#why is your favorite movie a clockwork orange

[pinkinsect]

What is shidou's problem

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP EXCHANGE — @lapsthings

Your match is...

— Seishiro Nagi

✦ (Yes, A Clockwork Orange is my favorite movie. I read the book too and, in French, they did a wonderful translation. Burgess invented a language inspired by Russian, and it's very impactful. There's some words that I still remember even though it's been almost 7 years since I read the book.) (I could speak of this masterpiece for hours! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed your reading.) (Did you know that it's also Shidou's favorite movie?)

✦ (ANYWAY.)

✦ I had this sleepy genius boy in mind all along while reading your bio, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to match him with you.

✦ At the same time, how could I not? He appears way too many times in your words for me not to think of him.

✦ But I kept asking myself: "If I pair her with Nagi, she'll never go out again."

✦ "Is this really what we want, Suo?"

✦ Heh, I don't make the rules.

✦ Or, maybe I do.

✦ Well, welcome to your best sleeping partner, I guess.

✦ I think as long as he's with someone who's not boring or too loud, he's cool.

✦ Nagi... is always cool.

✦ "I don’t have any siblings." You're like his twin sister, lost somewhere before the start of the show, you know? Nagi's the brother you wish you had, somehow.

✦ "Whenever I go to a convention or an anime store, I spend a good 30 minutes deciding which figure to buy, but since I’m indecisive, I end up getting both of them. I also buy or help pay for my friends more often than not, so I’m always broke. They even came up with a motto: 'Buy now, regret later.'" You know the best thing I find in this description is the fact that you're actually going out. Even Nagi struggles with that.

✦ Good point: you convince him to put his shoes on since he might be interested in the merchandise you buy.

✦ I can see some lazy dates outside, mainly for playing at the arcades or buying trinkets and anime goodies. From the outside, you two look like brother and sister.

✦ That's the core of your relationship, a bit.

✦ I can't see Nagi in any relationship, but I can totally picture him always calling the same person to do non-boring activities. It's normally Reo's role, but Reo isn't always around.

✦ And Reo hasn't always been in Nagi's life.

✦ "I struggle to continue conversations, so I’d say I’m not that good at talking either. I may come across as indifferent or uninterested, which is why I also kind of struggle to make friends." Nagi looks uninterested, and most of the time, he is.

✦ "When giving opinions, I try to be honest, though I do sugarcoat it sometimes." Here, Nagi doesn't.

✦ In fact, the two of you remind me of two baby pandas, a bit lost, always in their beds.

✦ But you are very similar and at the same time, very different. Like black and white merging.

✦ The possibility that you met each other in an online game is huge, I won't lie.

✦ "Dislike: lack/bad communication." This is the biggest pet peeve with Nagi—the lack of communication. This is what led him and Reo to separate, with Reo thinking Nagi had abandoned their dream while Nagi was actually doing his best to reach their common goal.

✦ You can't expect anything from Nagi, but he may expect some things from you.

✦ Yes, that's unfair.

✦ Yes, that's Nagi.

✦ Yes, I chose this match.

✦ (Hahahahaha)

✦ (I regret nothing.)

✦ He never forces you to do anything, though. You're still free to go, doing your own thing while he does his.

✦ In my opinion, the best balance someone can have with Nagi is to play with him occasionally and then say, "Bye bye, see you next time."

✦ Nagi's like his cactus, Choki, after all. Never feed him too much, or he'll die.

✦ You know what I mean since you have YOU'VE HAD your own Choki too.

✦ He finds it cool that you can play instruments.

✦ He also "gently" asks you to play in another room because you make too much noise.

✦ The moments when Nagi is the sweetest are when he wants to try a new game but doesn't want to play alone. Reo isn't interested, so Nagi calls you instead.

✦ I can totally hear him calling you "buddy" or "man."

✦ He reads mangas on his phone too. I think he's the best at knowing the top websites to read tons of scans, so when your favorite site is taken down, Nagi sends you a copy-paste list on Discord.

✦ You two are totally the type to live under the same roof but communicate with each other via texts or weird, unfinished voice messages. It's too boring to speak out loud to someone who's in the room next door.

✦ "Giving: Acts of Service, Gift giving." Let's be honest, he's totally in sync with your love languages.

✦ Always asking you to carry him from one room to another.

✦ He's surprisingly not that heavy.

✦ But 190 cm doesn't lie.

✦ Long silences may occur between you. From the outside, people might even think the house is empty.

✦ The best part about that? You love these moments where no one is talking. You feel comfortable because this is how you like being around others.

✦ So he treasures the fact that you don't talk too much.

✦ Sometimes you forget that you're not alone in the house.

✦ It may give you a fright when you hear a door open.

✦ Or when it's 3am, you're in your pajamas, nose buried in your phone, and you go downstairs only to bump into each other.

✦ "Oh my god. You were there all along???"

✦ "Yeah. You too?"

✦ Actually, it's like you're sharing a flat.

A word about your match: When I read a Nagi-like bio, I usually think of pairing with an opposite character to create a balanced relationship. But your words and facts convinced me to go all the way and choose the laziest soccer player the world has ever seen.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | INTERESTED IN A MATCHUP EXCHANGE? CHECK THIS.

[borom1r]

1, 8, 17, 18, 20, 41, 45, 54, 93 for the non-fandom asks, 1, 3, 5-7, 12, 18-22, 24 for the fandom asks 🫡👀

THIS HAS BEEN IN MY INBOX FOR SO LONG + I ANSWERED IT IB MY NOTES AND JUST FUCKING FORGOT TO POST IT AAAAAAAAAAAAA

1. whats your favorite thing in your room?

plush boromir:3 hes so Shaped

8. favorite coping mechanism?

uuuuuuuuuuu noise cancelling headphones + loud music

17. do you want any tattoos? if so, where, what, and why?

YES. I want to get one on my upper arm — there’s an artist I really like who’s done free-to-use art + im going to get a piece of his tattooed w/ kennings for Óðinn and Þórr above + below

18. whats the most prominent dream youve had?

I still vividly remember this dream I had in high school where my alarm for school went off, I got up and went to start making myself toast and fucking. Michael Myers walks up from the basement (the garage door/basement stairs were just off the kitchen) + we stared at each other and my only thought before my Actual alarm went off was “damn, guess I better make more toast”

20. whats your ideal date?

REN FEST!!!!!!! unironically my local fest hosts weddings and I would. really really like to get married there in full armor. even if it’s just for tax benefits smjfjdjjfjdj

41. if you could announce one thing to the world what would it be?

WOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOF!!!!!!

45. do you prefer book over movie?

depends :3 ummmm a lot of times I think there are pros n cons to both mediums. sometimes I love a movie but also think the book is WAY better even if the movie is a masterpiece in its own right (a clockwork orange… cutting off the original ending to the book completely fucks the point of the story I think. I adore that movie but if you’ve never read the book…. 😑)

54. whats your best hottake?

my BEST????? idfk dude. my CURRENT hot take is that the changes the made to Faramir’s character for the movie were Good, Actually

93. whats your favorite item of clothing?

wolf hat :3 AND my leather jacket w all my patches

1. What is the first fandom you were ever a part of?

uuuuu like active online a part of… probs like. idek dude probably the fucking Warriors (1979 movie not cat books)

3. All-time favorite pairing?

I’m a spangel truther and I have been since middle school, so ig that

5. Favorite platonic pairing?

big fan of Boromir&Éowyn like obvs Boromir&Faramir + Théodred&Éomer&Éowyn bc they are Family but if we’re talking non-blood relations then I think Boromir&Éowyn is an excellent platonic pairing

6. Favorite headcanon?

I’ve almost called Boromir a faggot multiple times on instinct, so that. also transgender Faramir (what direction? you decide. they contain multitudes < I personally adore a he/they/te transmasc. I think te and Aragorn should both be allowed to use Sindarin pronouns. get funky with it)

7. Least favorite headcanon?

HRM. there are SOME utterly rancid takes from my SAW fandom days that I still think abt. evil. I shan’t speak of those times in public.

12. Craziest thing you've ever done as part of a fandom?

uh. idk?? I used to run a rlly popular ask blog for the characters of The Warriors (1979) that I believe is still out there?? lmao ok yea it is i just checked. that’s so funny that it’s still out there actually snfksjfjjs

18. All-time favorite fanfic?

that I’ve READ or that I’ve WRITTEN????

to read, literally anything Connor @angeltrapz has written but I’ll specifically drop this Princess Bride fic💗 https://archiveofourown.org/works/41272767?view_adult=true (TUMBLR WONT LET ME ACTUALLY LINK THE FIC EVIL AND HATEFUL. I can paste it + it generates a link tho. functioning fucking app)

fav that I’ve written…. highkey this one

19. Fanfic you read again and again?

other people’s fics?? this whole series: https://archiveofourown.org/series/183362

my own fics? literally any of my Faramir/Éomer fics that pairing is so fun

20. All-time favorite fanfic author?

CONNOR ANGELTRAPZ MY BESTIE!!!!!!!! also YOU duh????? ik it’s not fanfic Technically but like. BOY the rp is. creative project of all time perhaps?

21. Favorite fic trope?

i am a weak bitch for a good soulmate au. esp when there’s like. drama. im not exposing myself just know i think abt soulmate aus A Lot. < can u tell this has been sitting in my notes for A While lmfao

22. Least favorite fic trope?

idek???? I think any trope can be Done Well like I don’t normally enjoy chatfics but I’ve also read. some really good chatfics!! write what u love who cares

24. Funniest fandom-related story?

I’m gonna be so real w u I got into drama w a Lost Boys fandom mogul bc I was. A Homosexual and A Kinnie and they were NOT happy abt the fact I was like “yea all the lost boys are fucking.” I didn’t even know what to say abt that really. take it up w famously gay director Joel Schumacher if you don’t like me. A NOTORIOUS FAGGOT. going “yea I think these characters in a film directed by a gay man are gay”

this exact situation has happened to me 3 times across various fandoms. <- is just trying to sit in my little kinnie corner + be a weird fag in peace

[sailorsenshishitposter]

Trish x Reader

You had recently been going out with a friend of a mutual friend. Her name was Trish and you found out that she lived a lavish lifestyle that she sustained while working as a dominatrix. You had no issues with that and only wondered why she chose to date someone as lame as you. Tonight was special because she was going to introduce you to her infant son. You always wanted to have a family so you were ecstatic and couldn't wait to meet the young boy.

"All right, we're here. I'll be back in a minute." she said as she winked. You were waiting outside of the local day care while sitting inside her luxury car. You weren't sure how you got so lucky but you only hoped it would stay like this. You saw you girlfriend return only to be greeted with a strange man.

"Hey babe, this is my son I told you about. He's two days old but he has a bit of a growth problem so he looks a lot older than he really is. The doctors aren't sure why he's going through puberty so young but I love him just as he is. His name is Vergil but he particularly likes it when you call him V." She introduced you and you stared dumbfounded while she ruffled his hair and placed her son in the booster seat (you swore she must be a witch because there was no way you could get a lanky drifter into a children's car seat.

"How was daycare sweetheart?" The man's face grew uncomfortable and his eyes shifted downward. "Did you make any new friends?" He cringed in disgust. "I don't need friends momma, I have Shadow, Griffon and Nightmare." For someone that was supposedly a baby he could speak remarkably well for his age. "Honey, it's fine to have imaginary friends but you should try to make real ones too." Her son got defensive. "THEY ARE REAL MOMMA, I SAW THEM!"

"Alright..., is there anything you would like for dinner?" V crossed his arms. "Fried chicken." She drove the three of you to her home which happened to be a large mansion. You weren't sure if this or seeing her son was more shocking. Trish ordered takeout and you grabbed some crayons and watched V draw. "This is Griffon, he's a birdie. That's Shadow, she's a kitty cat and that's Nightmare. I don't know what he is but he visits me in my dreams and I wake up screaming every night." You were mortified. "Why don't we go watch a movie instead?"

The boy quickly popped in ones if his favorites, mumbling something about it being a classic. A Clockwork Orange. You had never seen this movie but you were desperate to get away from those drawings. Only a few minutes into the movie and you had shut it off. Your face was pale. "Does your mother really let you watch such things...?" V proudly lifted his head. "Of course! Mommy says I'm very mature for my age." Before you could protest Trish had finally came by with the food.

You were now in the dining hall. You noticed that V had taken his napkin and had fastened it to his neck in an attempt to make a bib perhaps? Maybe an ascot? Either way it was ridiculous. You were talking with Trish when you heard glass shatter. "V what did I tell you?" You know noticed that the boy had replaced his knife with a large sword. "I'm sorry momma. I was just trying to make smaller bites." Trish sighed. "Its alright little one. You know the rules though, no using Force Edge at the table." She went to the kitchen and returned with a samurai sword. "Use this. It will be much easier on your wrists."

You were now helping with the dishes while V ran outside to play. You went to join him only to stumble once you realized the boy was trying to hit you with a wooden sword. "V, what did I tell you about playing with our guests!" He started to stomp his foot. "I CRAVE VIOLENCE MOTHER!" You took a few steps back only to bump into Trish. "I'm so sorry about this. He tends to be cranky when he hasn't had his nap."

Trish picked up her son and said "I think it's time for bed huh?" V gave no protest and went limp in her arms. "Good boy. You need to save your strength. How about I read to you?" He nodded. You were now in the upstairs bedroom. V had just finished brushing his teeth and putting his pajamas on. His mother helped apply lotion for his badly cracked, dry skin and then tucked him under the covers. It was now time to read. You expected a simple children's story or fairy tail such as sleeping beauty or the very hungry catapillar but to your horror she pulled out a large tome. The compete works of William Blake. This wasn't going to end anytime soon would it?

Several hours later and Trish began to nudge you awake. To be fair you always thought poetry was boring. She drove you back home and kissed you on the cheek. "I had a wonderful time. And I think my son is really enjoying your company. I'll see you soon." Trish drove off. You immediately took your phone out and changed your number and just to be safe, moved several countries away. You knew it was to good to be true.

[rogertaylorshbb]

"a clockworks orange" roger Taylor fanfic {part 1}

-------this is another movie theater one, this is inspired off 'a clockworks orange" apparently being one of rogers favorite movies. Also this fanfic is a bit different because normally I write in second person using "you" and "your" but for this I'm writing about a OC with roger if that makes sense. anyway hope you enjoy!!!!--------

OC- Diana {whatever last name but she doesn't need one lol}

Diana sat on her couch snuggled up with a woolly blanket and had a hot cup of tea in her hands. she needed to Realex after the long day of memorizing answers for a biology test she had coming up. biology work would be a lot easier if the guy she got paired with actually showed up to class.

she got paired up with this blonde guy called roger Taylor, she didn't know much about him, only that he never showed up to class, he played drums. she also assumed roger was a girl till she got introduced to him. she was truly baffled when she heard a deep voice from what she assumed a tall blonde girl who was just called roger for an odd reason.

she was seriously annoyed at rogers Behavior knowing she was doing all the work and he was gonna get credit for it. as she sat there thinking about it her blood began to boil and her hands squeezed around her tea cup. she then remember roger had given her his number, and she decided she was gonna call it.

she dialed the number furiously then putting the phone up to her ear while tapping her foot on the wood floors. the other end of the phone picked up and tired and soft voice spoke.

"um hello" rogers voice began

"roger its me" Diana said madly

"um, sorry, whos this" roger questioned

"are you joking??? its me you idiot! Diana! maybe you would recognize my voice if you ever showed up to class" she yelled at him.

"oh-" roger said. nothing else, just an "oh"

" "oh" what's "oh"?? roger I'm not gonna do all the work and give you credit, either you show up to class or ill tell the teacher you have done none of the work and ill ask to work alone" she shouted.

he was quiet for a bit and then sighed into the phone "fine, ill show up tomorrow"

you huffed into the phone "you better" and hung up slamming the phone down.

____-the next day-_____

Diana woke up feeling refreshed and got ready to go to class. she walked into class hoping to see rogers face. as she walked in she didn't see him but it was early and he was probably gonna come late. she sat down in her seat pulling the books she needed out.

more people started to enter the class, but roger hadn't shown up yet. class would officially begin in 10 minutes and he was no where to be seen. "little fucking rat" she whispered under her breath. she knew he wasn't gonna come but she had a little hope that maybe he would. she knew after class when she had break she was straight away gonna call him.

____---after class----____

she stormed out of class, she had a one hour break. she rushed off of the campus and to her apartment which was right next to the collage. as she paced to her apartment a blonde fellow caught her eye. "no fucking way".

not even 2 minutes away from the campus stood roger. he was on the other side of the street. he stood there with a cigarette in his hand talking to a a tall lanky guy. "that fucking-" she was baffled out of her mind. she stormed over to him with balled up fist and smoke fuming out of her ears.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" she shouted raising an eye brow at him. it took him a hot second to figure out who she was and why she was yelling at him.

"oh- um- I had band practice-" he began

"FUCK BAND PRACTICE!" she interrupted, then collected herself. "why are you even in school if you don't show up, what's the point?"

"look, I'm sorry, I- I just have other things to do" he said slowly smiling smugly shrugging his shoulders looking back to his other friend who was also smiling. roger began to chuckle a bit.

"you think this is funny" her voice began to break and her eyes began to swell.

he looked over to her with a smug and cocky smile but the smile quickly dropped when he saw her eyes face become red and her eyes become watery.

a tear rolled down her face "why aren't you taking me- ser-i- seriously" her broken and sad voice spoke.

"oh shit- she's crying" rogers friend whispered.

"yeah, you idiot I can see that" roger whispered back nudging him on the shoulder.

"look I am sorry- um-" he thought a bit trying to figure out her name "Diana, yea um- I didn't know you were so serious about it"

she just stood there shaking her head trying to keep the tears from balling down her face.

"why don't I make it up to you?" roger said. his friend then nudged him with a smile raising an eyebrow. "not like that!" roger whispered loudly to his friend hitting him on the arm.

"is there anything I can do? maybe there's something I could help you with...." he softly said.

she looked up at him using her cotton sleeves to whip away her tears. she had something in mind but she was afraid it would sound silly.

"well' she sniffled "there is something small you can do"

"well if i that small thing will you not tell the teacher?" roger questioned.

"yes" she responded.

what she wanted to ask was quite embarrassing. she was gonna ask him if he would accompany her to a movie and dinner date, not because she liked him and wanted to go out only because her bestfriend told her that her and her boyfriend were going on a date, but they wanted to go on a double date, so she had to try and find a guy too go out with her so she could accompany her bestfriend on a double date.

"look this is gonna sound weird but- uh- are you free tomorrow?" she asked nervously.

"uh yeah, pretty much free the whole day" roger said raising an eyebrow.

"look I'm not asking you out cause I like you, my friend is going on a double date and I need to a guy to go with me so I'm not third wheeling, so....?" she looked down at her shoes embarrassed.

"yeah ill go with you if that's what your asking" he shrugged.

"really?" she said looking up at him with her red eyes confusingly.

"why would I say no? a date, sounds good, what time?" he casually said.

you explained all the details to him, he seemed pretty chill like he had been asked out a million times before. after you told him everything you awkwardly said bye and walked off back to campus to go study. you were still gonna make him do work though.

-----hope you enjoyed part 1 of this! the 2nd part will probably be better though I know this part is a bit boring. also sorry if there is any mistakes with the point of view thing, its a bit hard not to write in second person I find myself often writing "you" and having to correct it lol. anyway part 2 will be up soon!!-------

@sarcastic-sourwolf

[milliesfishes]

LMAO I HAVENT SEEN LES MIS EITHER

it’s so odd cause my ex was a crazy pretentious cinephile so i’ve seen so many like cult classics by his standards but haven’t seen quite a few actual classics

like he had me watch clockwork orange and what the fuck was that movie i was lost the whole time lmaooo don’t even get me started on 2001 a space odyssey i was bored as hell

this is coming from someone who literally saw top gun maverick 12 times in theatres and spiderman no way home 20 times in theatres

LMAO YOU'RE SO REAL LOL also bless your heart getting through all that 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I'm literally so picky about what media I choose to consume whether it be books, music, movies or TV which is why I haven't seen Les Mis yet loll. I truthfully think I just love my favorites so much and watching things that aren't that feels like unsafe for some reason?? Like I won't go see something in theaters myself unless I know I'm going to like it

[grimandghoulish]

inspired by the no asks post to ask a buncha stuff !!

1. what do u use to listen to music ! ( if its spotify, can i follow u >:^]] )

2. what is ur favorite color and WHY !! Whats something thts ur favorite color that you dont like ?

3. whats your go to gas station snack nd drink purchase ?

4. do you have posters or anything hanging on ur walls ?

5. uhmmm whats ur favorite emoji combo. or most used emoji.

Omg I love you 😭😭😭😭

1- so I don't really use Spotify now, because apparently some of the music I listen to is just too obscure for it :///// and also it got too expensive for me :( so I use YouTube music usually and just put up with the annoying as fuck ads, and anything I listen to that I can't find there I just have downloaded to my phone in addition to music I very frequently listen to. So I haven't used my Spotify in a couple years I think, but my username on there I think is the same as here (romeoandromeo), if it's not, I think it's probably scififxntxsy because that's my other go to username lol, you're more than welcome to follow me though! Maybe I'll use it again and update it with music I currently listen to

2- NEON GREEN!!!! Well I like all green, but I really like bright bright greens. They don't make a lot of stuff in bright green so it's hard to find things I don't like in that color...... BP is close enough right? I don't like BP (like the gas company). However I know you didn't ask, but something I do like in my favorite color, the first the comes to mind as I am currently binge watching it, GIR from Zim 😁😁😁

3- I love this question!! My go to is pepperoni pizza combos and faygo cola or faygo caramel apple (since they NEVER have the diet cola :/ )

4- LOTS. I have to have some of my boyfriend's stuff on the walls too lol but it's mostly mine. I have a few foraging posters, some skeletons hugging, this tapestry on my ceiling with a skeleton and a bunch of melting eyeballs, a white zombie movie poster (not the band), clockwork orange and motley Crue poster 😁 I also have some alien curtains where my door would be if I had one and one of my several Frankenstein blankets covering the open space between my room and the stairwell (bedroom is in the basement)

5- here are my favorite emojis: 😈👽👹🫥🫀🧟🦠 and my most used: 😁😭👀🤙🏼🥺🤦🏼

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Art shouldn't justify suffering.

I was reading a debate about Kubrick's treatment of Shelly Duval during the filming of The Shinning and a lot of people - or maybe a small but very vocal group of people - were trying to defend that the end result (her great perfomance) justify the abuse. They talk as if it was the only way that Kubrick could have used to get her best perfomance, that art is a result of real emotion and this emotion is mostly pain and suffering (one even talking about Van Gogh cutting of his ear - and fr can we apreciate Van Gogh art without this tormented artist bs, yes he suffered dearly and some of his best work shows it, but some of it was also about the few moments were he felt genuine happinness and about his love for nature, not only that but there are a lot of great artists who didn't suffer for their art and they are as valid as Van Gogh).

I will admit that some of this coments were results of the almost cultist adoration some people - not only film bros - have for Kubrick. They are uncapable of admiting his mistakes (including small continuity errors that ofc he had because making movies is hard) and do massive loops to defend any criticism towards him (and I like Kubrick, with exception of his depiction of Lolita, I hate that movie with passion, but like Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite movies and I rly like A Clockwork Orange).

That all being said in the end the major reason was still this idea that art = pain. Is why Hollywood is still obcessed with method acting, why actors dehidrating, starving themselfs or living months in isolation are all saw as positive, why there are actual murders show on movies (it is older movies but still), why cinema realism was used to justify a rape, and maybe not to those extremes but we hear this abuse stories like how in Now I See You the actress actually though she was in danger during the scape artistry scene and we think wow soo cool this is real art. Art can come from pain and it can aliviate it and be cathartic and we should not disminish it but we have to stop acting as if creating more pain is the result to good art.

Van Gogh mental illness didn't made him a better artist. It made him kill himself. The art he made from the pain was beutifull but the art he made from his genuine happy moments and from his love for nature also was. He was a good artist. Period. And his pain is valid and important to his art but it shoudn't be inspirational. It's a tragedy. People shoudn't idolize his pain. Imagine how much more he could've done if he had a better mental health, how much more he could have created, how happier would he be. Why wouldn't you want that?

Art is an important form of expression. And if you're depressed or even just sad the art you make from it is valid and the emotion you put in it turns it beutifull. But you should not be afraid of getting better and losing your talent, as I know it happens, and people should not be driving others to this abys for art. Pain can create amazing art and I think creating can help aliviate this pain. But we should not generate pain for art sake. We should do art from pain and not pain for art.

Now this are just rambles. I'm not an artist. I write somethings and maybe they are art but they aren't good or anything and my life is good, but I do have mental health problems and I do think my bad moments do inspire some of the less bad of my writing but there are other pieces driven by happines and fun and I think in the end I don't want to see this suffering glamourized. I don't want people to feel like they have to suffer. I'm studying to be a psycologist it would be an antithesis to my dream job to think otherwise.

Anyway I don't know if I'm making sense or even saying something meaningfull but I wanted to write this and I did and that it's it.

[below-average-fangirl]

I know you've been kind of working your way through Tom Cruise's filmography, so I wanted to ask: 01) what is your favorite or favorites so far and 02) what are you looking forward to seeing that you haven't seen yet 03) are there any that you're absolutely dreading and why is that (if you'd want to share that bit, anyway)

My first ask. Thank you.

1) okay, here is where I try not to just list every movie I've seen so far because honest to God loads of them are highly re-watchabe (as my letterboxd account would attest to)

Top Gun Maverick

Knight and Day

Edge of Tomorrow

Rogue Nation/Fallout

Far and Away

2) Really looking forward to Vanilla Sky, Collateral and Magnolia, so much so I keep putting them off because I can only watch them for the first time once and I want to make sure I'm in a good headspace for them.

3) Eyes Wide Shut, while I am excited to watch it to see how certain themes may link to some of Tom's other work, given the discussions I've seen on Tumblr, I dread it a little because it's Kubrick (I've only seen A Clockwork Orange), but I worry EWS maybe a slog despite my interest in some of the themes.

[yvesdot]

Milk, or, The Discussion on Literary Symbolism.

(In which everyone is correct, and fortunately gets enough time to prove so.)

The student is well within their right to point out that the author may not have intended their character’s drinking milk to mean anything. The teacher is also right to note that subconscious decisions may carry meaning-- for example, if this student were to imagine a typical breakfast scene, it’d look quite different from another student’s in another country. How did that happen? Not only real life but fiction and fiction’s representations. Therefore the student imagines, say, milk at breakfast but not at dinner. Thus, without intention, fiction informs our beliefs at large.

But if there’s no intention, the student presses, why do we discuss the meaning? And the teacher of course responds that there is, in a sense, intention-- why mention what the character is drinking, and why make it milk, and why in this scene? Authors are told only to write what is necessary, what inextricably adds to the work. So the author thought, however briefly, that this was necessary. And that means we can interpret why it is necessary-- because, if just this one line were removed about the milk, the entire book changes. The book is not “everything but this line about milk”; the book is “everything, including this line about milk.” And... why? 

The student now says that this feels like a waste of time. Sure, fine, it had some slight intention-- but why bother? Of what use is it to their material, everyday life? And the teacher asks about their favorite worlds-- Star Wars, or Harry Potter, or whatever else. Those stories also have subconscious additions. And wouldn’t it be incredible if, every time they experienced those narratives, they saw something new? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to tell their friends how they knew things-- how they predicted this villain’s plan, or who would aid them, or how it all would end? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to know everything, every little thing, about the stories they loved? Because nobody dislikes stories, deep down, whether they’re books or movies or video games. Stories are our lives.

And the student says, well, sure, but what does that have to do with the milk? And the teacher agrees, yes, milk is just easier because it’s been done so many times and we have lots of writings on it and, at the end of the day, it’s just practice. It’s a sample problem, like in math. The milk is going to teach you how to divine anything you want to know about your stories, in the future. It’s just practice for now.

And the student says okay, and they write their frustrating little essay about the milk. They talk about Clockwork Orange, and associations of childhood, and color symbolism. It’s not the best essay ever written, and they don’t necessarily enjoy it.

But in the future, that student can read. They can look at their favorite worlds and understand them-- more deeply than some of their friends who have memorized every side character’s name. When they see a news article, they see not just how but why it is written a certain way. They are able to diffuse conflict with language. They sense intention behind words without having to guess. They express themself. They understand stories.

It’s a good thing they asked about the milk. It’s a good thing they got an answer.

posted writing | published book | ko-fi | Patreon

[lokiondisneyplus]

Every Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series to date has had its own distinct look and feel, from the sitcom-derived pastiche episodes of WandaVision all the way back to the grim-and-gritty, dimly lit street narratives of Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Marvel’s Loki has been one of the MCU’s more distinctive-looking series, though, from the dimly lit, industrial-brown corridors of Time Variance Authority HQ to the vivid neon city of Sharoo on the doomed moon Lamentis-1.

Series director Kate Herron confirms that some of these designs were directly inspired by classic science fiction, while others were more personal experimentation. We sat down with Loki’s cinematographer, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, to break down what went into designing some of the most striking and memorable sequences from the series’ first three episodes.

This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.

EPISODE 1: TIME THEATER INTERROGATIONS

Autumn Durald Arkapaw: Kate [Herron]’s sensibilities led me to get the job in the first place. We shared those sensibilities, around noir films and more moody thrillers, so we were already on the same page as far as lighting and tone. So when it came to the Time Theater, Kasra [Farahani], the production designer, did a fantastic job of creating a space that had a lot of opportunity to feel textural and moody, and create symmetry. I’m big on symmetry. I like to frame center-punched, keeping in mind the architecture of the room, and framing for the architecture and the people at the same time. Stanley Kubrick does that very well. A Clockwork Orange obviously came up in our discussions. Some of our main references were David Fincher’s Zodiac and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, and the original Blade Runner, in terms of creating spaces that feel strong and weighted, with the people in them placed in a way where the conversation feels very heavy, so you’re paying a lot of attention to the lines, and where your eyes are drawn.

We did some lighting changes above, in the Brutalist ceiling. The lights move, so when we’re cutting back and forth, you see the lights change on the actors. We’re trying to time those movements to the dialogue. The editing was fantastic with that scene. We shot a good amount of coverage, and [series stars Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Owen Wilson as Mobius] play in that space a lot. So we’re trying to always keep it interesting, every time they go back there, changing up the lighting and the projections. That’s probably one of my favorite spaces in the show.

And then the acting, obviously — they’re riffing off each other, and you’re in the room with them and feeling the energy. It was very exciting. That scene was up front in our schedule, so Owen and Tom were getting to know each other in general. We got to watch that happen before our eyes, and it was very comical.

One of the most noticable things about that space is the harsh, rectangular overhead spotlights — Tom Hiddleston starts his interrogation under a spotlight, and when he gets angry, he moves himself back under it. How did you discuss that kind of blocking and framing?

The thing with Tom is, he’s a genius. He’s just a fantastic actor, The amount of things I could say about how amazing he is on set, and character-wise, the list goes on and on. You can introduce marks and let actors know where you’d like them to be for a shot, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where they’ll go. Some actors like to be more freeform. But with Tom, I wouldn’t have to say “Stand under that light.” He just knows, and he’ll play off that because of the space. He walks in, sees how it’s lit, knows our agenda, and uses that in the character.

So there were certain moments where he asked, “Is this what you’re thinking?” or we would have a discussion. But mostly, he uses the environment around him to tell the story as well, and he took in that lighting as part of the character. Actors know how they look in certain types of light. He’s very good at that. So he played with that in that space, for sure.

When we pull back and take in the whole room, the lighting feels punitive — the striped shadows are noir-movie standards, like light coming through blinds, but they also feel like prison bars. Is that something you discussed?

We never talked about prison bars, but in designing that space, Kasra was thinking about what that space was — being arrested, and being judged. It’s a claustrophobic space. Loki is slightly free to communicate and move around, but the walls and ceiling are concrete, there’s this fake light coming in, because obviously, in the TVA, there’s no day or night. You can see the light moving above, but there’s no sun there. It’s just moving at certain moments.

I had an idea, after seeing the latest Blade Runner, where Roger Deakins moves the lights around: Why don’t we have the lights move? It’s not easy to have big tungsten light sources above a ceiling set move like that, because it takes heavy motors. But my gaffer and key grip are amazing, and they figured out a way we could move the lights without causing shadows between each of the sections of lighting. It looks all like it’s moving at the same time. That took a lot of thought, getting those lights to move, and not just creating shafts of light that fade in and out. I think it helped a lot, because it’s very subtle. You’re only going to see it as they’re sitting. You’ll see sometimes the light moves from Owen’s shoulders into his eyes at the right moment, when you get lucky in the edit, and catch it at the right moment. It was great to have the resources to actually do stuff like that.

EPISODE 2: THE ROXXCART VARIANT PURSUIT

I’m a fan of green. If we’re designing a clinical environment, or a shopping mall, and we’ve got overhead fluorescents, I like to use cool white fluorescents that have kind of a green kick. I’m a big David Fincher fan, and there’s an undertone of green in his setups that I appreciate. So Roxxcart is a bigger shop that is now closed down, and Kasra outfitted it like a big-box Costco-type place? That wasn’t a full set — we went to this big warehouse, and he made it feel like that kind of store.

Above the space where we shot in, there were a bunch of fixtures. We completely removed those and put in our own tubes. They were RGB, and we could fade them and turn them off and on to our liking, flicker them, make them red when we wanted. When they’re cool white, I appreciate that green kick. I did a lookup-table color correction as well, to give it that tone. It’s meant to be clinical, but make you feel like you don’t know what’s at every turn. And we’re keeping lights on or off depending on which way we’re looking. Kate was a big fan of that space being very dark, with pockets of light. Our antagonist is supposed to come out of the darkness as people change identities.

We’re also trying to make that space look bigger than it actually was. We’re creating depth with light. That was a bitch to shoot — we had so much rigging. My team was amazing. If you go into a space like that, a Target or something, you’d think “The lighting here is not that big of a deal. It’s just overheads.” But being able to control all those overheads and make them different colors and flicker them takes a lot of rigging, with a dimmer board and the programming. In the editing afterward, it really does feel like a space that’s a lot bigger than it actually was. The red sequence is one of my favorites, for sure.

The camera is below waist level a lot in that sequence. What are you communicating there?

I always like to shoot low! It’s just how I see things. Some of my favorite films are detective thrillers from the past, Zodiac being one of those. I’ve always just loved shooting below the eyeline. Obviously there are moments in features I’ve shot where I want to be higher, because it’s more emotional or romantic or something. But in this kind of story, where you have these amazing spaces, and you have multiple characters you’re trying to frame, all facing off and being strong, I’m just a bigger fan of seeing a ceiling than a floor. It’s an appreciation I have, as far as it feeling more mysterious. When a character is looking more mysterious, and you’re not trusting them, you’re trying to figure them out, I love that kind of framing. It’s amazing.

EPISODE 3: FIGHTING TO REACH THE LAMENTIS-1 ARK

That sequence has a great backstory. I did a lot of prep with Kate. We started prep in Los Angeles before we ended up in Atlanta. We knew that sequence was coming up. but in the script, it just says “Okay, so they end up at Sharoo, and then go on.” The description of that sequence went through an evolution, with the filmmakers discussing things, building the set, and collaborating, so early on, we spitballed about what we thought that could be. Having the support of Marvel and being able to build, and being able to do great stunts, we went bigger.

With the sequence as it evolved, Children of Men was a big reference for us. Kate was really interested in that feeling. She wanted to be with the characters the whole way. We tried to figure out, should the camera be handheld? Should it be Steadicam? We ended up with Steadicam. We looked at some previous oners, because we wanted this sequence to feel like a oner to the audience. Obviously, there are cuts in there, but we seamed certain shots together so the audience wouldn’t feel as though we cut. The intention was to feel like you’re on the run with Loki and Sylvie, racing to the ark, building up tension. You’re there with them as they’re fighting.

My husband’s a DP, and he shot True Detective season 1. That oner in True Detective was something we looked at as well, because it’s just one of those great oners that feels real and has those kinds of textural elements. We did pre-viz, we did rehearsals in the space, prior to shooting there. We went there a couple times and did camera rehearsals. We had an amazing Steadicam operator who I’ve worked with on my last four projects and features. He’s very in tune with my eye, and he’s great with those kind of moves. Kasra understood that we needed certain paths to go down, to help us get from point A to point B, so it feels like a run, it doesn’t feel like people keep entering the same space. Obviously, it’s hard to build really big sets where you can go very far. So he did a great job of knowing what we needed, and then adding stunts, and figuring out how we could feel like we were turning corners whenever we’re moving into different spaces.

How big was the physical space? How much of what we’re seeing there is digital?

Shiroo was very different from Roxxcart. At Roxxcart, we had blue at the end of the aisles, so they look like they’re going on a lot longer than they are. But we traveled to that space. It wasn’t built. Shiroo was built on a backlot. That was a set we had full control over, to build to our liking. Above a certain point, as you’re looking up at the buildings, that’s VFX. But we built the actual buildings up to a certain height, and then beyond that is a digital extension. As far as the depth as well, beyond a certain part of the street, it’s a digital extension. Obviously, the ark is an extension, and we’re using the explosions as cues to do a lot of lighting cues. But it was a very big set, a gorgeous set. It has a lot of texture.

Kasra had the idea of painting a lot of the set in black-light paint, which I’d never seen before, and putting black lights everywhere. Also, we had a bunch of units on top that lit the set for the moon color and those sources, and we had VFX helping us stitch it all together. We had to shoot the sequences and look at the overlays on set to make sure we were creating matchups that would work in the final edit.

For me, that’s a very successful collaboration of in-camera elements — that whole set was real — and having explosions on set along with lighting cues, and then the effects to seam it together and do the extension above and the depth. So everyone really had to play like a good chunk of that. But they’d be effects overall, I think taking what we shot and making it feel like something that big, you know, the buildings are falling. Obviously, we didn’t drop buildings on people. There’s some foam stuff. That was really fun. We shot all that stuff at night.

The camera work in that sequence is some of the most dynamic movement in the series. What was the most difficult part about coordinating that sequence for you?

Rehashing it now, it was the prep. When we were actually there in the space with Tom and Sylvie, running through all of this stuff, it really made sense by that time. We’d been pre-vizing it and reworking it and massaging it for so long that ultimately, once we got on the set and had to follow them with the camera, and the energy was going, and we had the extras there, it all fell together. I think one day, we even wrapped a little early, because we’d just nailed it. When you’re prepping those types of shots, in your mind, you’re always like, “This is gonna be hard, it’s going to be difficult to seam these together, I like perfect headroom.” And you also want it to feel real, and people have to jump and fly and tumble into the frame. But on the day, our execution ended up being pretty good. So that was the most surprising thing to me, because it was kind of a pain in the ass prepping, because there are so many elements. And we’re doing six episodes, so we’re always working, trying to chase the next prep. But it really fell into place nicely.

[pokelec]

A Dead By Daylight Novice Reviews All the Killers' Trailers (and makes suggestions for what they'd change)

Reveal trailers are paramount for an audience's first look at new characters. First impressions are everything, so your trailer for your shiny new character needs to be perfect for what's in store for the video game! I started playing DBD a month-ish ago but watched all the trailers for the killers before I started playing, and watching some of them got me to thinking about how I would have changes some of the trailers. Some require no changes, while others I think need an overhaul.

Disclaimer: This is in my personal opinion, is not objective at all, and I'm only doing this because this is something I've been thinking about for a month and need some sort of release or else my brain will implode.

Under a read more bc this gets long.

The Trapper - The first trailer! For a first trailer, I think this one is pretty spot on. It follows a lot of beats of slasher movies, in terms of following a survivor that's gonna be killed, her encountering dead bodies, and the suspense of the killer looking for her. Considering Dead by Daylight is effectively a playable horror movie, I think this is a perfect intro to the game. As for what this means for the Trapper, aka our Jason substitute, I think it showed him off alright! We saw his bear traps and got a good look at him doing this thing. Pretty good, all things considered!

The Wraith - The Wraith, Hillbilly, and Nurse all features gameplay as the means of showing off what the killers can do. The Wraith's isn't too bad, since it does show off his Wailing Bell power enough for people to understand "This is a killer that can turn invisible, and you may not know he's right next to you until it's too late". I wish it has a more cinematic style, but I'll be forgiving here because DBD was still young when this was made. I also thing it showed the new map, Autohaven, pretty well. I'm not too big of a fan of ending the trailer with his mori, but that could be because I don't find his mori exciting.

The Hillbilly - Next is our Leatherface expy! This one feels shorter, still using gameplay to introduce our new killer but at least shows off his chainsaw wielding and hints at the map associated with him. I like the shot of him revving his chainsaw underneath the tree with the animal carcasses! I don't mind the ending with his mori here because even if it's off screen, getting cut with a chainsaw is brutal enough to leave a lasting impression. Again, I wish it had the cinematic style, but it's fine.

The Nurse - I think the Nurse's trailer is the weakest of the three gameplay-focused trailers. The text intro is... fine, but I honestly think it fits the Doctor more. It does an okay job of showing us her Blinking mechanics, but it also doesn't? Like we see her teleporting to Nea, but it feels lackluster. I do like the ending shot of dead Nea as the Nurse just blinks away. I'm not quite sure how to change this trailer to be more effective in my opinion, if I'm being honest.

The Shape/Michael Myers - Our first franchise killer, and a perfect trailer. The first second in, we hear John Carpenter's legendary Halloween score. Even non-horror fans will quickly pick up which killer this is. The suspense of Laurie see Michael, Michael coming up the stairs, and especially the shot of Laurie and Michael being on opposite sides of a door is *chef's kiss*. We see enough of the Shape to be satisfied and eager for his release. It's the perfect trailer for him AND Laurie imo.

The Huntress - Ah, the Huntress. She is my favorite killer to play as, and I probably have the majority of my playtime on her. Unfortunately, I think her trailer leaves a lot to be desired. It's the start of the 'let's look at the killer from different angles, have them turn around to the camera, and then attack the viewer' trend of DBD trailers. I call for a complete rewrite! Here's what I would have done:

The map is Mother's Dwelling. Two survivors (David aaaand idk Dwight?) are running and hides behind some trees. We hear the Huntress's lullaby get louder, and we see the bottom half of her and her axe as she walks past the survivors. The lullaby gets quieter, and the survivors take a sigh of relief. Then, a hatchet is thrown and lodged into Dwight's head! David screams and runs. We then see our full look at the Huntress as she picks up the body. Her signature lullaby continues as the trailer ends.

The Hag - The Hag's trailer also follows a similar formula to the Huntress' trailer. There is an animation bump, so we get to see the Hag's emaciated appearance in full detail. I'm not too mad about that, since the Hag's appearance is unsettling enough to cause viewer distress and curiosity more than the Huntress' would. However, because this is a DBD original killer, we need to see what her deal is with her trailer. Thus, I propose this:

On the swamp, Ace is repairing a generator but hears another survivor (Dwight?) get hooked. Ace goes to rescue him, but we see as he steps on a rune in front of the poor survivor. The illusion of the Hag pops up, jumpscaring poor Ace (and the audience) but disappears. Ace then rescues Dwight for real, but Dwight quickly runs away. Why? Because the real Hag is behind Ace and lunges at him, biting his neck. Trailer ends.

The Doctor - I now realize that my taste in writing DBD trailers is 'have the survivor do a thing, they think the killer is near, they then relax, and only then are they attacked by the killer'. It's a bit stereotypical, but again, we're dealing with a game centered on the horror genre, so that's why I'm okay with it.

I mention this because that's effectively the story beats the the Doctor's trailer follows. Instead of attacking Feng, however, the Doctor just looks at her run and stares menacingly. Even though we don't see the Doctor's shock therapy powers here, I think the long look at the killer is still effective because of his design. A first reaction I (and other reactors) experienced went from the initial "OMG the killer is here, run girl!" to "Why tf are his own eyes and mouth held open like that A Clockwork Orange scene?!". We also don't linger for too long on him either, so I think this trailer works well enough.

The Cannibal/Leatherface - Another franchise killer, this time good ol Leatherface! This trailer is a little different, using text to draw up suspense. I do like the reveal of "What is his mask made of? YOU.", but I would've loved to have seen some actual Cannibal action, or at least his in-game model doing his Texas chainsaw massacring thing.

The Nightmare/Freddy Kruger - Oh, c'mon, we got one of the most well known characters in horror in this little video game, and all we get for his trailer is some scratch marks and a 'killer does nothing but stand there menacingly and attack the camera' trailer?! I do like the detail that when we see him, it's DBD's version of the dream world, but we could've at least featured a survivor falling asleep and then seeing him for themselves.

(Also kinda sad it's the reboot version of Freddy instead of the Wes Craven version and the survivor is Quentin instead of Nancy Freaking Thompson, but I guess we should be happy he's in the game at all)

The Pig - Largely, I think this trailer is pretty good. I'm not too big of a fan of Amanda just standing there menacingly near Dwight, but I do like everything else. I especially love the security camera shot of the famous Saw bathroom and the cutaway when Dwight's reverse bear trap activates (but we still see a good bit of gore!). It feels very Saw-like.

The Clown - This trailer is pretty good! Even though we don't see the Clown in much action, we get a lot of visual storytelling with the bottles, the circus, and the ring of fingers, all leading up to the reveal of his face. The diagetic music from Kate is a nice touch, too.

The Spirit - This one is alright. There is a lot of focus on Adam, but it does build up tension to when the Spirit reveals herself. My biggest problem with it is the ending card that is used for her. Yes, I know that's traditional for the end of these trailers, but her pose and expression is kinda meh after the face she makes when she's about to attack Adam. Seriously, that couple of seconds haunts me (sorry) otherwise.

The Legion - My other favorite killer to play! It's so funny how I didn't like Legion when I first heard of them but now they're my favorites. I love how the trailer emphasizes that the new killer(s) looks similar to survivors and the brutality of when Frank reveals himself and stabs Jeff. However, the trailer does a disservice to the other members of the Legion. C'mon, that's their whole shtick!

My recommendation would be to end with a shot of Julie, Joey, and Suzie joining Frank (and obviously getting a good look at them) and surrounding Jeff right before they all stab him. This is a little disingenuous since you can't play as all four of them at once (unless you count that one Blighted skin...), but you also can't disguise yourself as a survivor, so... Yeah. They are The Legion! They act as one! Treat them as such in their trailer, dammit!

The Plague - The Plague's trailer is interesting. Even though we don't see her in action, I think it's fine because seeing her puke on people during her trailer might be a bit off-putting. Just a bit. We still get some storytelling with her whispered prayers, the candles and incense thingy, and, of course, her face. I think because the Plague's design is inherently unique among all the killers so far, she can get away with the 'let's just tease the audience by looking at the killer and nothing else' trend.

The Ghost Face - Not too much I can complain about with this one. I do like the wtf factor of 'wait, why is a DBD trailer at a modern day warehouse???', especially if you're watching a trailer playlist like I first did. It all makes sense when you learn it's Ghost Face, though! Also, justice for that poor cashier.

The Demogorgon - RIP Stranger Things DLC. I don't watch this series, but I really like the Hawkins Lab map and I'm going to be sad when it's gone. :(

I love this trailer! When I hear the Stranger Things music, it actually gives me chills. I'm legitimately so sad the DLC will be gone from the stores, but I do own them myself. I need to actually sit down and play Demo, Steve, and Nancy one of these days. Why am I crying? No, I'm not kidding, why is this trailer making me cry? Renew the contract, Netflix, please! I don't want this stuff to disappear forever!

(Is it weird that I've been nagged on for years to watch Stranger Things but it's Dead By Daylight that's actually convincing me to watch it?)

The Oni - This is an interesting case. The "main" theme of this trailer is the contrast of modern day Japan's Yui and her motorcycle vs the literal ancient samurai Oni. I think it works out, and again, I think the presentation makes up for us not seeing too much of the new killer.

The Deathslinger - Oh boy, do I love my cowboys! This trailer is nearly perfect. We establish the western setting quickly over the sounds of some poor bastard in pain. The reeling in of the chains and the closeup of The Redeemer is so great. My biggest complaint with this trailer is that we linger a bit too long on the Deathslinger's face at the end. Yeah, he's creepy with his eyes and his disjointed jaw, but you can only look at a horror for so long before you want to move on.

The Executioner/Pyramid Head - I like this trailer! I haven't played Silent Hills, but I'm at least somewhat familiar with the premise and Pyramid Head. I love the shot of him passing the classroom door window and the sword cutting a rift through the ground. Yeah, my lack of SH knowledge makes me unable to recommend any changes here.

The Blight - I have no changes to suggest. The Blight's transformation is super horrific, reminding me of the typical depiction of Jekyll and Hyde. Honestly, he is so much more terrifying in his trailer and in lore than in gameplay.

The Twins - No changes needed. BHVR is really starting to hit their stride with these trailers! Seeing Victor come out of Charlotte's body is amazing.

The Trickster - We depart from all of the other trailers by using an K-POP music video style. It does a good job at referencing some of his story beats (namely torturing/killing people, recording their screams, and using them in his music), but it doesn't really make me afraid of the Trickster. Sure, it fits with his theme, but I would have preferred seeing more of him, y'know, instead of just looking pretty and making faces? I still wouldn't change the art style of the trailer, though. It's fitting enough for him and a breath of fresh air from the doom and gloom.

The Nemesis - No change needed, mostly because I'm not too familiar with the Resident Evil series, but seeing Jill, the twink Leon, and Nemesis on-screen is a very cool moment. Also can we get an F in chat for Meg?

The Cenobite/Pinhead - This is a perfect trailer. We got the Lament Configuration, we got the chains pinning up Dwight, we got Pinhead himself! What more can I ask for?

If you actually made it this far, thank for reading? I don't think I really contribute anything to the fandom with this analysis, but DBD has been living rent free in my brain for the past month, so I may as well write something, eh?

[introvertguide]

Villain Protagonists (or our favorite lead bad guys)

One of the most difficult things for a screenwriter is to get the audience to favor a lead character in a very short amount of time. A lot of times a writer will rely on clichés: showing the lead with their family, having the character do a good deed, giving the lead a kindly occupation like being a nurse, or simply having other characters describe the lead in a kind way. All perfectly viable ways to encourage an audience to favor a character. But what about lead characters that are not good? More movies are featuring protagonists who are villains since audiences are becoming more sophisticated and look for character complexity. So how do you do this with visual media? As a psychologist, I am curious how movie audiences have come to enjoy anti-heroes and bad guys.

I want to start with why having a villain protagonist is so difficult to do in a movie. It is easier to do in a book because you have a much easier time going into depth with a book. Just as an example, the unabridged film version of Hamlet made in 1996 was a little over 4 hours long. This came from a play that was about 32,000 words. For a comparison, the first and shortest Harry Potter book was 78,000 words long. So the script for a standard 2 hour movie is about 15,000 words or 100 pages including stage directions (about a page a minute). Practically speaking, there just is not enough time to establish a lot of character traits with a movie.

It is easier to do with television episodes because a normal season in the U.S. can be 7-10 hours of content. One of the very best shows that has a villain protagonist is Dexter. The main character is established as being a cop and using his killer urges to punish bad people, so the viewer forgets that he is a sociopathic serial killer. Watchers are rooting for a serial killer and it is very fulfilling to watch the guy murder somebody. But this is also established over 8 seasons of 12 episodes running and 45 minutes each, totaling over 70 hours time. Another phenomenal show with a villain protagonist is Breaking Bad with Ryan Cranston, but this show portrays a man who is pushed into the world of dealing methamphetamines' and it is the environment that is bad, not so much the character. Yet another show would be The Sopranos, but the lead is established as feeling guilty and seeking psychological help. We forgive the actions and consider the craftiness of the mafia over the brutality.

So how can you have an enjoyable main character when you simply don’t have time to really dig deep into their character? The Godfather did it by having a war hero that is basically protecting his family or taking revenge against bad people. It took fantastic source material, amazing screenwriting and directing, and a long movie with many sequels to really establish the characters. In the case of Goodfellas, the lead character is sympathetic because he just wants to belong and have some sense of power. He is also the least dislikable character and he doesn’t win in the end. His story is interesting and acceptable to the viewer, especially through the directing eye of Martin Scorsese. A more recent example of this is Joker, but it is a sympathetic origin story for a very well established character. He is a fascinating villain that has been played in so many ways that audiences were very welling to root for him given a good reason why.

This still leaves the question of how to keep an audience interested in an unlikable lead character. Well, it has become apparent that you can watch an unlikeable character as long as they suffer. Audiences are OK with watching a truly villainous character win in the end as long as they suffer greatly along the way. I can think of two prime examples: the current movie under review, A Clockwork Orange, and another AFI film, Taxi Driver. The protagonist in A Clockwork Orange is a terrible person who is sociopathic and has bouts of carnal desire for either the “ultra violent” or the “old in-and-out.” He is caught and goes through extreme behavioral modification that is a series of tortures that ruins him as a human. Some audiences are willing to put up with his moral depravity because we then watch him suffer immensely. The same goes for the lead character of Taxi Driver, who is both psychotic and completely toxic, ruined by the ravages of war. His delusions make him more and more of a threat to the public at large, but instead he takes out his growing anger on a local pimp and suffers the consequences. 

From what I gather, an extremely well written story can have a villainous lead, but there has to be at least one redeeming character trait. What helps even more is if this turns out to be the fatal flaw. A good trait that turns out to be a weakness; that truly is fascinating. A love of classical music that turns out to be a trigger for breaking into an evil man’s psyche, or a desire to help a young prostitute that puts you in moral danger. A desire to be normal that blows your cover as a killer, or your guilt that causes you to confess your sins to somebody. No matter the context, there are few things more interesting than watching the trials and tribulations of a truly bad guy.

[windstorm64]

Attack on Discourse I Guess

I swear to god if I see one more post on tumblr dot com saying that Attack on Titan is “pro-fascism” or “pro-imperialism” I’m gonna lose my freaking...

*deep breath*

Listen, I absolutely want people to be critical of the media they consume, especially from Japan. Due to their role in WW2 and their glorification of past military actions from their conservative side, there’s a lot of Japanese media that contains themes and imagery that would (ideally) not at all fly in the west. Sometimes it’s harmless, being simply misguided, other times it’s bad, containing some pretty horrific subtext regardless of the author's actual intention. Attack on Titan absolutely does contain themes of imperialism, xenophobia, propaganda, extreme nationalism, and more. But the all important distinction here is that Attack on Titan does it

with.

a.

purpose.

It’s NOT condoning them. Just like how Lolita isn’t promoting pedophilia, or the clockwork orange isnt promoting whatever the heck that movie is about, simply having these themes present in your story does not mean they are being condoned.

Do I blame people for not understanding that at first? No. AoT takes its sweet time when developing its themes, and is constantly overturning what you thought you knew about its worldviews. That’s just the kind of story it is. It will go incredibly into detail about a plethora of opposing views, some being downright deplorable, and takes extra care to make them all look inviting and sweet. You don’t realize it at the time, but what seems to be the only right answer at the time is secretly ushering in the worst that man can muster. That’s how it is in real life. That’s how these evils get into real society; “with thunderous applause”. The difference here is that AoT, even if it takes 100 chapters to do so, slowly but surely will overturn all these themes and let the right way show itself over the course of the series. It doesn’t hold your hand, it doesn’t sugarcoat it, and I’ll even admit that I was a little nervous during some parts over what exactly the author was trying to say, but every single time Isayama chose to let the reader decide what was right in the moment, until AoT’s own in-universe marketplace of ideas eventually worked as intended and snuffed out the unsavory.

Does that mean you personally have to enjoy seeing it? No. The marketplace of ideas approach often does not work in real life (punching nazis is good) and seeing it used in fiction might not be your cup of tea.

Does that mean I think all of its themes are handled well or tactfully? Absolutely not. There are some stories that I think are handled VERY poorly, with the redemption of Magath’s character, for example, being downright horrendous. But those aren’t the complaints I hear from you people. All I hear are the same tired arguments that have been countered in-universe time and time again.

You think the survey corps are an allegory promoting imperialism? Then you’ll love the part where the real villains are revealed to be actual greedy governments invading foreign lands to oppress and murder the populace and steal valuable resources. And how the main characters, in-turn to learning that there’s more people out there in the world, switch their goals from expanding their territory to understanding and allying with the outside population.

The titans represent xenophobia? Then you’ll love the internal conflicts of the main cast when they realize that the titans are just like them, and the constant struggle thereafter against the prejudiced countries outside the walls who seek to punish them for their ethnicity.

Nationalism? Propaganda? The story has just spent the better part of 2 arcs displaying just how evil, dangerous, and reality-warping these things can be.

Fascism? Y’all’s favorite arc would probably be the one where the main cast literally overthrows their own corrupt fascist government because it was, in fact, fascist and corrupt.

German influences glorify nazism? Germany does not equal nazi. The author is clearly a fan of all parts of German history, and is a fan of war memorabilia in general (which admittedly becomes pretty risky when looking through the lens of conservative Japan’s notoriously glorified WW2 outlook), but nothing about it supports Nazism, or any of their ideals. Misguided? Perhaps, I can’t say I’m a fan. But it doesn’t denote anything about the author's character that we can reasonably glean. Eventually the true villains of Aot were given clear similarities to Nazis, clarifying Isayama's true moral priorities.

And before any of y’all start trying to point out what the author said in the past- I KNOW what the author has said. Or rather, what he was rumored to have said. But even if the rumors are true, and that shitty ignorant take on Twitter about Japan and Korea was from him, it's 100% the kind of thing that can be called out and learned from. The tweet was like, what? 10 years ago? Maybe more? Even if it was him he has clearly been educated on the deeper implications of his statement, as evidenced by the way these themes are handled in his story. Attack on Titan directly condemns eugenics on multiple occasions. It tackles it in a surprisingly on-the-nose way too, compared to how the series handled its serious themes prior to that point.

That's why I WANT y’all to be critical of the media you intake. So you CAN call out the glorification of unsavory themes and bring them to the attention of those in charge of them. Because that’s how people learn and grow. That’s how you create an educated populace that understands the implications of the things they create. I am 110% convinced that all these themes were tackled in AoT BECAUSE of all the criticism he got in the past. 10 years is a long time, and we are still getting new developments to this day that challenge the themes introduced in the first couple of chapters. Whether or not these themes were planned to be tackled from the start, or were introduced later on after being called out, is something we’ll probably never know. But please do yourselves a favor and learn what the heck you’re talking about, and the context around it, before going off for years about misguided claims. Don’t cheapen words that should be reserved for the most grievous of behaviors when you really just want to make a point.

Attack on Titan is a brutal nuanced story that shows off the worst that humanity has to offer, and how hard it is to do the right thing in a world where the right thing doesn’t always work. But taking an honest, elongated approach to exploring how these themes interact with humanity and society is NOT the same as promoting it. If you like your stories more black and white, where the good and bad of real world themes are more clearly defined as opposed to AoT’s more nihilistic and gray approach to morality, then by all means go enjoy that other story. I’m not trying to convince anyone to like it. I’m not expecting everyone to enjoy seeing these themes shoved in your face every installment. And I’m certainly not expecting anyone to understand all of this right away, hell I’m constantly arguing with dudebro AoT fans on reddit who are SURPRISED that Armin and the Alliance are taking an anti-genocide stance. And somehow I’m the crazy one for seeing this plot line coming for literal years. There’s simply just a lot more to this story than you can understand at a glance, and I implore anyone who thinks that’s they can simplify the real world themes dealt with here in such a menial way to seriously reconsider.

You are welcome to dislike Attack on Titan. You are more than welcome to criticize it’s possible mismanagement of sensitive real world themes. I am not so enamored by Isayama’s writing to expect a young manga artist to be the forefront of knowledge on such complicated, disturbing topics. But please, cut it out with the crazy claims. I’ve been hearing these things for so many years and it’s all the same. AoT has risen to become one of the most popular anime/manga of the current era. If the story was really as deplorable as you claim it would not have become as popular as it has been. The fans aren’t stupid (well, not all of them. Together, we can beat the reddit dudebros and save the world). This didn’t happen by mistake. The fans aren’t ignorant of the messages it’s sending. Attack on Titan is just... good! Even if I can’t get you to agree with me on that, at least look at it honestly for what it is, and what it’s trying to be. It’s really, really, not at all what you think, or what other tumblr users are trying to get you to believe.

[ditch-witches]

Insufferable (ii) - George MacKay x reader

(PART 1) (PART 3) (PART 4)

requested: yes/no (im still using the same request bye)

God bless @/okay.l0z

"Hi! I've been reading your fics and I love them so much bc there's hardly any around. I was wondering if you take insta requests and if so can you do one with George and the reader are like enemies to loves and they have really cute moments but then end up fighting all the time and then it escalates and they end up having sEx and then get together or something bc I will THRIVE IF YOU DO!" ... "Is it bad if I want it long ass?"

pairing: George MacKay x reader

warnings: oral (fm. receiving [I k n o w]), bAd wOrDs

word count: 2,751

a/n: Hey, me again.

that's all. hope you guys are having a good day!

Your nerves were aflutter as you headed from the backstage to find Mark, who apparently was positioned outside one of the back doors ready to meet the cast and support you. You grinned to yourself finally feeling a sense of hope for your scatters of a relationship with the man as you popped open the door and he smirked at you slightly. He wrapped an arm around you and you began leading him through the maze of backstage, the bustle of a soon to be curtain call keeping everyone on high alert. He swiveled around behind you looking rather overwhelmed as his eyes fought to rip from some of the extras playing prostitutes. You rolled your eyes and brushed it off before bumping into someone.

As soon as George noticed it was you, a smile played at his lips, ready to quirk something in your direction before noticing the man behind you. "Oh, good. You're here!" You stated, stepping from between the two. You didn't tuck yourself beneath Mark's arm as he placed a hand on your waist to suggest you do. You also didn't opt to take his hand, somehow wanting to keep a distance from him in front of George. George seemed to notice this as he sent you a sly look that you hoped Mark wouldn't notice. "George, this is Mark. He's my..." you trailed off, unsure of what to say Mark was but George perked his eyebrows up and shook Mark's hand without hesitation to relieve you from doing so. "Mark, George is playing Charlie." You tried not to beam at the fact that your work was finally coming to life.

Mark narrowed his eyes slightly. "And Charlie is..." He bit his lip and you froze in your place, not looking at Mark as he did this.

"Charlie's the Roman Emperor that eats baby heads and carries an ax," George broke in with an expression of severity. You closed your eyes slightly, biting back a laugh. Mark nodded, his reaction being genuine while George's nods and mannerisms were sarcastic. He was jousting.

"Oh yeah, he's pretty cool. I think he might be my favorite character, right babe?" Mark stated, slapping your ass mildly and you jumped, making George snicker. You flashed him a glare. "It was nice to meet you, man."

Mark pushed passed him and George could no longer fight his giggle. "Babe," he mocked and you lightly threw your fist into his stomach as he attempted not to laugh loudly at you.

"Go get your ax," you hissed, following Mark out and into the crowd. You attempted to push the thought of Mark not actually listening to you when you talked about your script into the back of your mind. You also tried not to think about the fact that you had looked forward to seeing George tonight more than you had Mark.

The production had somehow gone off without a problem and left you rather stunned. After the previous day's dress rehearsal, you figured there would be missed lines or faulty costumes, but no. And you hated to admit it, but George was Charlie. After the curtain fell, people were on their feet with applause. The director pulled you into a side hug, congratulating the both of you on such an achievement. Night one: done.

Mark followed you out into the commons area and straight to the concession stand for a rose. The director stood up beside the cast, answering questions and shaking hands. You didn't really mind that you weren't beside him. Mark stuffed his hands in his pockets with a flat look on his face. He hadn't really said anything but you were planning on asking if he liked anything about the play on your way home. George had slung his suspenders off his shoulders and unfastened a few buttons of his white collared shirt, looking like a businessman from the thirties who had just gotten home. He took a picture with a younger girl and as he was signing a program, caught eyes with you and sent you a small grin. Once they had cleared, you stepped up to him. "My liege," he quirked, bowing his head slightly in your direction.

You tried to hold your composure, opting for a soft smile in his direction. "I'm very proud of you. Thank you for doing so well." Your sentence came out with a tone you could recognize, especially when it came to George. His eyes lit up to accompany a smile. You handed him the rose, your hands brushing gently as you did so. "Congratulations."

He smiled wider and leaned towards you to barely press a kiss to your cheek and whisper, "You look gorgeous by the way, babe." You pushed him away from you and rolled your eyes at his small giggle. That was when Mark decided to join you at your side.

"Hey, you little shit. There weren't any Romans." Mark crossed his arms with a look of disappointment on his face.

George furrowed his brows. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Mark nipped and you pinched the bridge of your nose between your thumb and index finger. You knew you wouldn't get a break after this discussion.

"I guess that was the plot twist then, wasn't it?" George asked, looking at you and speaking with the rose.

You shook your head, at his goofy expression and Mark got closer to George, causing him to bend away from him slightly. "If I'm being honest, I didn't know what the hell was going on anyway. Like who wrote that?" You wanted to sulk into a corner and never leave the shadows at Mark's words. You were disappointed but not at all surprised. George's eyes flashed to yours for a split second and then to Mark again. His face was drained of his humor and it was like he could feel your heartbreak, yet he couldn't have known it was actually you that wrote it. Well, you weren't really slick about hiding your passion for it but he couldn't have known.

"Maybe it's because you fell asleep halfway through," George jested with an easy smile. Mark let out a hearty laugh, smacking George's upper arm. You wrung your hands at the two's interaction. "You are trivial," George quipped to Mark, only loud enough for you to hear, the smile still on his face. You side-eyed him and then nudged Mark, gesturing for the door.

"As I was saying, nice job. We should probably meet up at some point to work on your lines in Act III. There's a section that's a little jumbled-"

He cut you off. "What about tomorrow?" You were taken aback slightly but nodded in agreement. George flashed his eyes towards Mark and then back to you as if to ask you why you were leaving with a guy like him. In complete honesty, as you slid into the car next to Mark, you were asking yourself the same thing. What was happening to you?

The next day rolled around rather quickly and before you knew it, George was sitting across from you on your couch, slouching lazily with his script open on his stomach and his arm draped over his eyes. You sat cross-legged at his feet, your laptop beginning to get on your nerves slightly as you made small notes in the margins of a copy of the script and sketched them down on a notebook. George peeked out from beneath his arm to look at you as you attempted to piece together your thoughts. You took your gaze off of your notes to look at him as well. You hated how good he looked, drinking in the sight of him sprawled out in front of you. His presence was almost intoxicating to you. The way his hair was lazily strewn about and his features soft in the lamplight. He was wearing the same hoodie he had given you in the car and it was painful not to reach out and touch it.

You threw in the metaphorical towel momentarily, breaking your gaze and setting your laptop on the coffee table. "I'm getting a beer. Do you want one?" He sent you a nod and as you got up, he reached for his phone in his back pocket.

"Hey, your birthday's coming up right?" He called from the living room as you opened the two bottles. You furrowed your brows slightly and you moved back into the room, handing him his drink.

"Yeah, tomorrow." You raised your eyebrows quickly. "How did you know that?" He put his phone down on your coffee table as well.

He sent you a small shrug. "In secondary school, you gave me a cupcake on your birthday one time. It was like a leftover or something. Right place, right time."

You pulled your knees up and turned to face him. He sat up. "How do you remember this stuff?" You quizzed.

"You're the one holding the grudge against me for something I did before I even hit puberty so..." You rolled your eyes at this. "Anyway, what do you want? If money wasn't a big deal." He flipped his script shut and rested his elbows on his knees, looking at you with a smirk.

You snorted slightly. "A man-made orgasm," you mumbled without thinking, more to yourself than him. He perked up almost instantly.

"You've never had an orgasm?" His expression was rather derisive and taunting.

You blushed slightly at the realization he heard you. "Yes, I've had an orgasm, George," you hissed, breaking your eye contact. "Just not when I'm with someone else..." You took a sip of your drink, wondering why in God's name you were telling him this.

He chuckled. "That's why you're such a bitch all the time? You're sexually frustrated??" He laughed a bit more.

"Okay, rude and uncalled for, MacKay."

George crossed his arms slightly, sinking into the couch and smirking at you. "Why haven't you? Mark's dick too small?"

You bit back a snicker. "No, his favorite movie is Clockwork Orange," you replied sarcastically, sending a cringing expression in the opposite direction he was sitting.

George tilted his head back in a laugh. "So he fucks himself, really. Not you?"

You giggled slightly, shaking your head. "Can we just drop this?"

"No, wait." He swallowed, biting his cheek to keep his grin at bay. "If that's what you want for your birthday... I could help you out?"

You rolled your eyes. "Oh, get over yourself."

"I bet I can get you off." The lift in his voice matched his almost suggestive expression. Your mouth went dry at the thought of George granting your birthday wish made goosebumps run up your back in anticipation. You squeezed your legs together slightly.

"Whatever." You took another sip of your drink. He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow in your direction. "What? Why?"

"It sucks that no one's made you cum! Do you realize what you're missing out on?"

"Sure then, if you're offering," you nipped rather sarcastically.

His expression flipped to almost excitement. "Wait, seriously?" He turned towards you more. You looked up at the ceiling slightly, rolling over the situation in your mind. God, you wanted to agree more than anything. "You deserve it." You turned towards him, narrowing your eyes at him. "I'll be gentle."

You groaned. "That's disgusting." You set your beer bottle down and scooted towards him, he grinned, watching you carefully. "Alright. Go for it," you stated, sitting in front of him. "Do your worst," you quipped. He looked taken aback for a split second before laying one of his hands against your neck and pulling you towards him. The tension that had been building between the two of you dissipated within seconds as his mouth hovered near yours, lightly brushing against your bottom lip without fully pressing his lips to yours. His smell surrounded you once again, returning the feeling you had in the car to your mind. It felt familiar and almost right to be this close to him. You grabbed the front of his sweatshirt, pulling him into you and signing a peace treaty between the two of you with a deep kiss. His breath was hot against your cheek as he sighed into your lips. He pushed his tongue into your mouth, exploring the territory cautiously as his hand moved to tangle in your hair.

He broke your connection to him, leaving you wanting more of him as he gradually moved to press his lips against your jaw and then to your neck, his tongue swirling after each connection he made. Your hand rested on his forearm. "Relax," he hushed rather softly, his breath rolling over the wet spots he had just left against your skin. You let your eyes drift closed, tilting your head away from him to give him more access to continue his tactics. He pulled you into his lap, gripping onto your hip with his other hand. He moved to your collarbones and you let out a breathy moan, feeling heat spread across your body. It had been only a few minutes and you were already more excited than you had ever been with a man. You pulled his chin back up to press your lips together again, you tugging his bottom lip between your teeth and dragging it out. He groaned, breaking away from you to flip you on your back. "I said, relax," he stated, kissing you a few more times before placing a kiss to the lowest part of your neckline and leaning away from you to pull your pants down your legs. The taste of him was still prevalent on your lips as his blue eyes flashed up to you at the sight of your lacy underwear. "You planned this didn't you?" He jeered and you rolled your eyes. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows.

"Do you suck your friends' dicks too?" He slid the garment off as you said this, settling between your legs and winking up at you.

"Only the ones I like," he quipped. He brushed one of his rough hands up against your thigh, bringing the flesh towards his lips as he mapped a trail to where you need him most. You sat back on your elbows to watch him. The mere sight of George between your legs was enough to make your stomach ache in pleasure. His tongue flattened to run against your core and your head tilted back at the feeling. "Fuck, you're already wet," he growled. You felt every vibration from his voice run through you.

"Shut up," you groaned. He took this opportunity to attach his mouth to your clit, his eyes meeting yours for only a second as his tongue began to move against you at a quicker pace.

You moaned, your thighs wanting to close around him. "You're going to smother me, love," he chuckled. The sound of his voice was a symphony to your ears as his hot breath blew into you. His tongue rolled against you a few more times before he slipped a finger into you, making your back arch. His other hand dug into your thigh, as he pressed another kiss to your inner thigh while pumping his finger in an out of you, curling every few strokes.

"Faster, George," you groaned. He looked up at you again, unable to hide his cocky grin before running his tongue over your bundle of nerves once again, adding another finger. Each of his movements brought a new sensation to your body. You felt his actions in every goosebump littering your body and every curl of your toes. You moaned, tugging the flesh of your bottom lip between your teeth and running your fingers into his auburn hair. Every time his eyes jumped to look at you through his thick lashes as his tongue swirled against you, you were brought closer and closer to your edge.

Dammit. He was going to do it.

He leaned away from you, his fingers slowing slightly. "Cum, sweetheart." You didn't think you were ready, but as he gave you his permission a sense of relief flushed through you. He smiled as you moved your hips, savoring the episode of your climax against his fingers. As you caught your breath, he ran a hand over his chin. "Happy birthday," he jested, slipping his fingers into his mouth, sending you a sultry wink.

"Fuck off," you exhaled covering your face with your hands, making him chuckle.

[popculturebuffet]

Mission Hill Review: Plan 9 From Mission Hill or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space!

Commission for @weirdkev27​. Hallowen Havoc marches on! For my first commission ever, I take a look at the cult classic mission hill’s final produced episode and one of it’s most loved. Kevin’s visit to an x rated movie pays off less with boobs and more with a friendship with his elderly gay neighbor and film buff wally and a new appreciation for cinema, only for this new friendship to nearly end over Kevin’s good natured attempt to spotlight Wally’s only film, the man from pluto. Gay spaceman, a touching gay love story, and a surprisingly likeable guy with a neckbeard insue. Spoilers and full recap FROM PLUTO, under the cut. 

Well this was a nice suprise. After the utterly draining process of my review of “Let’s Get Dangerous”, it was a nice suprise to find out one of my handful of fans had tried to comission me a while back and I hadn’t realized it, and I was happy to oblige him. I was even happier when I found out what his commission was: Plan 9 From Mission HIll, an episode i’d planned to cover for pride but got squeezed out due to how little i’d planned the month out in advance, a lesson I still REALLY need to learn. Regardless not only was it a nice, funny, and heartwarming ep to cover after the sheer amount of analysis and recapping the last one took, I realized it ended up fitting the spooky season, as there’s just as much fun to be had in truly fantastic horror movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Get Out”, “Child’s Play”, “Tales from the Hood” and “The Thing” as there is from so bad it’s great horror films like “House (The Japanese one), C.H.U.D. II: Bud The Chud, Terror Toons and House Shark. Seriously watch House Shark i’ts hilarious. Hell I fully plan on watching the Gary Busey film Hider in the House tomorrow. I mean it’s a film about hollywood’s favorite nutball  living in the walls and attic of someone’s house. What’s not to love? Maybe it might be entirely boring but that’s the risk you sometimes take to find so bad it’s gold filmaking. Plus cheeestastic films like these are the reason we have the classsic and incomprable mystery science theater 3000 and it’s succesor rifftrax. So while I need to watch more of them, I have a spot in my likely overtaxed heart for this kind of film, and as a result this episode resonated with me on rewatch in a way it didn’t the first time around, even if it was still my faviorite. 

Backing up a bit as usual I like to give my history with a show first time covering it: Mission HIll was one of a handful of shows picked up by Adult Swim in it’s early days. Since most of Adult Swim’s early originals were 11 minutes at a time when this was still a new and radical thing they were doing having 11 minute shows that weren’t sold as half hour pairs of 11 minute episodes, they likely needed more shows to fill up the air and clevelry simply bought the rights to several shows that had only had one season, along with Family Guy and Futurama which as history would bear out both made the shows into huge names in the animation industry but brought both back.. though in Family Guy’s case sometimes dead is better. Point is, several shows got a second life thanks to Cartoon Network if sadly not more seasons, with the sole exception of the utter classic Home Movies which I really need to talk about at some point, and thus are really more associated with Adult Swim than their original networks. Hell before doing this review I genuinely didn’t know what Mission HIll’s original networks. But now you know the framework this show came out in what IS Mission Hill anyway? 

MIssion Hill was a cartoon from the wonderful brains of Bill Oakely and Josh Weinstein, no relation to the MST3K one who due to this confusion now goes by J. Elvis Weinstein instead, who showran the simpsons and did some great episodes, my faviorte of there’s being $pringfield, aka the casino one. 

The show was about Andy, a 24 year old slacker whose happily lazing about after college in his loft with his friends Jim, a stoic but friendly stoner played by Brian Posehn, and Posey, a sensitive hippie. However when he goes to pickup his childhood dog he ends up with an unexpected roomate: His nerdy, sheltered and neurotic brother Kevin, who has a love of sci fi, a type a personality and a habit of going bling blong to focus when studying or just whenever. He’s also voiced by future robin and future psychopath claming to be robin Scott Mellinville. Also in the building are Carlos and Natalie, an unemployed artist and college professor and their baby Nameless.  I forgot they existed.  And of course saving the best for last we have the brother’s neighbors, and a very early gay couple for animated television Wally and Gus, played by the legendary Tom Kenny and Nick Jameson who hasn’t done much of note but does a great job anyway. Wally is a fastudious, Gus is angry and very brooklyn, but the two genuinely love each other, makeout frequently, with their first showing off the two as a gay couple, and are an adorable but very beliviable couple. It’s part of WHY I wanted to spotlight them. The late 90′s/early 2000′s, the show originally aired in 99 and into 2000 and aired on adult swim in the early 2000 for the curious, were not a great time to be gay in animation with most gay characters used as punchlines and hardly any queer stories. Not only that but just a year earlier will and grace had to have one overly camp chracter and one “regular” gay character in order to get made. Granted that show has it’s issues but still, the point stands having a gay couple that plays fairly realistically, is shown to both be sexually active and love each other and who’ve been together for decades was a hell of a step for a medium where Family Guy around the same time had a joke with the punchline “Whoa transvestite back off!” Granted Family Guy would do far worse to both the gay and trans communities, but we’ll get to that someday. Or sooner if you commission me, but I swear if you do I will pull a gary busey on your house. Point is not only is it INCREIDBLY forward for it’s time but it holds up even now. There’s a reason the creators are working on a spinoff/revivial focused on the two and a reason these two tend to be one of the most talked about elements of the show. That and frankly their hilarious having realistic banter.. and also having one episode where Gus has a knife in his head for a whole episode. It helps that this episode, their spotlight one and the last one produced, is also one fo the series best. So with all that build up let’s take a look shall we? 

We open with Kevin passing a theater showing x rated movies and are shown, over a bunch of times of him passing it him condeming it publicly but his tone clearly telegraphing the classic battle between a teenage boy and his dick. Dick wins and Kevin heads inside and gives us... this. 

.... If you will excuse me, please enjoy the musical stylings of the late great Zorak while I go shower the “EeEEEEEEUUUUGGggggggHHHhhuuuuuuggghhhhhhhhewwwwuuuuugggghhhhggooooodddddddwwwyyyyyy” off me. 

God rest his soul. Okay i’m good now. Thankfully this isn’t an episode about Kevin getting addicted to x-rated theater, and they already did an episode about him masturbating. No really it actually had a good message as Kevin was so embarassed about the incident, he nearly let two other guys, granted not remotley good people who were stealing from there anyway, take the fall. Andy even ends up giving a great speech coming to his defense

“People, you mock this boy, but it's your fault he's here today. Your hypocrisy has made this boy a prisoner, terrified of his own sexuality. So much so that he'd rather send two relatively-innocent men to prison than admit he looks at pornography! He thinks his natural urges are filthy and perverted, and why? Because of your conspiracy of silence! Nobody dares admit the truth - that you're all just like him!”

IT’s a damn good moment and a good message. That sadly is still relevant as America still views sex as worse than violence for some weird reason. At least he has the internet now. Anywho when Kevin goes to see what’s up he runs into Wally who explains the confusion: He’s just showing old “X-Rated films”. Now some of you are probably wondering “Wait non-porn films used to use that?” Or “Wait what’s an x-rating?” Well while I knew some films did used to do that I was honestly curious myself as to why it was retired and why porn films got to use it and took a quick hop to google to find out reading both the wikipedia article for the rating and this vulture article on the subject to get a slightly deeper look at it. 

It’s actually quite intresting as I genuinelly also didn’t know when the MPAA ratings started for films: When the rating’s board started in 1968 there were four raitings: G, GP (Later flipped to PG), R and X. X was the modern equivlent of today’s R really, and films like Last Tango in Paris, Midnight Cowboy and a Clockwork Orange, with Orange even having a poster up at the cinema in this episode and Midnight Cowboy being part of the plot very soon. We’ll get to that in the moment. Point is it allowed filmakers to push the envelope break barriers all that good stuff and makes me curious about those very films, which is a good thing as i’ll admit to not being exactly a film buff.  But as Kevin’s confusion here shows, eventually the porn industry took a hold of it, using the X as a way to get sex movies into regular cinemas and have an air of legitimacy, hence why Debbie Does Dallas was a mainstream hit.. and yes that’s an actual film that I only know about thanks to I Love the 70′s. If your wondering why the MPAA just couldn’t you know, tell them to know or why they didn’t take over other ratings it turns out for some weird reason why the G and R ratings were owned by them, and later PG , they forgot to trademark X and by the time they even thought of it it was too late. Hence terms like XXX rated and what not or the ungodly stupid XXX porn parodies. Just.. just give them actual names and slap “A porn parody” ont he end if you want to avoid a lawsuit.  Naturally the film industry struck back and X soon went from a way to have daring, interesting films.. to basically a threat by the MPAA that your film wouldn’t be carried by any major distributors if it had one, with Dawn of the Dead having to just go unrated just to get distributed. The 80′s brought the killing stroke: With the rise of big theater chains, mall theaters with restrictions I wasn’t aware of, and big home video outlets like blockbuster that didn’t carry porn, the x rating was well and truly dead and the MPAA lukewarmly added NC-17 which serves the same bullshit purpose as theaters still refuse to carry them and the MPAA still uses it for essenitally the same reason. Nothing changed! If your wondering why people sometimes have problems with the MPAA, yeah there’s your answer, as they could’ve campaigned harder for NC-17 but clearly enjoyed having a raiting to hold over films heads. 

So yeah if you don’t know, know you know bud, let’s move on. So yeah Wally explains the confusion and decides to educate Kevin on film by showing him Midnight Cowboy, with John Voight “Before his head looked like a radish” and Dustin Hoffman. Also Andy brings up Sphere.. a film I also know nothing about. Hang on... checking Letterboxd and okay. It’s a Dustin Hoffman starring Sci-Fi film about a research team investigating a mysterious sphere at the bottom of the sea. Huh.. I prefer Cube myself but to each his own.  But once Kevin clams up he really enjoys it. Will grant the episode lays it on a tad thick, with Kevin comparing the film to , of all things, Armageddon. I mean I get MIcheal Bay is a good metric for crowd pleasing schlock but still, even nerds have standards. My standards aren’t very high at times mind as I still want to watch this sometime today. 

But I still think even awkward teens have better standards. Then again one of my faviorite films at the time was Saving Silverman which while I can’t hate it due to nostalgia , having watched it from 5th grade well into my teens, I can see was not very good. Though it did have R. Lee Ermy being both really funny and turning out to be gay so that was awesome. 

And he does make a good point that heroes like Ratzzo Rizzo don’t go well on Taco Bell cups.. though it also feels weird to me in 2020 where while not big sellers films with deep stories and unlikeable heroes are some of the biggest on tv and one of them was one of the greatest animated series of the last decade, so things must’ve been pretty damn bleak in 1999. The two also run into Gus who wants dinner and a fight ensues between the couple about the fact Gus owns a restraunt, could just bring his lunch etc. It’s hilarious and as I said I like how they feel like a couple you’d meet in real life. Sadly I don’t have an elderly gay couple in my neighborhood but here’s hoping. Or maybe i’ll be the neighborhoods wally when I grow up who knows. Also Tom Kenny’s delivery is great. 

Kevin later relays his fun day to his loftmates, with Andy expressing genuine suprise at Wally’s job and love of art house cinema, as none of them knew what he actually did. Andy’s genuinely shocked and mildly appalled they’ve lived near Wally for so long but having no idea what he does.. but really I had a sweet old lady, Delores who lived next to me for almost my entire life before she moved to be closer to her family, visited her house frequently pet her cats, went to her house after school at one point.. and I cannot tell you what he did, so it’s incredibly relatable. However in a scene that’s both hilarious but also really, really sweet, the three relate that they do know him well and due to being neighbors after all and know Gus and Wally’s morning routine: They wake up at 8, Wally brews the Coffee, Gus reads him the funnies, then they shower together while singing college fight songs, and then, with Jim saying this part so picture it in Brian Posehn’s voice please you won’t regret it, argue or have gay sex and then it’s off to work. It’s really sweet, both in showing off their well worn dynamic with each other, and the fact that the loftmates really DO know these two even if they dont’ know everything and they are close in their own way. Kevin can only give out a “Hm” in response... which is probably the closest he can get to saying touche without breaking into nerdy giggles. 

Cue the good times montage as Wally introduces Kevin to Ingmar Bergman, who I have heard of even if i’ve never seen any of them, and some director I never heard of who made old timey comedies apparently. IT’s a really nice sequence. Kevin also shows 2001: A Space Oddesy to his friends, who are bored to tears by it while Kevin’s enraptured. Which I would say was another heavy-handed swipe at late 90′s cinema but being a teen myself who had mostly watched things like Star Wars, I did not gel with 2001 and need to rematch it at some point, so I totally relate to his friends utter boredom and confusion with it given it’s rep. It’s a visually stunning film. I will however stand by not liking Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as that film TRIES to be 2001 but is instead just really, REALLY boring. 

But naturally things can be entirely good natured bonding between an elderly gay man and , as Wally puts it in the best line of the episode “The son god never wanted me to have”, as Kevin notices a film coming up that Wally apparently made, and looks to star gus. Wally panics and shoos his young protégé away... which yeah he could’ve just you know told him he doesn’t like the film or anything else and prevented this episode but then we wouldn’t of seen the gay equilvent of plan 9 from outer space so fair enough. 

At the Gus’ Diner, the loftmates and their neighbors I mentioned earlier look over the poster, and we find out from Gus that that is him, and he starred in a movie.. and naturally Wally explained never showing it to his husband in the simplest way possible: By claming a shark ate it. You know while I watched the show I didn’t quite get it when I was younger and it’s probably why it took me decades to revisit it.. but I wish I had sooner this show is REALLY damn funny and i’m really looking forward to that spinoff with Wally and Gus. 

Wally continues to dodge Kevin, so Kevin, trying to find info about the film and it being lost, goes to the video store.. back when those existed. Something I have to give the show is honestly the use of vhs, visits to video stores, and the movies Kevin mentions are the only things that really date this film. While swapping another Dustin Hoffman film in proved impossible, it is plausible Kevin would see it streaming somewhere. and it’s easy enough to swap Armageddon for Rise of Skywalker given that film’s just as good.. Last Jedi was excellent though. Point is this story REALLY holds up, which is the sign of a good story: where even if some elements are stamped to the time, the story itself could easily be told again with few changes. It’s also why i’m not AGAINST Reboots, as my coverage of ducktales makes obvious: As long as stories can still be told or you can retell a story in a unique and intresting way, it’s fine to reuse something. I do think hollywood overdoes it, but I’ve never thought there was genuine harm in it or reviving old franchises. It’s all in how you do it.  But yeah while the local video store dosen’t help at all, Andy happens to know just the man for the job, though Jim and Posey nope out of going with them. Also something to note is the series animation: It’s animated like an old 30′s cartoon or a comic strip, modernized a bit in color and realisim, but still having comic strip stuff like shaking head lines, heat lines coming off coffee that sort of thing.  I really love it. 

Anyways the brothers head off to a funky out of the way video store, I wish there were more hole in the wall used media stores where I lived. We mostly have chains like Vintage Stock and Half-Priced Books, though I genuinely love both of those stores and VIntage Stock is the modern equilvent of places like blockbuster honestly. Anyway after Beardo confuses Kevin for an Employee kevin asks him about the man from pluto which Beardo reveals he knows about but is very rare and has few prints. I like Beardo.. he’s a neckbeard who seems more liable to complain abotu some reboot on the fact their rebooting it again rather than “gasp” women are involved. I prefer my neckbeards just a tad pretentious rather than you know, sexist, homophobic, deranged assholes with nothing better to do. I mean i’m still living at home and didn’t get out much before the pandemic either but you dont’ see me bitching every time a franchise gets a female lead. 

Anyway, Kevin is inspired by that and with help from everyone gets the word out about the film. As you’d expect though this can’t end well, as Wally tries avoiding the premire entirely (And we get a great bit where Jim happens to see him trying to flee down the fire escape and Wally’s expression is priceless) 

Huh.. I bet that’s what Rob Reiner when North had it’s premire. As you can probably guess the showing dosen’t go well: The film itself is a hilarious combination of the day the earth stood still (the general plot as we’ll find out more in a second) and Plan 9 From Outer Space (A cheestatic no budget film with a hulking man brute who can’t act as the lead), and in catching the feel of a b-movie it’s utterly perfectly done. This film would go perfect on MST3K and the audience’s howls of laughter agrees with me. 

Wally however is utterly humiliated and doesn’t want to speak to Kevin which.. yeah is about the only issue I have with an otherwise marvelous episode. While I get Wally’s humiliation was Kevin’s fault.. Kevin GENUINELY meant well. While Kevin is book smart at his core he’s a dumb kid who didn’t know any better and didn’t realize Wally hated his film and it’s Wally’s own damn fault for not telling him.  Sure Kevin should’ve picked up the hint, but given the kid is oblivious and didn’t even know what an x raiting is it’s clear he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box when it comes to life experince. Wally had every opportunity to just explain his story but didn’t. And I put most of the blame on Wally when he’s you know, the adult. He’s a 60 or so year old man. He should know better. But it really doesn’t take away from the episode entirely.  But the loftmates clearly love the film and are quoting bits from it, with jim having a fishbowl on his head, when they run into Wally, though Wally is fine with them admitting it’s crap and he knows it is. We then get what REALLY makes the episode and really makes me primed for a spinoff: Wally and Gus’ backstory, which also makes it obvious the crew was probably going to use the two more had the series got another season. 

Anyways it was the 50′s, Archie Andrews was an average teen and not shredded both in muscle and by a bear that one time, Fonzie was out and about and eyying, and Wally was a first unit director given a shot as the studio asked him for a script having utter faith in him. HIs script was a day the earth stood still esque parable on the Cold War.. until he met Gus who, naturally for Gus, was outrunning a ton of police having stumbled on set and likely defeated them all bare handed because Gus is as incredible as the hulk and likely also comes back through a glowing green door when he dies.  So Wally made the tragic mistake of mixing his love life with his career, and lost both Kurt Douglas, who he bumped down from lead for Gus, and Charleton Hesston who just walked off and they got a dinkier stage and worse actors as a result. The resulting film ended Wally’s career but he was able to sell the rights to cinemas to make enough for them to start over in mission hill and buy the diner.. and at least they had each other. It’s a really great story that explains why it upsets Wally so much: This was his baby and while he dosen’t even for one second regret meeting gus or the life they’ve had, he regrets that his one film was a total trainwreck and goes off to the theater to mope as he plays his film for laughing crowds, as it was naturally held over. I mean when you get the next plan 9 from outer space, this was a bit before the room mind you, you hold onto that shit. 

Kevin, who heard the whole thing, goes to mope by watching what is likely a MIcheal Bay film, who was a target even then folks. Oh you poor poor fools you knew not how much worse it could get... i.e. robot testicles. Just.. robot testicles. And their MAKING A DELUXE MOVIE DEVISTATOR. Why. Just.. why who wanted this after that scene. He’s sworn off good movies as he feels he no longer deserves them. Andy however bluntly tells him to cut the pity party, while he’s moping his friend really needs him and when you love somebody, you put your pants on for them. When you love somebody you see it to the end, when you love somebody the conclusions forgone when you love somebody you put your big boy pants right onnnnn! ... I’ll put the song at the end. Point is Kevin goes to help his friend, and as Wally is moping in the projection booth and wonders what he was thinking Kevin tells him the obvious truth: He was thinking of how far he’d go.  “You taught me the best films are personal stories.. and this film is your valentine to Gus” While Wally starts to break a little, he does point out it doesn’t make it good.. but Kevin rightly counters that he’s not so sure of it. Wally sees the audience enjoying the film and goes down, with all of them carrying red light bulbs like the one gus has to show when he’s mad in the film. And Wally finally realizes waht I got to in the beginning: It doesn’t matter if a film’s good or bad, what matters is someone enjoys it. A film can be utterly terrible, and still be good. It can be a mess and still have merit. And Wally finally realizes it doesn’t matter if it’s the film he wanted, it’s the film he made for his future husband, it’s a film that brings laughter and sticks in people’s heads and really  brings them a godo time. It’s a film worth remembering and Wally finally accepts that and his film as his own.  Later that night Kevin and Wally exit the theater, with Wally no longer mad at him and the two still friends or as Wally puts it in the second best line of the episode “As close as an elderly gay man and a straight boy can be” Awwww. The two depart and we get a touching final scene as Wally comes home and finds a bottle of wine and a note from gus saying he has a suprise for him> Turns out Gus put on his old space helmet.. but fell asleep in it. So we get a really nice tender moment as Gus takes the  helmet off, smooches his husband on his bald head and smiles brightly as the episode ends.

Final Thoughts on The Man From Pluto or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space: Before you ask each episode had two titles for funzies, the first one to get past the censors and the second for fun and likely what they would’ve gone with if they could. As for this episode.. it’s spectacular. It holds up well even 20 years later, it’s touching, sweet and really damn funny and makes me want to rewatch the show as a whole again. I highly recommend seeking it out and hope mission hill is eventually made officially available somewhere. Till then you can find the whole series including this episode on YouTube and despite being the last one you could easily watch this one first if you want and it’s a decent enough intro to the show as a whole. I highly recommend it, an utter pleasure to watch.  If you liked this review, you can comission your own by PMing me on this very blog, just mention you want to do a comission and we can talk it out. As this review proves, it dosen’t have to be a show i’ve done before or even one that’s remotely recent. Hell i’d gladly do Fonz and The Happy Days gang, the animated happy days spinoff that’s like dr. who but with the Fonz. Yes really. Whatever you want i’ll do it as long as it’s not porn for just 5 bucks an episode and 10 for a movie. YOu can also join my patreon, and for 2 dollars a month get acess to my discord (that i’ll start once I get patreons) and once I get enough patreons exclusive polls or 10 bucks for all of that and a review of your choice each month. You can find said patreon right here. And even 1 buck a month would be apricated if you can spare it and if not simply reblog this and share it around.  You can also follow this blog for weekly ducktales, loud house and amphibia coverage as they come out.  I’d also personally thank WeirdKev27 for both being a long time fan of this blog and for the comission. 

Until we meet again say safe, wear a mask, check your atttic for Gary Busey and happy Halloween! Play us out Mr Heere!