of sweet sorrow. A single touch that felt finality. “You stay safe too,” I mutter against his lips. “You better come home to me or I’ll find Chrollo myself and kill him.”

Illumi only patted my head before pushing me to get on the last call from the ship. Now an hour into the flight, and I’m already homesick. Worry fills my face as I watch the clouds from far above. For the first time since I met Illumi, I was officially alone. With the Phantom Troupe, I had Machi who would protect me if things got too dicey. Visiting this strange person and figuring out what he knows is going to be a struggle. 

I open the backpack that Illumi had left for me for the tenth time. My seat neighbor was starting to get annoyed with the nervous clicking of the bag straps. He’d put in his headphones about ten minutes ago. 

Ever since last night, I hadn’t gotten a chance to look at everything that Illumi had bought me. My eyes spotted many conservative shirts and long pants. Typical. The debit card was tucked deep within the backpack’s outer pocket so that I can constantly check to make sure it’s safe. Illumi had promised me that as long as I bought things with this specific card, I’ll never run out of money. 

The last thing I pulled out was my phone. My phone showed the lockscreen which I replaced my normal one with a picture of us together. I had to force Illumi to try and take a picture with me because he was worried about his identity getting out to the public. A smile crossed my face as I could see the same on Illumi’s. Rather than looking at the camera, his only focus was on me. 

The last few hours seemed torturous as Illumi forgot to pack a book or anything to keep me busy during a long flight. Hours were spent in constant wonder if Illumi was okay or curiosity if he’d be fine. All of this only brought up my heart rate. 

My mind became a stir crazy mess of anxiety filled nightmares that only sadistic villains could create. Finally, the plane landed in a small airport by the ocean. 

“Welcome!” said the cheery receptionist that guarded the front gate. Her plastered face must be sore from all the basic interactions that she had to perform throughout the day. It was almost unnerving how happy she was. I smiled at her even though the same shaking feeling wouldn’t leave my body. 

“Hello,” I introduced. “I was wondering if you could point me towards how to get to Whale Island.”

“Whale Island?” she questions. “Oh that tiny island! A boat should be leaving in an hour or so. You’ll have to talk to the front desk for tickets. I would recommend staying here for the day. It’s much better here than that island. 

“Oh I’m looking for someone. Thank you,” I said while walking away. The front desk was almost less helpful than the bubbly lady. I was able to purchase a ticket for the boat that was leaving in thirty minutes, not the hour.

My trembling hands grabbed the backpack as if it was my only lifeline for this broken world. I swung the bag so that I could wear it on my back; however, a sharp pain made me instantly remove it. I’d have to check out all the contents when I was on the boat. 

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

I wasn’t expecting a rickety old boat as our transport to this island. Paint had long disappeared with the crashing of waves; however, the crew seemed as eager as ever. The captain looked like any other pirate captain. His hair was an old, dusty grey that was all placed within a sea cap. He walked on a peg leg as if this all was a cartoon. 

“Good afternoon mam’,” said the captain in a deep throaty shout. “We’ll be at Whale Island within a few hours. You can stay down under the ship until our destination.”

“Thank you,” I smile while following his sweeping motion towards the bottom of the ship. Once my butt hit the hard ground, I noticed a few other people that were traveling on this ship. Most of the people seemed to want to be left all to their own which I’d happily oblige. 

My focus was back on the backpack that somehow stabbed me earlier. I was able to pull out every single thing within the small bag. Three shirts, two pants, a second pair of shoes, a few pins, and a hidden package wrapped up with cellophane and some tape. 

I pick up the pins in extreme confusion. One of them was logged into the backpack from all the movement. I held the three small pins in my hand and shifted them around. Suddenly, I remembered the pins that Illumi threw at me the night I was learning Nen. 

To not hurt myself, I placed them in the same pocket as the debit card. My next thought was to open the package. Ripping through the clear plastic revealed a box that was the size of the palm of my hand and a note. I held the box up to my ear and juggled it back and forth.The brown box in my hand which shook like a maraca. Rather than spoil the surprise, I decided to take a peek at the letter. Illumi’s perfect handwriting was scribbled so much that it filled up the sheet. It read:

Dear Y/N,

I wanted to write you a note since I would not be able to contact you for so long. I hope this letter reaches you after we have parted. A letter seems like a better form of communication rather than a message. Mother told me that girls enjoy letters. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy this one. 

Inclosed, I have made sure to put down Gon’s home address so you can find him on the island. From my understanding, it shouldn’t be too hard. I have also included Killua’s most recent phone number in case he wants to know my location. 

I, also, wanted to discuss the box that came with this note. I’ve included some of my pins. Use them carefully because they will help manipulate a person into doing your bidding. For activation, make sure to stick one in a person, give a command, and they should do that command. 

Lastly, time seems like a fleeting ship passing before our eyes. Truly, I wished we’d met on better terms; however, I knew you had to leave. I couldn’t stand idly by and notice all the negativity in the world and you knowing nothing. I had to save you. 

I never thought you’d end up loving someone like me. I don’t think my mother and father could love me the way that you do. In your eyes, I can see hope and happiness. I haven’t had this thrilling feeling in the pit of my stomach since I was a child. 

I want to spend my life with you. Your beauty, intelligence, and strength outways any that I could muster from my form. I was terrified that you’d actually leave when I left. Once I closed that door, I realized my mistake. 

Now that I have you in my arms, everything is complete. You love a monster like me. Which is why I gave you the present. I will return, my love. We’ll be married upon my return. 

I love you,

Illumi Zoldyck

Wet spots appeared on the thin paper. I pulled the piece away while wiping tears from my saddened eyes. He was never this vocal about our love. Trauma should be the culprit for that notion. My hands pulled the note tightly to my chest as if I were to consume the note, Illumi would appear. 

This mission was much harder than what Illumi mentioned. It had nothing to do with the actual task but being away from the person I loved so dearly that my heart could break at any moment. 

Once I felt composed, my hand went for the box. Inside, lay two things. One of them was the leather bound book that held all of Illumi’s details. The second thing was a small engagement ring. I held it to the shimmering firelight so that I could get a glimpse of its bright shine. I slid the ring onto my finger. Perfect fit. 

I couldn’t help but let out a sob as I crunch the piece of paper again. All I wanted was to make sure he’d be okay which, at this moment, I didn’t know. All my body could do is sob. 

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

The boat finally let off at the dock by the shore of an extremely miniscule island. It was night time when we unboarded. I held tightly to the ring and the bag as if my life depended on it. Reaching land made my knees wobble with the change in sways. 

I was able to get the address of Gon’s house easily due to the lack of people on the island. Gon seemed to be a legend on the island and the person I spoke to only gave praise. Walking up to the house, everything felt surreal. Was I really about to go talk to this person that I did not know about his best friend?

My hand knocked on the door before I had time to think through the full answer to my own question. “I’m coming,” came a female voice. A quick unlock revealed a slender woman with a light auburn to her hair. 

“Hi, I’m Y/N,” I say with a smile. “I’m here to talk with Gon. I was wondering if he was here.”

The lady looked at me with confusion before calling out “Gon, there’s a lady at the door that wants to talk with you.”

“Thanks, Aunt Mito!” called back someone who sounded like a little boy. My confusion grew as this child bounded down the stairs to the front door. “Huh, who are you?”

“Oh, uhm, hi,” I stuttered while waving my hand. “I’m Y/N. I wanted to ask you a few questions about Killua. I’m friends with his brother, Illumi.”

Next Chapter

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Full Masterlist

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Frankenstein: Legacy and Impact

If I sat you down with a pencil and paper and asked you to draw me a picture of the Frankenstein monster, odds are, I can tell you exactly what you’d draw.

A large figure with a flat-top head, greenish-pale skin, with bolts sticking out of the neck, and heavy eyelids.  If you were particularly ambitious, you might even draw the place of its creation: a lab full of electronic equipment and tables.

For the most part, if I were to take that picture, unlabeled, and pass it around to about thirty people or so without telling them what it was, most would probably identify it as the Frankenstein monster in the lab it was created in.  Some might even chuckle and quote: “It’s alive!”

Ironically, the image that you would have drawn, and indeed, even the quote itself, are not native to the original Frankenstein story.

As a matter of fact, the image you would have drawn came from one, very specific place: James Whale’s 1931 horror classic: Frankenstein.

By 1931, monster movies certainly weren’t new.  As far back as the silent films of the 1920s, films like Nosferatu, The Phantom of the Opera, The Man Who Laughed, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari had already begun exposing audiences to the scary side of movie magic, using film-gimmicks to make these frightening stories come to life in a way that audiences were wholly unused to.  Even beforehand, a film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s sci-fi/horror classic Frankenstein had already been produced in the year 1910, almost a hundred years after the original book’s publication.

By the time talkies rolled into the theaters, audiences were already used to being scared.  But even so, in 1931, something happened that shook the horror world, and audiences, right to their core:  Tod Browning’s Dracula.

Dracula became a monster (ha!) hit, propelling lead actor Bela Lugosi, the character of Dracula, and horror itself to new heights.  It was dark.  It was creepy.  It was interesting, and, most importantly, it was iconic.  Since Lugosi’s turn in the role, Dracula in the pop-culture understanding has never been the same.

But this isn’t an article about Dracula.  It’s an article about Frankenstein.

It just so happens that you can’t have one without the other.

Dracula took America by storm, shot with weird, Gothic shadows and angles, with a grand story and a truly chilling monster, played absolutely straight.  There were no humorous bits, no last-minute Scooby-Doo twists that rendered the supernatural totally natural, this was pure, undiluted horror.  This matters in the long run, and it certainly matters to Dracula, but it also matters, quite a bit, to Frankenstein too.  

Without Universal’s Dracula, we’d never have Universal’s Frankenstein.

Directly after Dracula’s massive reception (selling fifty-thousand tickets in its first weekend), Universal started production on another big-budget horror film.  Deciding to follow a similar path as Dracula, Gothic source material was selected: Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel: Frankenstein.  

In November of 1931, the film was released, and changed horror, and Frankenstein, forever, just as much as Dracula had.

Spawning multiple sequels (including almost-as-famous film, Bride of Frankenstein), James Whale’s version of the Frankenstein story lived on for over ten years under the Universal brand, concluding with horror-comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.  During this period, the Frankenstein creature met up with both Dracula and the Wolf Man in some of the original examples of a cinematic universe, before Universal laid the character to rest in 1948.  

But, of course, much like within the story, Frankenstein wouldn’t stay dead for long.

British company Hammer Film Productions resurrected the story, and character, in 1957 for The Curse of Frankenstein, making several films about the creature for a few more decades.  Italy and Japan had their own turns with the character for their own films, such as Lady Frankenstein and Frankenstein Conquers the World.  The character model of the monster would appear in everything from Scooby Doo to The Munsters, even appearing on cereal boxes.  (Frankenberry is a classic.)

The character of the Frankenstein monster has been in the public consciousness constantly since 1931, remade, rebooted, genre-twisted, parodied, quoted and referenced in more films than almost any other story to date.

That doesn’t seem so terribly surprising.  After all, Mary Shelley’s book came out over two hundred years ago.  Of course, a story that old would still be kicking around today in many different versions, right?

Right.

But also wrong.

Remember that picture I asked you to draw?

Like I said earlier, the elements of that picture, from the iconic, blocky look of the monster to the mad-scientist lab around him, come from the 1931 film.  But that’s not all.

Igor?  Originated in the Universal monster lineup of Frankenstein films (albeit a composite of Fritz, the hunchback assistant played by Dwight Frye in the original and the actual character Igor, played by Bela Lugosi in later films).

The idea of the monster being assembled from the parts of freshly-dead corpses?  First appeared in the original Universal film.

Electricity bringing the monster to life?  Also this movie.

The monster being mute?  One guess.

It’s not unusual for stories to become lost in adaptation.  It happens all the time.  It explains why the Wicked Witch of the West is green so often, despite the fact that she wasn’t in the original Wizard of Oz novel.  It’s why we associate the quote “Here’s Johnny!” with Stephen King’s novel The Shining, even though it never appeared in the book.  It’s the reason that we assume that John Rambo is a heroic good-guy survivor, when in the original First Blood book, he was on the more ambiguous side, and died in the final confrontation.

What is a little more unusual is that while there have been a few versions of Frankenstein on film that have tried to follow Mary Shelley’s original book a little closer, for the most part, almost every single film instead adapts James Whale’s story.

The monster is almost always mute (or learns to talk in a stilted manner, as in Bride of Frankenstein).  He’s made from bodies of the dead.  He’s reanimated by electricity, worked on by a manic Dr. Frankenstein and his hunchback assistant, Igor.  And, almost always, the monster looks like Boris Karloff.

Whether just appearing in films like The Monster Squad or being lovingly lampooned in direct parodies such as Young Frankenstein, James Whale’s 1931 film made a huge mark, not just on Frankenstein, not just on horror, but on film in general.  Despite the fact that there have been multiple versions of the Frankenstein story told on film, somehow, the original Universal picture has remained the definitive adaptation in the pop-culture consciousness, enduring almost ninety years while still being considered the most popular, most iconic, and best version to date.

How on earth did that happen?

You’d think a film made in 1931 clocking in at one hour and eleven minutes would be easy to top.  Scarier movies have been released since then.  More accurate movies have been released since then.  In fact, there have been over thirty-five films made since this movie, all bearing the Frankenstein name, and even more films without the monster getting top billing.  Why is it that this film in particular is so persistently loved?

If you’ve been with us for any length of time, you’ve already figured out that that’s going to be the question we’re looking at.

Why is Frankenstein so adored almost ninety years after it was first released?  How is it that one skewed vision of Mary Shelley’s novel has become the definitive version?  What was it about that film that is so iconic and beloved that almost every version since then has at least referenced it, if not outright copied it?

That’s what we’re going to be trying to answer in the articles ahead.  Stay tuned for an in-depth discussion of James Whale’s 1931 monster movie classic: Frankenstein.

Thank you guys so much for reading, and I hope to see you all in the next article.

[mobydickmusical]

Every book chapter a song is named after: Loomings (Ch 1)

Since most of the (most recent) tracklist is named after chapters of the book, I’m going to attempt to work through the whole of the show this way, talking a bit about my thoughts on each chapter’s translation into a song. Based on the tracklist chronology rather than the book chronology. Skipping the songs we’ve already heard, for obvious reasons.

Also fairly obvious, but even though I’m using the chapters to imagine the songs, I naturally can’t be sure how closely they’ll follow the text of that specific chapter (see, The Pacific, which actually follows completely different chapters). 

TW for brief mention of suicidal ideation 

Loomings is very different from Extracts, in that I can pretty easily envision it fitting into a show of Dave’s, and imagine what it might be like as a song.

This chapter is our first direct introduction to what to expect from the body of this book, and it has four-ish main sections: 

1. Ishmael introduces himself as the narrator recounting this story, and explains his general path in it (going to sea because it’s what he does when he’s exceedingly depressed) 

2. He dwells on mankind’s inevitable attraction to water, and that this is due to how it represents the unknowable to us 

3. He details his reasoning for why he always goes to sea as a simple sailor, as opposed to a passenger or a crew member of higher rank

4. He describes his “choice” to go on a whaling voyage in particular as actually designated by fate. He does, however, then explain his personal attraction to going on the voyage, that could make it appear like free will to him. 

So, there is a lot being set up in this chapter. I can very much feel this becoming my main issue to accept (i.e. get my head out of my ass) with reconciling the adaptation with the book overall - there is so Much in Moby Dick and there is only so Much you can fit into a musical. Even a 4+ hour one. But yeah, that’s seen on a smaller scale with Loomings, in how it sets up a lot of background information about Ishmael and how he thinks, as well as starting some thought process about a number of important themes for the book (fate vs free will, capitalist and power dynamics, the limits of mankind’s knowledge… all that important shit). Where the song draws its focus from will just depend on what Dave chooses to emphasise the most. 

I'll go through the chapter, and mention where I connected things to either comments Dave's already made about the musical, or to his writing in general.

Coming into reading Moby Dick because I knew Dave was writing his musical, and reading the opening paragraph of Loomings where Ishmael introduces himself by launching headfirst into the details his depression, I naturally went straight to “so this is an introductory solo for a character played by Dave”. It’s not only something that leapt out at me straight off the bat, but one of the more ludicrously famous sections of Moby Dick, so I have to imagine it’s likely to make an appearance. 

The further thing I wanted to point out while I’m on this section, is that despite how famous this little piece of Moby Dick which clearly describes Ishmael’s depression and suicidal ideation is, the majority of Moby Dick adaptions have little to no other reference to his depression. Or they just have none at all if they’re really eschewing the narration. I’m not saying that it’s a deal-breaker for an adaption or anything of that kind, but mental illness definitely has a presence and impact in Moby Dick (I’ll just, leave it at that for now) that doesn’t especially get a lot of attention. On the other hand, it’s something that I, personally, will notice and think about. Anyone who’s familiar with Dave, however, knows that his shows almost consistently revolve around mentally ill characters (and what’s probably the most famous solo he’s written is about depression/suicidal ideation), and portray them in ways mentally ill fans relate to and appreciate. If an adaptor was to make a specific effort to earnestly portray Ishmael’s depression, and how that relates to his role in this story, it’d be Dave. (I could potentially even argue that The Pacific and Cetology already suggest ways in which he’s doing this but. Mm.)

But, anyway. I said Loomings is a good fit for that song that can be found in almost any Dave Malloy musical, where everything is just starting out, and someone (who is often played by Dave) sits down to pour out all their frantic thoughts and unstable feelings and draw you into their story - so, how I imagine the song is strongly based off the pre-existing examples of that type of song. Namely, I drift to Pierre and The Astronomer. 

Both songs have aspects I like for an imaginary Loomings. They’re both ruminative, emotive introductions to a character and their brain’s inner workings. They’re both at least somewhat depressed and ranty. I like Pierre for its emotional tumult, its inquisitiveness and desire for something more, its explicit descriptions of the effects of his depression on his behaviour, its moment of curiosity about mankind, and its drama. I feel like Pierre barging his way into his introductory solo, the first time we ever hear him sing about himself, with “It’s dawned to me suddenly, and for no obvious reason, that I can’t go on living as I am...” is not worlds away from how Ishmael can come across. I also like how it’s piano-driven (because I unimaginatively imagine Ishmael as a pianist in the show), unlike The Astronomer, but on the other hand, I prefer the less dense instrumentation of The Astronomer (maybe not quite that sparse though. Intermediate). I also like The Astronomer for its slow-paced style ranting, its dreaminess, its dwelling on Big Ideas, and the way it is more an explanation of who this character is through exploring his beliefs. Which is relevant as Loomings goes on. 

Both songs, particularly Pierre, channel more anger and resignation than is really relevant to Loomings, however. A part of this is that they’re both dwelling inside the emotions of an unhappy/unsatisfying present, describing that to us as who they are, now. Ishmael is outside of his present self because he’s a narrator. Throughout Loomings he is... recounting his past, but also describing the future of and influences on his past self, moreso than his past self’s present or who he was at that particular time. And, from that more distant position, opening these influences up to us, and the rest of the world. Uh. How relevant or sensible this is to point out I don’t know, but it seems like a very different emotional experience to convey. 

The second section of Loomings, where Ishmael discusses water, moves the furthest from talking directly about himself and his story, I suppose, but is a big bit of theme/motif/setting foundation, and is also just very beautiful writing. I love it a lot, and I’d love to hear some of it put to music... A few little quotes from it because I like them:

What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.

///

They come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues,—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?

///

There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water

///

Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.

///

But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him.

I also like the abundance of rhetorical questions in this section, and how that invites the reader in as if you were in a conversation. Those could fit well into a theatre song, where you have Ishmael sort asking himself, sort of asking the audience (also a bit Pierre, tbh). This, combined with how much switching up of sentence length there is in this section, give it this lovely gentle-paced, meandering, breathing rhythm that makes me think of it being sung. There’s probably a better, more technical way of describing that, but I don’t know that smartness, so essentially - I can almost hear it simply because of the way it’s already written. 

The conclusion of this section is where Ishmael draws together his claim that the reason we all find water so magnetic is because to us it represents the things that’re unfathomable and unreachable in life:

Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.

It’d definitely be a way to get us onboard this ship, swept up in this journey, while we’re inside a theatre: “Come along with me, into this huge, intrinsic thing, come, and try to obsessively chase down whatever inscrutable thing is still maddening you in the craziness of the world today!” Mmm. 

A little thing I find interesting, however, is how this little piece, and how it’d be presented in the context of the show, relates to some pre-existing lyrics from Cetology: “And the ocean is too deep for me to fathom/ And life is just to big for me to bear/ But who am I to compare my despair to the shaking of the sea?” These lyrics have no root in the chapter Cetology itself, and I can only assume they’re actually rooted in this section here. The weirdness of that is how Ishmael makes the comparison he lays out in Loomings, but then immediately questions his right to make it. He paints his own personal experiences as insignificant in the scheme of it all, even if he does harbour those feelings about the ocean which are due to feelings about the unknown. Which is intriguing and opens up a lot of shit. There’s a lot going on in Cetology which can explain why he says that in the context of That Song, but it makes me wonder if this claim will appear in Loomings and then reappear later with the catch on the end, or if it’s sole appearance is in Cetology. It shall be seen. And I’ll probably discuss those Cetology lyrics more when I’ve... actually heard Loomings! Or, oh, you know, the full show for legit context. 

The next thing Ishmael does in this chapter is discuss why he makes the choice to go as just a "simple sailor" every time he goes to sea, in doing so telling us a bit more about himself and his opinions. I won’t expand on these hugely, but I do think it’s a fair enough point to say that Ishmael makes statements in this section which could act as starting points for themes that Dave has specified he’s discussing through this show - namely capitalism, democracy and race/systems of power, in this situation. 

One of Ishmael’s reasons is money. He doesn’t have the money to pay to go to sea as a passenger, he needs/wants to be paid for it as a sailor. The actual pay for which, by the way, is really, really not that much considering how dangerous a job he’s signing on for. But we have to survive somehow, we suppose...? And, his opinion on the money-making in general?

The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. 

Another of his reasons is that he prefers not to go to sea in any higher rank because he doesn’t care for the honour attached to these positions, and doesn’t want the level of responsibility involved. He goes on to explain that while it can be unpleasant to be ordered around by one’s superiors, he accepts it, and there’s no sense in striving for superiority when he is in essence no lesser than them, since, he states, everyone is inevitably under the command of someone else. 

With very intentionally provocative wording in the context of a book published in America in 1851.

Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who ain't a slave? Tell me that. 

He finally says that it’s the ordinary sailors rather than their superiors who get the first, freshest breath of that revitalising ocean air. He then leans deeper into the thought: 

He thinks he breathes it first; but not so. In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect it.

Having laid out his justification for this choice, Ishmael moves onto why a whaling voyage specifically. He essentially accounts it to the mysteries of fate - though his desire to experience new, remote things could trick him into exaggerating the role of his free will. 

There’s a part towards the end of the chapter that I specifically wanted to point out, where Ishmael actually uses a piece of theatre as a metaphor for his voyage. It’s not as famous/iconic as some other parts from this chapter but it’s very entertaining in the context of an actual musical, and I’d love if it were referenced:

“And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this:

"Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States "Whaling Voyage by one Ishmael

"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN." Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short and easy parts in genteel comedies, and jolly parts in farces—though I cannot tell why this was exactly; yet, now that I recall all the circumstances, I think I can see a little into the springs and motives which being cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about performing the part I did, besides cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill and discriminating judgement.”

This little piece fits well with the metatheatricality Dave has said he’s interested in exploring in the show. In terms of this concept, he’s mentioned both Ishmael vs Meville antics, but also broadening the idea of character vs writer with the added layer of him as the composer playing Ishmael. This quote specifically refers to theatre, and referencing one’s own role in a performance, which obviously becomes increasingly funny when you’re a narrator in and composer of a musical based on the book. Pondering over your “shabby part”, and why it was given to you, while you’re existing in theatre you composed yourself… strikes me as in line with Dave’s humour. In the song Cetology, Ishmael already actually laments that “this could be an amazing song...”, in doing so pretty heavily suggesting that he’s self-aware of being in a musical he wrote. So I don’t think Dave using this quote for metatheatre’s sake would be that surprising. 

I also like this quote because of the quite bizarre, almost eerie throwaway piece of modern foretelling we’re given in the layout of performances in the “bill”. It’s interesting enough for a modern adaption to point out as it is, but especially since Dave is highlighting connections between the book and modern America, it feels like something he might reference. 

[brokehorrorfan]

Best New Horror Movies on Netflix: Winter 2018

There’s an overwhelming amount of horror films and TV shows to sift through on Netflix, so I’ve decided to take out some of the legwork by compiling a list of the season’s best new genre titles available on Netflix’s instant streaming service.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed and share your thoughts on the films you watch. You can also peruse past installments of Best New Horror Moves on Netflix for more suggestions.

1. The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House is, quite simply, some of the best long-form horror storytelling of all time. Based on - but not a strict adaptation of - Shirley Jackson's influential gothic horror novel of the same name, the series is created and directed by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil). Told through two timelines, with clever transitions between the past and present, the story concerns five siblings and how an alleged haunting they experienced as kids affects them as adults. The cast includes Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), Carla Gugino (Watchmen), Michiel Huisman (Treme), Elizabeth Reaser (Ouija: Origin of Evil), Kate Siegel (Hush), Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People), and Lulu Wilson (Annabelle: Creation). It is admirably character-driven, which makes the horror elements hit even harder, and a spooky atmosphere is present throughout all 10 episodes.

2. Green Room

Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier achieves the impossible by matching - and perhaps even surpassing - the unbridled intensity of his previous film, Blue Ruin, with Green Room. The exercise in white-knuckle suspense finds a scrappy punk band trapped in a skinhead club after unwittingly walking in on a crime. The late Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) delivers one of the best performances of his tragically short career as the de facto leader of the band. In a bit of inspired casting, Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is chilling as the conniving, white supremacist venue owner. Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Joe Cole (Skins), and Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) round out the band, while Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later) is also wrapped up in the brutal fight for survival. Akin to Don't Breathe, the tension on screen is enough to induce anxiety, and Saulnier nails the punk rock DIY spirit to boot.

3. Cam

Cam stars Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale) as a cam girl - one who performs pornographic acts live on camera for paying viewers - who is desperate to gain popularity. Produced by Blumhouse, this is not your typical "seedy underbelly of the sex industry" movie, although there is some of that; instead, it goes in a refreshing, unpredictable direction. Reminiscent of a neon-soaked episode of Black Mirror, Cam is a suspenseful and compelling mystery-thriller with a sci-fi twist and horror undertones. Brewer is spectacular in her fearless performance, while director Daniel Goldhaber makes a powerful feature debut.

4. The Night Comes for Us

The Night Comes for Us is an unrelenting action thriller in the vein of The Raid, John Wick, and Dredd. In fact, the Indonesian film reunites The Raid's Joe Taslim and Iko Uwais. Taslim leads as a man who goes rogue from a dangerous crime syndicate. A variety of deadly individuals (Uwais among them) are out to get him, but he has some tough allies as well. It all culminates in an incredible final battle in which the viewer feels every blow. The blend of brutal, graphic violence and impressively choreographed fight scenes is written and directed by by Timo Tjahjanto (whose V/H/S/2 segment is a highlight of the franchise).

5. Apostle

Forget that Nicolas Cage abomination; Apostle is the Wicker Man reboot we deserve. The Netflix original film is reminiscent of the 1973 occult horror classic not only in plot but also in tone, style, and pacing. Set in 1905 London, a feral Dan Stevens (The Guest) stars as a man whose sister is kidnapped by a religious cult on a secluded island, which he must infiltrate to save her. Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) serves as the cult's charismatic leader, while Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) plays his daughter. The slow-burn is quite a change of pace for writer-director Gareth Evans (The Raid franchise) and his regular cinematographer, Matt Flannery, but they handle it beautifully.

6. May the Devil Take You

May the Devil Take You feels like The Evil Dead's Sam Raimi directing an installment in The Conjuring universe. The Indonesian horror film is not a scrappy splatterfest; it's elegantly directed by Timo Tjahjanto (V/H/S/2). He culls from modern supernatural tropes to craft fine horror set pieces, spooky imagery, a good atmosphere, and strong production value. Chelsea Islan (Headshot) earns to be mentioned in the same breath as Bruce Campbell in her lead role as a daughter who investigates her estranged father's past to uncover the truth behind his coma and her haunting visions. It's a tad overlong at 110 minutes, which is particularly felt during the last act, but there's enough kinetic energy to keep it moving forward.

7. Hold the Dark

Hold the Dark is not quite as strong as Jeremy Saulnier's previous efforts (Green Room, Blue Ruin), but his mastery of tension remains unparalleled. Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) stars as a wolf expert who's convinced by an Alaskan woman (Riley Keough, Max Mad: Fury Road) to hunt a wolf that took her young son, only to get wrapped up in a murder plot. Meanwhile, the boy's soldier father (Alexander Skarsgård, True Blood) returns home from duty in the Middle East unhinged. The screenplay is written by Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore), based on the book of the same name by William Giraldi. As viewers have come to expect from Saulnier, the violence is as unrelenting as the suspense.

8. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale), Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not your TGIF version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Its aesthetically similar to the Archie Comics title on which its based, embracing the rich Gothic horror atmosphere, but the story veers more into teen drama territory. The result is like a mash-up of Riverdale, The Witch, and Harry Potter. It may take a few episodes to become invested, plus to get used to the distracting shallow depth of field style (which is thankfully used less as the season progresses), but it's eventually rather addicting. The midsection becomes something of a monster-of-the-week series, but it never loses sight of the overall story arc. Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) is charming as the titular witch, and the main cast also includes Ross Lynch (My Friend Dahmer), Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead), Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings), and Michelle Gomez (Doctor Who).

9. Into the Forest

Into the Forest is a post-apocalyptic tale of sorts, but it's a grounded take on the subject matter that largely functions as a drama. Ellen Page (Inception) and Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) star as sisters who live with their father (Callum Keith Rennie, Battlestar Galactica) in a secluded, woodland home. Directed by Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park), the movie follows the family in their fight for survival in the months after electricity is lost throughout the world. Although it drags in spots, Page, who produced the film after falling in love with Jean Hegland's novel on which it's based, is in top form.

10. In Darkness

In Darkness stars Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) as a blind pianist who hears her upstairs neighbor (Emily Ratajkowski, Gone Girl) get murdered, drawing her into London's seedy underworld, where she meets Ed Skrein (Deadpool) and Joely Richardson (Event Horizon). With shades of Wait Until Dark, the thriller offers some solid suspense and tension, plus superb sound design and cinematography. The setup is gripping, though the plot later becomes too convoluted for its own good. Dormer is fantastic in the lead, and she also produced and co-wrote the script with director Anthony Byrne (Peaky Blinders).

11. Don't Watch This

Don't Watch This is listed on Netflix as a season, but it's simply five unrelated horror shorts, ranging between 2 and 9 minutes in length. There's body horror, killer kids, urban explorers, and Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski parodying American Psycho. In addition to a few clever setups and strong horror set pieces, they boast quality production value, cinematography, and special features (both practical and digital). Shorts usually struggle to find an audience on YouTube, so it's great to see them showcased on a platform as powerful as Netflix.

Bonus: De Palma

De Palma is a documentary on filmmaker Brian De Palma (Carrie, Scarface, Mission: Impossible, Blow Out, Phantom of the Paradise, et al.). The septuagenarian himself - with no other talking heads - discusses and reflects on his oeuvre, going movie by movie (plus a handful of unmade projects) in chronological order, accompanied by clips and stills. Co-directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) and Jake Paltrow (Young Ones), the candid nature of the interviews prevent the film from feeling like a mere DVD special feature. It moves briskly, leaving you wanting more even at 110 minutes.

[krpk-remaking]

on kurapikas further development, the plots general direction and why leorio is on the black whale

this is just kind of a speculation on where kurapikas arc and the general plot is heading right now!

i wrote this with the help of mags @geysers/@butchmeruem  !!<3

First off, i think that, while there is still a possibilty, it seems unlikely that Kurapika will die, as killing him off would be a very easy way to just finish his arc.

It wouldn’t resolve his trauma and it just seems predictable in a way and i want to believe that Togashi is a better writer than that.

Killing off Kurapika simply for shock value would in no way be a satisfying end for him or anyone around him.

I do believe there are about three directions his arc could go in.

(Manga Spoilers, obviously!)

1.1. Kurapika Gives Up His Revenge And Takes In Prince Woble

I believe this is a very likely possibilty, since it’s been shown that Kurapika is naturally calmer and happier around children - during the hunter licence arc hes at his best while hes together with Gon and Killua, and Leorio too and he very obviously feels naturally inclined to nurture kids, much like Leorio as they both are very worried about Gon and Killua during those arcs and now, during the current arc, Kurapika seems to enjoy being around Prince Woble.

If Kurapika were to take in Prince Woble either Leorio or Melody or even both would probably end up helping him take care of her.

Kurapikas arc appears to very much be about him finding the human connection, that he lost when his clan was killed, again, effectively making this found family story a Big Deal thematically.

Him finding a new purpose in life through taking care of Woble would be, in my opinion, a thematically satisfying ending for Kurapikas arc, since its been said by many in-story characters that his search for revenge will only destroy him in the end

Though, for this scenario, Prince Wobles Mother would probably have to die. I’ll discuss how i think it might happen in a bit!

1.2. Kurapika Won’t Rest Until The Phantom Troupe Is Dead And Then Takes In Prince Woble

In my opinion this is less likely, since its been talked about so much how the Revenge will destroy Kurapika.

But it might be a hint towards him finishing his revenge, only to loose his purpose in life, only to find it again bc taking in the baby.

Its basically a slightly darker version of my first theory.

1.3. Prince Woble Is Killed And Kurapika Looses It, Possibly Dying Too

I really dislike this one because it’s perfect, terrible angst fuel. Theres a lot of things going on on that Boat that could kill a baby

The Sucsession War, obviously

The Phantom Troupe

The Mafia

Hisoka

Probably more that I’m forgetting right now

So, if one of those factors ends up killing Woble i think it might be cause for Kurapika to finally, completely break, even more so if combined with the fact that he will most likey have to find Pairos preserved head with the remaining eyes of his clan.

Like i stated earlier, i do believe that this isn’t very likely but it still is very much a possibility, sadly.

2. Possibilities For The Plots General Direction

2.1. Queen Oito Dies

Queen Oitos death is very, very probable at this point.

She might sacrifice herself for Woble and possibly Kurapika to live, which supports Theory 1.1. & 1.2.! Possibly 1.3 too, with her death just being in vain.

But, remember how Kurapika and Queen are still connected through Emperor Time.

When Kurapika passed out because of overusage of his Nen, Queen Oito passed out right with him.

If Queen Oito dies and her and Kurpaika are still connected, I think Kurapika might experience the Sensation of Dying, without actually dying, which would be a huge traumatic experience for anyone.

> possible Leorio Reappearance though, since Kurapika would most definitely need a Doctor after that.

2.2. Pairos Head

I think most HxH fans have accepted/ackknowledged that the head that the Prince has in a Jar is most likey Pairos and that Kurapika will find it and experience extreme Emotional Turmoil, because of course.

Its his dead best friends head in a jar. What do you expect.

This is just wishful thinking but again, possibility that Kurapika will black out and need a doctor. > Leorio Reappearance

3. Why Leorio Is On The Black Whale

First, theres THIS post i made about how Leorios and Kurapikas arcs are connected. Reading it might add onto this specific point!

Now, simply put, from a narrative Perspective, Leorio is on the Black Whale for Kurapika.

I love Leorio but if Togashi wanted this arc to be about him, he would’ve given him more focus early on.

But no, the last time we saw Leorio it was Kurapika thinking about him.

“Though...Reality...Isn’t all that...Simple...!!!” Is literally Kurapika thinking, how always being on his own and alone is not as easy as he thought it would be, while thinking of Leorio, Gon and Killua.

More to this in a bit.

The in-story reason for Leorios presence on the Black Whale is that all the zodiacs are going, though Leorio stated that he wishes he could continue his studies.

This easily could’ve been used as an excuse to make him stay behind but Cheadle really just so happend to be someone who could train him so he could come along anyways.

There is little actual reason for Leorio to come along, except to maybe fight but someone else could easily fill that role.

The Key Difference is that Leorio is part of Kurapikas found family and also very quick to call people out on their bullshit which is exactly what Kurapika needs this arc.

I believe that’s why Togashi put him on the boat.

Now, again about the “Though...Reality...Isn’t all that...Simple...!!!” bit.

This is might really just be wishful interpretation and overthinking but Leorio has his own Panel and is facing closest to the viewpoint in the third one.

Also, the panel that shows him alone has him on the Phone.

I think that this implies, that Kurapika truly appreciates Leorios concern for him but keeps pushing him away for, what i assume is a fear of letting anyone get close to him, which brings us to:

3.1. Pairos Words

Since Pairos head might show up very soon, there will probably be a callback to his words, or atleast when Kurapikas arc ends, hopefully with him being happy, there will be.

I believe, or want to believe that those words will ultimately let Kurapika allow himself to be happy and let people in to actually help him, Re: Leorio and how he might help Kurapika!

If you’ve read this far, thank you so so much!!! I hope you liked what i wrote with Mags help and if you have anymore thoughts on this/any corrections on mistakes please feel free to send me an ask!!!

[wizardessheart-sideb]

The latest episode of the podcast is out! Although all the eps have built-in subtitles, I’ll now be sharing the videos with a transcription under the cut in case people live in areas where internet providers are pieces of shit.

HELLO Hello everyone, welcome to Royal Magic Academy Radio, a podcast about Wizardess Heart. I’m your host, Mari. It’s our 10th episode YAY!!!! Our next big milestone!!! It seems fitting we’re having a milestone when we’ve got a lot of cool stuff to discuss, so let’s get on with the show!

GAMING NEWS We got two new events this week. I was RIGHT, the next guy for the stories re-release event was Yukiya. The event’s called YukiyAmore and it’s a romance point slot. The stories being re-released are The Love Holiday, Flirting Time with Him, Flirting Time with Him and After, Heart-Pounding Moment in Bed, His Sweet n' Spicy Special Lesson, His Devilishly Sugary Kiss, and "Our Hands Stuck!" It’s running until June 8. The login bonus event, Detective Rex, also started. It’s going on until July 25 and the final prize is a CG so yay! That’s exciting. We also got a very interesting birthday event. Instead of a spin-off, we have a Randy-themed collection event! It’s called The Greatest Surprise -Randy’s Birthday- and I think it’s pretty cute! In addition to stories, we’re also getting CGs, one you can get with stars and the other is a ranking prize. But anyway, it’s going on until June 16, just as a heads up. 

SPECULATION So, we’re definitely going to be getting the CG part of YukiyAmore fairly soon. And if we’re still going in order of sequels, after YukiyAmore, we should be getting Vincent. However, I’m not really sure if we will. Vincent’s fallen from the most popular list and with the Happy Party Trainwreck his sequel was, I don’t know if Solmare’s gonna let him have a re-release event so soon. I mean, I def think he’ll get one, but considering he’s not as loved as he used to be, I dunno if he’ll be next, even though if we’re going by sequel line-up, he should be. Also while we’re on the subject of the re-releases, since the story line-up is the same for Yukiya and Klaus, I’m going to guess we aren’t going to get reruns of The Love Holiday, Flirting Time With Him, Heart-Pounding Moment in Bed, His Sweet n’ Spicy Special Lesson, His Devilishly Sugary Kiss, or “Our Hands Stuck!” because we’re getting the content through the rerelease events.Then, of course, Rex’s login bonus is a pretty strong hint that his route will be next. And now we have the biggest speculative piece of them all: Randy’s birthday event. Amelia’s birthday event back in late October was a collection event, but I have to say, I don’t think any of us were expecting a love option to get one of these. To be honest, I’m wondering if this is more or less a test from Solmare to gauge how we’d feel about birthday collection events for other dudes. Randy’s the fandom darling and if we approve of this kind of birthday event for a favorite, then it more or less indicates we’d be down for this for other dudes. Or maybe even multiple. After all, Ninja Shadow does their birthday events where multiple dudes are featured. Maybe we’ll get that for Wizardess. However, this event has stirred up the fandom a bit. 

WIZCOURSE You can’t have a Randy event without having wizcourse. I honest to God wish I were exaggerating, but it seems like every single time something with Randy happens, the fandom explodes. It happened with Bubbly Candy Randy, it happened with his sequel, and it’s happening now. So let’s chat. The fandom seems pretty mixed on this event. The main complaints boil down to:

Randy wasn’t given a spin-off like Klaus, Yukiya, and Elias. It’s even more unfair considering Klaus got a rerun AND a new spin-off.

One of Randy’s CGs is a ranking prize.

With the event stories, Randy essentially has to share his birthday with 6 other guys.

The items are ugly. Wig.

People who are content with the event generally agree on the following:

Randy’s getting a whole event to himself, and not many guys have gotten a collection event to themselves. Only Caesar had this. Nox didn’t play a huge part, or a part at all in some stories in Nightmare - The Phantom Thief, so that doesn’t count.

It’s something still pretty new, and people like the collection event format because it’s cheaper than a spin-off would have been or you know. They just like collection events.

They like the outfits and the aesthetic.

In my opinion, I’m totally fine with Randy getting a birthday collection event. I think the aesthetic is pretty good and I think it’s really cool Randy’s getting an event like this. Last time we had a Randy-themed event that wasn’t a route or sequel, it was a gold medal slot and a lot of people were angry because you had to whale to get those. To be honest, I think the collection event is great in part because it makes his birthday a lot more accessible. It’s true that you can buy stars, but for the most part, we’re getting a birthday for free. We don’t have to whale, we don’t have to use up all our Lune, or keys, or story tickets. I’ve gotten up to Azusa’s story in the event and they all balance the two guys well. No one is overshadowed. Randy isn’t overshadowed. Not to mention, as I said before, I think they might be testing us with this event and maybe in the future do this sort of thing for other guys. But I understand being upset because there’s no spin-off. Randy’s fans are incredibly passionate about him and I’m sure this feels like a blow to the head for them. And overall, as much as I love the idea of birthday collection events for love options, there’s really no way for anybody to win. If they did this with Klaus, the fandom would be outraged because Klaus gets a LOT of content. But with Randy, it’s a bummer he didn’t get a spin-off and if I’m being 100% honest, some of Randy’s fans have super high standards and always get upset when those lofty standards aren’t met. It’s not every Randy fan, of course, but let’s be real, when people are upset they get loud, and loud people are the most visible in fandoms, so even if it’s not the majority of Randy fans, it ultimately looks like it is. And of course, that sends the message to Solmare that we don’t like these events and no other dude is gonna have a chance at a birthday event like this. Although tbh, the only dudes I think could pull the collection event off are Yukiya and maybe Hiro, since they’re very beloved. But Yukiya’s birthday passed and Hiro’s isn't until like. November? Either way, this whole situation is hella messy and it sucks. We should all be happy and celebrating Randy’s birthday together, but this event’s unfortunately really stirred the pot.

DARLING OF THE MONTH But onto something happier: Darling of the Month! To be honest, I was very conflicted on who to make this month’s darling. Originally, I had planned for someone else, but then a week ago I remembered it’s Pride Month. And then once I remembered that, I had to decide between Amelia or Scarlett and that was an incredibly hard choice. But after a lot of thought, I’ve decided on one. So, this month’s Darling of the Month is Amelia Nile!

Amelia is just. Absolute bae. She’s so sweet and kind, and is honestly the best friend we all deserve. She’s funny, helpful, and so so so so generous. Amelia is honestly one of my favorite characters in Wizardess and I’m so happy our LGBT rep in the game is with such a wonderful person. Congratulations Amelia, you absolute Bicon.

CONCLUSION I knew I was gonna have a lot to talk about today, but this ended up being more than I originally anticipated. This was honestly an interesting week in the fandom, but hopefully next week, things quiet down. Let’s all just take a deep breath and keep moving forward. Next week, I’ll be coming back with a theory and I’ll be talking about Amelia’s spin-offs, since she doesn’t have a route for me to review. Thank you to everyone listening for reaching this milestone with me! I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to put anything special together for this and our past milestone, but I’m planning to do a special episode for our 15th episode. I’m still working on the details for that, though, so stay tuned for it. And that’ll do it for us this week! This is Mari, signing off.

[icharchivist]

sometimes I wonder if Kurapika bonded with Gon so quickly because he saw a bit of his past self inside him (so happy and excited about everything). and I make myself feel sad. :(

you know what I was thinking about that a bit earlier today as well and it still hurts me

I do think there’s a little of child!Kurapika in Gon. They were adventurous and curious and always happy about the things they discovered, they were hot blooded and determinated in the stuff they wanted to do, and as a child, Kurapika carried a lot of guilt toward what happened to Pairo when we also know Gon is someone who often carries his own guilt as well. Also, they’re both extremely caring and looking over their friends (and especially as a kid, Kurapika was always looking over Pairo while also letting him space to not feel like hhe was overprotecting him, which is sort of a Gon thing to do too). And they both used to get extremely angry in front of unfair situations. Also they’re both nature kids, considering the forrest Kurapika grew up into and the wildlife of Whale Island.

I do think to some extend Kurapika saw a bit of himself in Gon. Always curious, trusting, caring, excited about everything. When you see again the first exchanges between Kurapika and Gon, Kurapika is always a bit taken aback by some stuff Gon does, and it’s kinda tender to think that in others circumstances, it was a bit of how Kurapika was before. 

Maybe just the fact he gets far less angry than Kurapika used to and how Gon often thinks a bit further, or just also his usual smile and all, could have also reminded a little of Pairo to Kurapika, at least I can see that. I can just say tho, when Gon is all trembling because Hisoka hit him in the face, Kurapika stays by his side and finds the words to cheer him up and I can’t help but think about the way he and Pairo used to talk.

And furthermore, it may also add to why Kurapika doesn’t insist either when Gon starts to really get too deep in the whole Phantom Troupe hunt as well. (I think also especially at the whole scene where Gon insists where Killua is all “please Kurapika turns him down” but Kurapika just asks a few questions and accept). More than also knowing Gon and his abilities by now I wonder if there’s not a little of “well I would have done the same” stuff into it.

Idk I have a lot of feelings over Kurapika and Gon’s dynamic  there’s really a lot that could be discussed there and it pains me so much

[caveartfair]

The Shanghai Art Project That’s Working to Save Us from a Dystopian Future

Installation view of “Seeds of Time” at the Shanghai Himalayas Museum. Courtesy of the Shanghai Project.

In an exhibition currently open in Shanghai, visitors can take a tour through the city as it might be 100 years from now—largely underwater.

Whales and turtles glide between the city’s signature skyscrapers. Elsewhere, maps show redrawn territories, plans outline climate change contingencies, and visitors are invited to discover a phantom flower on the verge of extinction.

The second phase of the ambitious, wide-reaching—and to its detractors at least, decidedly disjointed—Shanghai Project, continues its approach to workshopping ideas for the city’s future. This iteration, which comes in the form of a sprawling exhibition, is titled “Seeds of Time.”

“It is too ambitious,” said Dr. Yongwoo Lee, the outgoing Executive Director of Himalayas Museum, who is poised to step down from the position to focus on his concurrent role as Shanghai Project’s co-Artistic Director in the coming months. (The project’s other co-Artistic Director is the renowned curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.)

But Lee is unapologetic about the project’s lofty ambitions. In fact, he’s downright enthusiastic. “From the beginning,” he said, “we announced that Shanghai Project would be a multidisciplinary ideas platform, we’re not going to show a very ‘organized’ event. This way, people can come together to discuss.”

Installation of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s EXIT, 2008. © Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Mark Hansen, Laura Kurgan, and Ben Rubin in collaboration with Stewart Smith and Robert Gerard Pietrusko. Photo by Luc Boegly. Courtesy of the Shanghai Project.

Since the concept’s unveiling back in 2015, Shanghai Project’s evolution can be best described as meandering. Originally announced as a “hybridized international arts festival” and “a cultural forum,” the initiative is organized by Shanghai Himalayas Museum and was initially conceived as a biennial.

Following reports of roadblocks both in its funding and administration, the organizers announced a new format for the project in the summer of 2016. The initiative’s debut chapter was to be split into two phases, eight months apart.

The first launched in September 2016 as a community-based offsite program of workshops, lectures, and events, including Sou Fujimoto’s dramatic scaffolded pavilion outside Shanghai Himalayas Center and Liu Yi’s Children’s Pavilion in the city’s vast Century Park.  

At Himalayas’s satellite space in the picturesque town of Zhujiajiao, a group exhibition, “Qidian,” was organized in partnership with 89plus, a research project co-founded by Obrist. These multifarious elements linked to an overarching theme dubbed “Envision 2116,” which imagined the city of Shanghai 100 years from now, and addressed issues of sustainability, as well as wide-reaching social and cultural topics.

The second phase of Shanghai Project launched at the end of April this year, at the Himalayas Museum, which is housed alongside a shopping mall, luxury hotel, and theater, within Arata Isozaki’s landmark architecture.

“It’s not exactly a visual art-focused event, but a much more hybridized genre,” Lee explained, outlining the initiative’s current incarnation, the group exhibition “Seeds of Time.”

Installation view of Maya Lin’s What is Missing? The Empty Room, 2009. Photo by Matthew Niederhauser. Courtesy of the Shanghai Project and the What is Missing? Foundation.

The show takes its title and themes from Sandy McLeod’s 2013 documentary, Seeds of Time. The film centers on American agriculturist Cary Fowler, whose biological archive, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, is buried deep in the permafrost of the Norwegian Arctic. It’s compelling viewing that does the urgency of Fowler’s work justice: cultivating crop diversity, and building the world’s seed stores in anticipation of the devastating effects of global warming.

The documentary has inspired five focus areas across the exhibition, which are led by so-called “Root Researchers”—among them French anthropologist Bruno Latour and Zhang Haimeng, a managing partner at McKinsey & Company. Underlining the multidisciplinary nature of the show, all of the artists are similarly termed “researchers.”

These participants include the architecture studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, whose remarkable EXIT was commissioned by the Fondation Cartier in 2008. It’s a dizzying digital infographic comprising data, maps, and stats sourced from over 100 sources on the subject of migration, deforestation, global warming, and urbanization.

Also illustrative of the show’s strong leaning toward new media is Maya Lin’s engaging What is Missing? The Empty Room (2009). A series of projected films viewable on handheld perspex panels, it forces close engagement with her subject: extinction.

Taking an alternative but similarly captivating approach is Miriam Simun’s sensory performance, Agalinis Dreams (2014–ongoing). It consists of an introduction to Agalinis acuta, the only federally protected, endangered plant species in New York State. (In 2008, it was discovered that the bloom had been erroneously classified due to a taxonomical error, making the “acuta” something of a phantom.)

Lab-coat-clad performers recite an ode to the plant before inviting participants to don a bug-like “smell headset” and sip a cocktail infused with the flower’s scent—which is almost imperceptible to humans.

Qiu Anxiong and Root Researcher Team Members Li Qian and Yang Lei, Route of the Future, 2017. Courtesy of the Shanghai Project.

Around a third of the works on display are by Chinese artists. They include “Root Researcher” Qiu Anxiong, who visualizes the Shanghai skyline 100 years from now, when climate scientists predict that on our current trajectory, some 76 percent of the city’s metropolitan area will be underwater.

Blockbuster international names in the show include Olafur Eliasson, with his award-winning solar device Little Sun, Yoko Ono, and the late Gustav Metzger.

Ultimately, “Seeds of Time,” which is an engaging and informative exhibition, shows that the issues at stake in Shanghai are not exclusive to the city, but shared by all corners of the globe. But where exactly it will go from here—as it packages an exhibition into a broader project whose parameters, structure, and trajectory remain undefined—is hard to tell.

Dr. Lee rejects suggestions that the reformatting of Shanghai Project’s first chapter into two phases across two calendar years has negatively impacted its momentum. Rather, he says, the structure helped develop and acclimatize an audience unfamiliar with public participatory cultural events.

A secondary outcome that is particularly pertinent to China, Lee suggested, is the way in which this project is cultivating a shift in attitudes toward the public role of museums. “[Audiences] find that this is very much an active place where people can engage together in the name of art and culture,” he said. “Shanghai Project teaches them about a broader context than exhibitions. It’s an urgent call to action.”

Yoko Ono, WISH TREE, 2013. Photo by Bjarke Oersted. Courtesy of the Shanghai Project and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

In keeping with the apparently organic course taken by Shanghai Project, there are currently no concrete proposals for future chapters.

“We haven’t decided yet,” Lee explained. “First of all, we are going to listen to the feedback of the citizens and the general public. Secondly, I am going to make another roundtable with our advisory committee members.”

He revealed that they are considering September 2018 for the project’s next installment, however. “It’s a good season,” he said. “The Shanghai sky is very blue in September!”

In a city plagued by air pollution, and where the daily struggle of an undocumented minority of migrant workers is regularly airbrushed from an otherwise glossy appearance, “Seeds of Time” matters. How exactly  the exhibition will inform and steer the wider Shanghai Project, however, remains to be seen.

—Frances Arnold

from Artsy News