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idontknowmyownmind · 3 years

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Fanfic ideas which are obviously Mammon centric. I never include MC because I'm not that fond of a story that has oc as it's main character.

An effective old curse(?)

There is an old curse that will kill a demon if it is planted on them. To use it, they need a lot of sacrifice (not souls or any of that kind) that is really hard to get because the curse will 100% work. When you have already collected all the important things, the curse can be sent like a voodoo thing and the target will not realize it until the next day. It started with some kind of mark on their wrist and it began to travel to their body. Depending on how long the sender wants it to completely work, the curse will spread at a certain pace a day.

Someone who got this curse will slowly but gradually will started to feels tired fast and lost their senses. Before the day they are supposed to die, they will become an unresponsive person. Not paralized type but more like someone who lose all their senses type.

So, there is a witch who wants revenge on Lucifer by sending the curse. But unfortunately the curse got sent to Mammon instead. On the first day, he doesn't even know about it. He found out about the mark on the second day when it already covered his right lower arm. But Mammon being Mammon doesn't think much about it and doesn't know what it means.

Mammon knew about the curse two days after. He and his brothers are having a movie night, something that happens once in millenials. The rowdy type, Mammon, Asmo, and Levi, have their little quarrel. Asmo tried to attack Mammon with a pillow but slipped and pulled Mammon's top, exposing his right arm.

The other brothers who happen to look also don't know about it and asked Mammon if he got tattoos. But Mammon just looks at the mark confused and says bewilderedly that he is not and this mark just appears out of nowhere. He swears it was just covering his lower arm but how it suddenly covers his right arm, he doesn't know.

Lucifer is the only one who knows about the curse and how to recognize it. So he is surprised and dread following after when he looks at the marks on Mammon's right arm. He suddenly in front of him, startled not just Mammon but also the others, and grabbed Mammon's arm and inspected it. There is no doubt that it is that curse.

Apparently he grabbed it too tightly because Mammon started to complain and said that if he is angry because he thinks it's tattoos, he swears that it is not. But Lucifer ignored him and said that they needed to see Barbatos in a clipped tone. Still not letting Mammon go but loosen his grasp.

(Let's say that Barbatos is a master of curse.)

"Wow, wow. I don't think we need to, it's just weird marks. I'm sure it's gonna gone before I know it"

Lucifer hissed and glared at him. But not like his angry one, there is something else in his eyes, tone and body languages, something urgent and unreadable.

"Don't you know what this mark means?! You're gonna die!"

"Huh?" Mammon's brain shut down and his face was blank.

The other looked shocked. Asmo tried to laugh it off, saying that Lucifer was just joking. But when Lucifer doesn't react and is still in a staring contest with Mammon, his smile drops and fear begins to creep on him.

Series of activities happened and they are on their way to the castle. Lucifer began to intrograte Mammon and got little to nothing important information because Mammon himself doesn't even know a single thing.

The brothers also ask questions and Lucifer answers as far as he knows. Fear envelopes everyone while Mammon tries to joke to light up the atmosphere but gets an angry yet worried death glare from his brothers that shut him up.

When they arrive and explain what they knew, they get the heart breaking news that there is no way to lift the curse.

Some ruckus happens and they decide to find a way to lift it with the help of Barbatos and Diavolo. The curse spread faster than they imagined and on day five it almost covered all his upper body.

In those days, Lucifer, despite wanting to spend his last time with Mammon, just can't stop his research because every second matters.

Satan who usually would rather somewhere else than with just Lucifer always by his side to help.

Asmo and Levi make sure to always have Mammon in sight.

The twins always find time to cuddle Mammon.

Mammon was scared but also frustrated with his brothers. He tried to reason that they don't need to neglect themselves just for him, which got them mad, saying that he is more important that got him speechless.

He just let that happen but even he knows that it will be futile.

The possibilities are endless and I'm not sure where and how I want it to end. But one thing for sure is, in the end Mammon died.

Kind of like a sleeping beauty AU

• The brothers are currently at the party hosted by Diavolo

• After some time, Mammon came to the garden.

• In the garden are Levi and Satan who start to feel suffocated inside with all the social shits.

• With Mammon there, surely it's not gonna be a silent situation.

• He teases, argues a little and does things older siblings would do to their little ones.

• As you know Mammon is the fastest demon, and it seems that even Diavolo and Lucifer won't be able to catch up with him if he wants to.

• Mammon is secretly protective with his brothers, yes it includes Lucifer.

• He senses some malicious intent toward one of his lil bros.

• (My hc) Some of Mammon's power is about time. He's the fastest and he also can manipulate time and make it slower or faster w/o others notice, which is handy most of the time.

• He makes sure to use his power in a small radius, not too far to notice Lucifer or Diavolo but enough to prevent anything that may happen to his lil bros.

• Faster than they can blink, Mammon pushes Levi away.

• Levi yelped and Satan was also shocked by the sudden harsh action. It seemed like Mammon used a little bit more strength than intended.

• Levi looked up angrily from where he pushed off and was ready to throw some harsh words toward Mammon.

• All the words died in his mouth when he watched Mammon crunch down, arms hugging himself, with two arrows stuck in his back.

• He whimpered and hissed in pain when the arrows seemed to glow and disappear in every second along with weird and old looking sigils starting to appear on his body.

• Without a second thought Satan throws the book he's been reading and kneels beside his brother.

• He tries to call him but Mammon ignores everything. He also tried to take the arrows but couldn't and tried to solve what the sigils mean but it's the first time he saw something like this.

• Levi who kneels in front of Mammon tries to make him focus on him but to no avail Mammon's eyes just keep being between focus and unfocus.

• When the arrows completely disappear, the sigils glow a little as if sealing something in before disappearing completely and Mammon slump toward Levi.

• One thing imprinted on Levi's brain is how he saw a completely pure fear in Mammon's eyes before they turned dull.

• Levi froze in his place and when he snapped out of his daze, Satan was already cradling Mammon's lifeless body.

• Satan had Mammon's head pressed on his chest and that's when Levi saw how his usually lively and energetic brother looked like a soulless doll.

• His body looks like a doll that has no string to keep them up and his eyes are dull and lifeless.

• "Levi!"

• Levi looked at Satan who looked at him with apparent fear in his eyes and startled a little because right now, Satan looks like an innocent little kid who doesn't know what to do.

• Although he may be one of the smartest among the brothers and the fourth strongest, he is still the youngest of the brothers.

• "Levi, do something."

• He must be crazy because Levi can hear a hidden plea in his tone.

• It's slow but when Levi finally catches up with the situation, that he should be the one who is in Mammon's position and his brother just saved his life, fear and a sheer terror rush to him at full speed.

• He is afraid for his brother's life, afraid that he may lose him, that because of him he'll never be able to see his idiot but lovable brother anymore.

• He starts to shake Mammon awake, do anything he can, shouthing, but he won't bugger even a little. The only movement of him is the sway of his hair because of the wind.

• Levi doesn't know since when he clutched Mammon's shirt and pressed his forehead on Mammon's chest whilst he cried and shouted incoherent sentences in hope Mammon would wake up and laugh, telling him that it was just a prank.

• For the first time since millennials Satan felt lost.

• He always pride his knowledge but right now he feels useless because he just can watch when his brother suffers, died, in front of him.

• Hearing Levi crying and calling for Mammon, Satan couldn't hold his own tears as they began to stream down his cheek while he tightened his hold on his dear brother.

• It seems that their ruckus attracted some demons who were near the garden and they were smart enough to call their other brothers.

• Satan is silently glad because he swears he will tear them apart in anger if they just stand around and watch while they don't even know what is happening.

• In his mind, he vaguely knows that he needs to get the others but he doesn't want to leave Mammon's side. He's afraid that if he lets him go he will disappear forever and it looks like Levi is not doing any better.

• So they just wait and try to wake Mammon or just think, as much as their hazy mind can, what just happened and what they can and need to do.

• When one of the demons in the party comes to Lucifer, he doesn't really pay them any mind.

• He thinks that they may want to talk with Diavolo or Barbatos like the others before.

• Lucifer and his brothers have been Diavolo's companions since the middle of the party.

• What he didn't, never, expected is the demon talk, inform him that his brothers in the garden make some ruckus.

• When he heard the word white haired brother, the first thing he thought was how Mammon caused trouble again, in Diavolo's party no less. He felt irritated.

• But it melted away quickly as it came when he heard what was said after.

• Two of his brothers, Levi and Satan, weeping, shouting something while crying. Satan.

• And how they hold Mammon because something happened to him.

• He didn't hear what was said next because in a second he was already on his feet and hurriedly walked to the garden.

• There is foreign feeling in his chest and he registers it as fear, he feels his stomach drop.

• His mind ran miles for what had possibly happened.

• It better not be some kind of prank or he's gonna be mad.

• The other brothers, Beel wake Belphie when he senses that something is wrong, along with Diavolo and Barbatos who also hear the conversation following him.

• What they saw in the garden is an unexpected thing, something they thought would never happen.

• When Satan sensed someone closer, he held Mammon closer protectively and snarl at them.

• For the first time he is relieved a little when he sees his brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos.

• With tears still streaming down, he looks at Lucifer and says, "Lucifer, wake him. Wake Mammy, please"

• Mammy is Satan's nickname for Mammon, the only brother who he gave an affectionate nickname to, because he's the one who took care of him the most back then.

• Lucifer is trying his hardest to compose himself because he needs to keep strong for his brothers.

• Asmo went to Levi the moment he arrived and sowed tears when he saw Mammon lifeless eyes.

• He tried to call him, shakily, but got no response.

• He almost went into hysteria seeing his brother state.

• While Lucifer checks on Mammon, Asmo hugs Levi who keeps muttering that it was his fault and how it should be him in Mammon's place.

• Beel and Belphie tried to calm Satan.

• They don't cry but Beel looks close to losing it while Belphie tries to stay strong for his twin too.

• Lucifer's heart clenched painfully when he held his, first, baby brother in his arms, lifeless. It brings back all the bad memories of the past.

• Not a minute after arriving and assessing the situation, Diavolo commanded Barbatos to have all the guests come home.

• Diavolo always admired Lucifer for his calm and collected composure.

• But right now, he can see him slowly losing it the longer he holds Mammon.

• Diavolo knows, everyone knows, despite the fact that he equally loves all his brothers, he always has a special spot for Mammon, the second eldest.

• (Skip because I don't know what else I should write in this scene.)

• After Satan explains everything, they begin to investigate the current case.

• Satan may look fine but he drowns himself in books, something that has something to do with sigils and spells, more.

• Levi rarely went to his room and always stayed in Mammon's room. He may as well stay there with how many things he keeps bringing.

• Lucifer locked himself in his room and just went out to the castle to discuss it with Diavolo and Barbatos.

• Belphie, Beel and Asmo tried to help as much as they could.

• Mammon was laid down in his bed like a sleeping beauty.

• They found out that some demons/witches, for whatever reason, were targeting Levi but Mammon took the blow instead.

• The arrows were covered not only by some spells but also sigils.

• What makes it complicated is, the spells and sigils are the really old, complicated and strong ones.

• The ones that existed when Diavolo was a child.

• The fastest way to get rid of it is to wake the Demon King from his hibernate slumber.

• But they can't do that without any risks for the three realms.

• They need to solve it by themselves.

• It takes them hundreds of years (because I think thousands of years is too long... or maybe not?) to figure it out. The brothers, despite their resolve, didn't function really well. They are determined to wake Mammon but there are also times when it's too much for them.

• In all that time, Mammon was shackled down with holly chains to his knee in a dark void with water reaching his waist. Obviously when he wakes up later, his mind will not be in the best place and will be hard to fix.

• When they finally figure it out, Mammon doesn't immediately wake up and the brothers keep searching for what might be wrong.

• What they don't know is that awakening is a slow process. First, he's going to start to be aware of what is happening around him in his sleeping state. Then his senses will start to function again. And he will start to move his body.

• No one beside him, as they focus on what they can fix, for two weeks and in those weeks he almost regains all his senses and moves his body almost fully. He was still sluggish and trembling like a newborn deer but he got there.

• The first one who finds him is Levi. He walks in and throws himself on the sofa, unaware of eyes trailing his every move.

• Mammon is still skeptical if it's a reality or just something his mind keeps making up in his loneliness at that place.

• But when he is sure it's real, he brave himself to joke about how tired Levi looks.

• Levi looks startled and actually jumps on his feet. There is no way he's gonna mistake those voices, a bit scratchy for not being used for so long but definitely it belongs to Mammon.

• He stood there and stared at Mammon with wide eyes while the latter waved and smiled awkwardly, "well, it's nice to finally be back?"

• Levi's lips began to tremble and tears flowed freely from his eyes. Mammon who was sitting on the edge of the bed panicked and worried as to why his brother suddenly cried and looked pained.

• Without a second thought and ignoring how his body aches, he slowly but surely made his way to Levi and brought him to his embrace to comfort him.

• He is confused and doesn't know what to do when Levi starts to cry harder and hug him as if his lifeline depends on him.

• He spoke incoherently. And when Mammon heard something about that it should be him in his position, Mammon forced him to look him in the eye. Firmly and seriously, he said that what happened was not his fault and he did it of his own will and will do it many times for his brothers if he needs to.

• Levi laugh weetly and burried his face on Mammon's chest, still hugging him, and called him stupid. Mammon just says that it was because he is the great Mammon after all, boastful and laugh loud and clear.

• Levi missed this. So he let himself in Mammon embrace while the latter rubbing his back and caressing his hair gently.

• After some moments of bliss, Mammon states that he thinks he needs to see the others, especially Satan as he was also the one there when everything happened to him.

• They decide to come out when it's dinner to surprise the others.

• They rarely eat together again because it's not the same but this time the brothers manage to find time.

• While waiting for dinner, they talk about many things but not once talking about what happened and where Mammon might be. They talk and talk, sometimes just sitting there basking in a comfortable silence, like nothing ever happened.

• At that moment Levi realized something, every brother of his has their own role in this dysfunctional family. All of them are glue but Mammon is the strongest glue that holds them together.

• It's time for dinner and they walk downstairs to the dining room. Levi talk animatedly about new games and anime series with Mammon beside him, listening closely to whatever he said.

• When he is more sure that it's not some fuck up thing his mind torture him, he is more confident and want to savor everything. He misses his brothers so much.

• They walk slower than usual because Mammon is still not used to moving his body.

• The others brothers who already seated began to hearing Levi loud and antusias voice, something they do not heard since that accident

• They are curious as to what the cause of this and who he talk to but then they froze in place when they heard a familiar loud laugh following whatever Levi says

• They look at the door aticipantly and when Levi and whoever he is with arrived in their peripheral vision, they hold their breath

• Mammon stood beside Levi a little awkwardly and waved at them, trying to look confident and choky when he greeted them.

• Anyone would think it's Beel or Asmo who immediately rush to Mammon, or even Satan remembering how he look at that time

• But much to everyone's surprise, it is Lucifer who suddenly stands in front of them and hugs Mammon. He let a shaky breath

• There are many things he want to say, but he manage just to say, "welcome back, little brother"

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 3 years

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Psycho Analysis: Suicide Squad Team A

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS! Seriously, as soon as you click that read more, you’re gonna be smacked with SPOILERS! Don’t say I didn’t give you ample warning this time!)

The world’s in danger yet again, and Amanda Waller is in need of some expendable forces to take on some dirty jobs in the name of preserving peace. Last time she did this, it seems like she hired the wrong people. Nice guy Will Smith Deadshot? Bland, boring Killer Croc? El Diablo, who became attached to a bunch of reprobates after spending a couple hours with them? The only one who was useful in that squad was Katana. She had their backs, could cut all of them in half with one sword stroke just like mowing the lawn, and her sword traps the souls of its victims. Unfortunately, she was decidedly not expendable, so what is a girlboss like Waller to do?

Easy: Assemble a brand new squad of criminals to do the dirty work. Harley and Boomerang are the only ones she brought back, because let’s be real, they’re the only ones we give a damn about. Filling out the rest of the squad are the stoic, craggy crackshot Savant; the handsome, German spear-thrower Javelin; the alien warrior Mongal; the frothing, psychotic animal Weasel; the confident and all-powerful TDK; and Blackguard, who is literally just a guy. Together, this team gets deployed to Corto Maltese to do what no one else can do, and with skills like theirs, they are absolutely unstoppable!

They all fucking die before the opening credits.

Motivation/Goals: Considering the goal of the squad is to shave time off their prison sentences by going on the mission, it’s ostensibly the reason every single one of these goons accepted the job. Savant and Weasel are pretty well established in this regard; we get to focus on Savant for much of the opening, so we can get a sense of him, and Weasel is stated to have murdered no less than 27 children. So, yeah, they need to do this mission.

The rest, though? Who knows! Why are Mongal, Javelin, and TDK in prison? How did they even get an alien like Mongal? What did they do to land in the position they’d need to go on a suicide mission? Why doesn’t this movie have flashy, intrusive cards explaining everything to us in a throwaway gag in a montage?!

Blackguard, at least, has some other motivation. He sold out the entire squad to the military of Corto Maltese, which is why they’re ambushed. Now, there’s actually some ambiguity here: Did he do this of his own volition, and was this a complete surprise, or is it, as it is heavily implied, all part of Waller’s plan and she let this happen as a diversion for the other team to get in unnoticed?

Honestly, though, it doesn’t matter what their goals are. They’re all dead within five minutes of the movie starting, with one exception.

Performance: So, the reason these guys are even worth talking about is because, despite their minuscule screentime, all of their actors manage to cram in enough humor and characterization that they’re all pretty fun and likable. Michael Rooker is as stony and stoic as ever as Savant (until he hilariously isn’t), Flula Borg’s Javelin is really sweet and charming in his interactions with Harley, and Pete Davidson’s Blackguard is just amazingly douchey and pathetic. Special mention goes to Nathan Fillion’s TDK, who has an utterly endearing and unwavering faith in his astoundingly crappy ability to… detach his arms. It’s honestly kind of beautiful. Then there’s Weasel as portrayed by Sean Gunn, who is just a hilarious crackhead of an animal man.

Final Fate: Literally every single one of them die horribly thanks to Blackguard’s betrayal. He’s the first to go, because as soon as he walks out saying “Hey guys, it’s me, the one who contacted you!” he literally has his face blasted clean off. The rest go soon after. Mongal, in one of the most astounding moments of idiocy I’ve ever seen, leaps on a helicopter despite Rick Flag telling her specifically not to. Her weight and strength send it careening out of control, which leads to it shredding Captain Boomerang to bits before exploding, burning her alive as she painfully screams and writhes in agony. TDK gets his arms shot into Swiss cheese, leading to him bleeding out since even detached they still are part of him. Javelin is also shot, but gets a dying moment with Harley where he passes her Checkov’s Javelin. Finally, after witnessing all of this carnage, Savant completely loses his shit and tries to swim away, leading to Waller blowing his head up.

You may be wondering what happened to Weasel. He appears to drown as soon as the Squad deploys, because despite being actually smart in this movie, Waller forgot to make sure everyone on the Squad could swim. Thankfully, this lovable child-murdering crackhead rodent was just sleeping, and wakes up in the first credit scene.

Best Scene: Obviously, it’s their one and only scene. It’s a magnificent slaughter that puts the X-Force scene from Deadpool 2 to shame.

Final Thoughts & Score: I’ve gotta hand it to James Gunn. Even though these losers are only onscreen for a few minutes, they all get to cram a lot of charm and personality into that time, to the point it’s actually kind of sad seeing them all die. It’s a beautiful mix of comedy and tragedy. Since their screentime is so limited, though, I’m mostly going to be grading them on style, performance, and so on rather than on villainy like normal. They are all bad guys, as they don’t really get a chance to redeem themselves like the other Squad, so I’m still counting them as villains, which means they could potentially score above an 8 (which is the highest score I’m willing to give heel-face turn villains, because they end up being better as characters in general than as villains).

I’m also not going to talk about Boomerang (I’ll talk about him when I review the original Squad) or Harley (because she not only lives, but deserves her own solo Psycho Analysis). Now here we go, from best to worst:

TDK

If you thought anyone but TDK would get top marks, you’re sadly mistaken. Seeing Nathan Fillion proudly wield the insanely lame power to detach his arms to lightly tap soldiers on the head and gently grab their guns is a sight I never knew I needed to see until this movie. The fact he just seems so darn proud about this power that he doesn’t even bother to use in any way that would be remotely useful is honestly really endearing. Frankly, the sheer fact they adapted Arms-Fall-Off Boy in any way is enough for me to give him a 10/10.

Weasel

Weasel is just disgustingly delightful. He’s just a horrible, nasty, ugly little bastard… But he’s kind of adorable? He clearly has no idea where he is at any given time and is just so goddamn freaky that I can’t help but love him. The fact that, despite being a character who in the comics is noteworthy only for dying on his first mission with the Squad, he manages to survive the entire movie is pretty impressive. Hopefully he comes back in the future, but either way he gets an 8/10 from me.

Javelin

Honestly, aside from Boomerang, his death stung the most. He’s just so cute and charming, and he doesn’t even get to fling his javelin at anyone! Thankfully, he passes it on to Harley, and boy does she ever get to use it! He’s so cute, I have to give him an 8/10. I just wish we got more of him.

Savant

Savant is just an absolutely hilarious bait-and-switch. We follow him through the prologue, with everything seeming to point to him as our main character and the Squad leader. He’s stoic, he’s cranky, and he has impeccable aim… and then we get to the beach and he just freaks the hell out and starts screaming and crying and running away like a little bitch. Seeing Michael Rooker act like he’s shitting his pants after playing a badass like Yondu is just the sort of hilarious subversiveness that James Gunn loves to do when you let him loose. The fact that he looks like, to paraphrase the TVTropes YMMV page for the movie, a “cyberpunk Tommy Wiseau” is the icing on this 7/10 cake.

Blackguard

I was prepared to hate this guy just based on how lame Pete Davidson’s costume was, and you know what? I do hate him. But I love to hate him. He’s just an utterly pathetic scoundrel and a coward, true to his name. The fact he is the first to die, as just about everyone predicted, and is killed absolutely gruesomely makes any annoyance he could provide moot, and his freeakout over being seated next to Weasel on the plane is actually kind of funny. I was originally going to give him a 6, but you know what? He can have a low 7/10. He’s like the only member of this particular Squad to actually do anything evil, so I gotta give him props for that.

Mongal

Let me make this perfectly clear: I do not blame James Gunn or actress Mayling Ng. I’m not actually mad at either of them for what they chose to do, because it is ultimately hilarious and sad. It suited the narrative of the film, and I’m not actually, genuinely mad.

With all that out of the way, Mongal is one hell of a stupid cunt. It is one thing to cause your own death with your stupidity, it is something else entirely to cause the death of a beloved character with your poorly planned attack. The fact she didn’t take into account how her weight and strength would effect an airborne helicopter makes one wonder if she is really supposed to be based on a character who can take on Superman and live to tell about it.

Let’s compare her to two similar characters to really show how bad she is. Like Blackguard, she is directly responsible for a death on the beach, Blackguard being responsible for everyone by selling them out and leading them into an ambush (and yes, I’m including him as well), and Mongal killing Boomerang with the chopper. The difference is, Blackguard’s betrayal was deliberate, he meant to sell the team out, he was actively doing something evil there, while Mongal killed Boomerang out of sheer idiocy.

Now, let’s compare her to Zeitgeist from the similar bloody massacre that occurred during X-Force’s deployment in Deadpool 2. Like Mongal, he accidentally kills a teammate. The difference is, in the case of Zeitgeist, he only accidentally melted Peter, it was a freak accident, and ultimately it does get undone by the end. Meanwhile, Mongal made a conscious, stupid decision and ended up killing her squadmate with her own idiocy. She sucks, hardcore. I don’t do this lightly, but I’m giving her a 1/10. Villains just don’t get much stupider than her.

I will giver her this, though: the makeup work on her is good. She’s lowkey kinda hot if I’m being honest. But being hot and having good makeup does not a good villain make.

#Psycho Analysis #The Suicide Squad #Savant #Michael Rooker #Javelin #Flula Borg #TDK #Nathan Fillion #Weasel #Sean Gunn #Mongal #Mayling Ng #Blackguard #Pete Davidson

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rallamajoop · 2 years

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What We Do In The Shadows

So (surprising probably no-one) I, er, would seem to have tripped and fallen into yet another vampire canon.

To chuck the elevator-pitch for why-you-should-ABSOLUTELY-watch-this-show up top: it is laugh-out-loud hilarious, gleefully queer, and still manages to be both brilliantly paced and just so wonderfully satisfying on a narrative level too. (And you’d better believe I am going to end up writing the most ridiculous smut for this thing that I have created since I last wrote for Deadpool, you see if I don’t!)

This whole thing is so very much my jam that it might surprise you to know how long it took the-friend-who-got-me-into-it to convince me to give it a go. Terrific as the original 2014 film was, I couldn’t imagine how a regular TV series could hope to capture that same tone and level of brilliance. It had to be a mistake even to try, surely?

Rarely have I been so thrilled to be so wrong.

In some not-insignificant ways, What We Do In The Shadows the show is even better than even the film, which – great as it legitimately was – was a bit much of a sausage-fest for my preferences. Whereas the show gives us the magnificent Nadja, billed right up there with the top cast:

Who I am pleased to say is a) every bit as much of a lovably ridiculous moron as all the rest of her housemates, and b) allowed to be horny AF without ever being treated in a skeezy, male-gazey way.

(And it kind of has to be said – one female character out of five mains is still pretty much the bare minimum. But with so many more memorable female characters rounding out the guest cast and with how much the household has come to feel like two-couples-plus-Colin-Robinson, I’m not sure I’d could tell you I’d want it any other way.)

And then there’s how gloriously queer this show is, which is just YES. Vampires have not been this openly pansexual since they heyday of Anne Rice (may she rest in peace / rise again, whichever seems more appropriate). But then, I could happily give anyone willing to stand still long enough this whole spiel on how the entire vampire literary tradition has always been so a lot queerer than it gets credit for – and if you’re going to do a spoof like WWDITS, not acknowledging that front-and-centre would be a crime. Which WWDITS has obvious not committed, given how every vampire (and many of the humans) on this show seem to exist on a spectrum starting at “at least heteroflexible” and going upwards from there.

And just for a change, our most enthusiastically equal-opportunity character is one of the dudes.

Meet Laszlo, who has been on screen maybe two minutes in the first episode before we’re hearing the charming tale of the time he and his wife both cheated on each other with the same man.

(And who I had to stare at way too long before realising I was recognising him as the boss from the IT Crowd, who is somewhere very far down the list of “actors I least suspected would someday play my new favourite bi male character,” but hell is he perfect in the role.)

As much as all the queer-rep talk about this show tends to focus on the Nandor/Guillermo not-even-subtext-anymore (and-I-mean-was-it-ever?), Laszlo still takes the prize for being not so much out-and-proud as horny-and-does-not-give-a-fuck.

But as much as I love Nadja and Laszlo (and, you know, EVERYONE), I’d have to admit that WWDITS is, to me, still pretty much The Guillermo Show, starring Guillermo.

(Yeah, like a Van Helsing descendent whose wardrobe consists mostly of cardigans and Serious Business vests was ever gonna be a hard sell to me.)

Though he starts out as the vampires’ awkward, much abused live-in slave “familiar”, Guillermo’s character arc – as he discovers a nigh-supernatural knack for vampire-slaying, develops some self-respect, and finally starts demanding and getting it – has been easily the best part of what was already a truly excellent show (and not least because Harvey Guillen turns out to be unexpectedly brilliant at action scenes).

Of course, you can’t talk about Guillermo without also talking about his twisted relationship with Nandor (the master he is so obviously in love with from the very first episode), and boy has that been a ride.

Over three seasons, I’ve gone from “oh, Guillermo, you can do better,” to “if this show DOESN’T end with them fucking happily ever after, I do not know what I am going to do.” Which is always a kind of nerve-wracking place to be in with a gay ship on mainstream TV – even on a show that seems to be so very eager to go there – but there, we can only wait, gnaw our fingernails, and see how far The Powers That Be are going to let this go.

And there are just so many things in this show that should not work, but do. For example:

The casual attitude to murder. These vampires produce the kind of innocent body-count that could only work in a comedy, but the fact they remain so lovable throughout still kind of blows my mind. And it’s not like death doesn’t matter on this show: Guillermo has never been comfortable being an accessory to so much murder, and he’s more than once been reminded that these are people his masters eat (even people he knows and cares about, sometimes) and all that implies. By all logic, that should tumble this straight into dark tragedy – how on earth does this show manage to balance all that baggage and still stay so light-hearted? I am more sensitive to this sort of thing than many (The Good Place has some brilliant writing, for example, and I still struggled with the horrifying subtext where this is a world where effectively everyone goes to hell) and yet WWDITS pulls it all off without a hitch. That’s a tonal balancing act worthy of some sort of oscar.

For such a dumbass sitcom mockumentary, this thing is surprisingly and adorably affirmational. It’s not just Guillermo, going from pudgy, forgotten butt-monkey to certified badass – you’ve also got smaller players like Jenna, the awkward, nervous, LARPer nerd, who gets singled out by Nadja, and follows a similar of 0-to-awesome arc in much less time. People who look like Jenna don’t get arcs like that, if they even appear on TV at all. It’s fantastic what the mockumentary format lets you do. Then you have characters like Gail, who has been on-again, off-again with Nandor for 40 years (but still isn’t ready to settle down), putting her well into her 60’s – and he’s still just as eager to go for another round. Or the scene where all those witches revert to their ‘true’ (ie. aged) selves, and Nandor and Laszlo’s instant reactions are “still into it.” Like, you know how the original movie ends with Viago getting back together with his now-geriatric ex and not caring one bit that she’s aged? That’s clearly still the whole ethos of this franchise, and I love it.

Did I mention how ridiculously horny the whole vampire world is, without the show ever feeling creepy because of it? Because I feel that deserves to be mentioned again.

Colin Robinson the Energy Vampire. You know we had to get to him eventually. Because Colin is exactly the sort of gag character who should get old fast, and yet somehow never does – if anything, he does the show a massive service just by giving them a whole other genre of comedy potential to tap into.

And for all the death and stupidity and other nonsense, maybe the best thing that’s carried on from the movie is just how unashamedly heart-warming this show can be. It would be so easy to take this gang of murderous idiots and let us laugh at how hateable they are – heck, you could probably still get great TV out of that angle – but they don’t, and I love them for it.

In short: you should watch this thing.

As of writing, it’s at three seasons and counting (season 4 due out around April, I believe), with each season consisting of 10 twenty minute-ish episodes. It’s available on Hulu (I believe) in the US, on Binge here in AU, and I have to say, it is almost too bingeable viewing (seriously, I watched the whole thing in a weekend and slightly regretted it afterwards). The original 2014 film (if you haven’t seen it already) is worth tracking down, but not essential viewing to follow the show. As always, I can only speculate whether later seasons are going to be able to keep up the amazing standard they’ve set for themselves so far – but I have to say, they’d have to sink like a stone to lose me now.

(I do feel it badly needs more lesbian vampires. But considering that my review of many adaptations of Carmilla would probably go “needs more lesbian vampires” you may take that as you will.)

#What We Do In The Shadows #WWDITS #fannish rambling

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anime-and-manga-rants · 3 years

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Why Jujutsu Kaisen’s First Episode is So Good

Today, I want to take a look at JJK’s first episode and how its structure makes it one of the best anime first episodes I’ve ever seen.

At first, I wanted to make this another installment of my The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly series, but I don’t think the way those analyses are organized would do this episode justice. I’m going to tackle this analysis in a more linear way than that series. I’ll still be giving JJK’s first episode a grade at the end, though. It’s still a first episode, after all. And it’s too fun not to.

So, without further ado, let’s get into it.

...

The episode doesn’t start off on a bad note:

The first character we actually see (Gojo) doesn’t appear again until the second episode, which is a little strange, but it’s nothing necessarily bad. Normally, it’d be best to first introduce us to Itadori. But it’s part of this opening scene’s intrigue, in a way.

Having Gojo be introduced first only to immediately disappear raises some questions throughout the rest of the episode. Obviously, he’s got to be important to the story to be shown first. So where the hell did he go? This, combined with the fact that Itadori’s set to be executed while clearly oblivious as to why makes for an opening scene full of questions. ‘Who are they?’ for one, of course. But more than that: ‘Why does this teacher at Jujutsu Tech want to execute a boy who seemingly has no idea what he did to get there?’ And: ‘What’s Jujutsu Tech?’

Despite this scene lacking a gripping opening line — the opening line is Gojo saying “good morning” — it still keeps us interested enough to keep watching. It raises too many questions we want answered to not do so.

The tension in this opening scene is palpable, and that’s what makes it good. Stories are all about tension.

...

Moving on... the inciting incident occurs at the end of the episode; therefore, everything before then is setup.

Before getting too deep into any breakdown of the setup in this episode, I’d like to mention that setup and backstory are often seen as one in the first episode of any show. But this isn’t so— at least, they shouldn’t be. Setup is necessary in a first episode, but backstory isn’t.

Setup is introducing us to a protagonist’s ordinary world so that we can get a sense of the difference between what they’re used to and what they’re about to face. Backstory is essentially anything that comes before the story, and it’s often what we find in lengthy info-dumps that interrupt the flow of a story. Backstory is needed sometimes, but it’s far better slipped into a story in moderation, not dumped onto a reader at the very beginning. A literary agent would take one look at a heap of backstory in the first chapter of a novel and toss it in the reject pile. If it can be done respectfully in a first episode, then I’m on board. But usually it’s not needed right up front.

Which is why it’s so refreshing to see that JJK’s first episode has not a trace of backstory anywhere. Overall, this episode is really strong, and I think the lack of backstory plays a role in that.

Furthermore, the setup in this episode is tremendously well done.

You see, before the inciting incident, we must first be introduced to our protagonist’s ordinary world. ('Inciting incident’ is the name for the event that sets the protagonist on the story’s main journey.) But their ordinary world is going to be more boring than the new world they’re going to find themselves in for the majority of the story. Therefore, we need some tension to make the setup before the inciting incident more interesting. Because if it’s too boring (or too long), chances are the audience is going to give up before the story gets anywhere.

There’s plenty of tension in this episode, and it’s almost all thanks to Fushiguro and his quest:

Every once in a while, Itadori’s POV is interrupted in the best way possible by Fushiguro on his search for Sukuna’s finger. This is where the true tension of the episode builds. While Fushiguro’s scenes focus on building the tension of the ‘curse problem’ that culminates at the end of the episode, Itadori’s scenes focus on introducing us to our protagonist. The constant trouble that we’re reminded of every time Fushiguro is on screen plus the promise of Itadori somehow being involved (it’s a story, after all—he has to be involved somehow) makes for an engaging first episode.

And we can’t forget how Itadori is plenty interesting enough to keep the audience engaged without all that promise of trouble to come. Not to say that promise is bad! But we get a great sense of who Itadori is in this episode, and he’s awfully likable and fun. We can tell he’s going to be a complex character worth following.

...

Before I start on the next section, I can’t neglect to mention how there’s no trace of forced dialogue anywhere in this episode! Not even in the setup, where it’s most common. There’s no sign of anyone mentioning anything that they know good and well just because the audience doesn’t know it. And nothing is lost because of it!

We still manage to learn that Itadori’s got some superhuman strength (which would be strange if it appeared out of nowhere later in the episode, when he fights those curses with Fushiguro). We still manage to learn that he’s in the occult club. And that he isn’t afraid of ghosts despite his upperclassmen being terrified of them, and he tags along with them when they go to haunted places for moral support. (Which is a form of specificity— it’s something that truly makes a complex and lovable character. And you bet I laughed when that image popped up of his upperclassmen cowering behind him as he strolled so nonchalantly. How could I not like Itadori’s character?)

This is how a first episode should be done. This is showing (rather than telling) at its finest.

...

Just by the way Itadori is depicted in this episode, through his dialogue and his actions, we can tell he’s going to be a complex character. (The best kind of character!) Not only through his dialogue and actions, though. His promise of complexity is ensured the moment the story-worthy problem is introduced.

(There are two kinds of ‘problems’ in stories: the story-worthy problem and the surface-level problems. The surface-level problems are the ones that are easy to spot— for example, defeating Loki in the The Avengers. There are dozens, even hundreds, of surface-level problems in a story. After all, to defeat Loki, didn’t they have to recruit each Avenger, stop Loki in Stuttgart, and take down the Chitauri army during the climax? And those are only three. But there’s usually only one (or a few if there’s a large cast of important characters) story-worthy problem. These are the problems that are associated with a character arc. Take The Avengers again— didn’t Tony Stark demonstrate how he learned to make sacrifices for others when he redirected the missile into the wormhole at the end? Tony’s story-worthy problem was being too selfish.)

The idea of Itadori’s story-worthy problem is introduced in this episode’s setup:

It’s when his grandfather tells him to help others and not to waste his life.

Now, while Itadori interprets this in his own way — I’ll discuss why this is great later — the beginning is there. His acceptance of his grandfather’s advice (with his own twist) is going to be his story-worthy problem. The episode wants you to know it, too. After all, Itadori references his grandfather’s words during his and Fushiguro’s fight with the biggest curse:

(I’m using the manga to keep everything succinct.)

He’s clearly accepted his grandfather’s advice, though he’s taken more to the idea of giving people proper deaths. Of course, this still manifests in him wanting to help people, as not helping them would very likely lead to their untimely demises. Like how he helps Fushiguro in this scene.

The development of his character will be based on this desire to fulfill his grandfather’s dying wishes and how his views of that desire change as he faces more and more surface-level problems. This is what makes it a story-worthy problem.

Every good story needs both a story-worthy problem and many surface-level problems, because a story with just the latter wouldn’t be much of a story at all. We want to see characters change, whether it’s for the better or for the worse. Your story’s surface-level problems would have to be pretty interesting to keep an audience interested for the entire duration if there’s no story-worthy problem to be seen. Even then, your audience isn’t going to leave your work with much satisfaction. The story-worthy problem is what gives meaning to your specific characters being a part of your story. Why not just any old gaggle of characters? The story-worthy problem also what holds the structure of a story together.

The inciting incident is the best place to introduce the initial surface-level problem and hint towards the story-worthy problem. Itadori saying he’s got his own curse to deal with is about as big of a hint as we could get. It’s fantastic! It’s no good when the story-worthy problem is too difficult to even pinpoint.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to determine what event is the true inciting incident of a story. But the true inciting incident will always be wherever the story is kickstarted plus wherever the story-worthy problem is hinted at. Therefore, the inciting incident of JJK occurs when Itadori helps Fushiguro take down the curse and eats Sukuna’s finger to do so. (Usually it’s not quite so obvious what the story-worthy problem is, but it certainly works in this case!) After all, the story-worthy problem is clearly there, and as soon as he eats Sukuna’s finger, he’s secured himself a spot in a world he’s never been a part of before. If he hadn’t eaten the finger, he could’ve gone back to his normal life after the curse was defeated.

Therefore, JJK succeeds in giving us an inciting incident that accomplishes exactly what it needs to do in a way that deserves nothing but praise.

...

Earlier, I mentioned that I needed to discuss why Itadori interpreting his grandfather’s words in his own way is important. Well, it all has to do with agency.

Protagonists need agency. In other words, they need to decide things for themselves. They need to be active. Passive protagonists who are simply dragged around by the plot and do anything necessary to keep the plot going are the worst kinds of protagonists. They’re the protagonists we get bored of at best, hate at worst. I mean, they can’t do anything for themselves. Who wants to follow a doormat through a story?

Itadori is certainly following his grandfather’s advice, but he gave it a meaning that suited him more. He isn’t really following his grandfather’s words blindly. Another example: when he eats Sukuna’s finger. Fushiguro didn’t tell him to do that. Fushiguro only mentioned that the curse wanted to eat it to gain power. It was completely Itadori’s decision.

Therefore, right off the bat, our protagonist is making decisions for himself, even while being thrown (unwillingly) into an entirely foreign world.

...

I can’t end this analysis without first mentioning how well everything in this episode fits together.

I mean, come on... Itadori’s in the occult club, which is how he knew where Sukuna’s finger went, and because his upperclassmen are in the occult club, they wanted to investigate a cursed object. It was mandatory to join a club, and the occult club finishes before five, which is how Itadori could visit his grandfather and hear his grandfather’s advice (which would become the story-worthy problem).

And what about the occult club’s presentation of their research project to the student council president? They theorize that there’s a dead body buried in the rugby field, and that’s why the rugby players kept falling ill and had to be hospitalized...

Then, later, when Fushiguro walks to the rugby field, he spots a curse and asks himself, “Is there a dead body buried here or something?”

This episode is fantastic!

...

Well, I believe that’s about all I wanted to cover in this post. Everything else is a bit too minor to include, and I don’t want to make this too long. So, let’s hurry up and get to the grade for this episode.

I’m giving it an A+. It absolutely deserves it. I can’t think of another anime’s first episode that I would even consider rating this high. (Even giving Dr. Stone’s first episode an A- was a bit generous, honestly.)

Good for Jujutsu Kaisen!

...

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk anime #jjk analysis #fushiguro megumi #itadori yuuji #gojo satoru #jujutsu megumi #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu itadori #manga analysis #anime analysis

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redlenai · 2 years

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Hi best friend!!! What are other things you're interested in? Maybe I will like them too

Hi bestie! c:

Well, I'm mostly interested in the Kamen Rider Franchise, a special effects show similar to Power Rangers or with the amount of movies, comics, shows and stuff more like the MCU (There are different series each year but my favorite ones are Den-O and Build) and I'm also a huge fan of Tiger & Bunny, a superhero anime from 2011 that finally got it's second season this year.

Under the cut I ramble about these shows a bit

Tiger & Bunny and Build are a bit queerbaiting but it's Japan so it's kinda expected, still, both series are amazing regarding their stories and characters are so lovable. Especially on T&B, at first it doesn't seem like it because it focus on the main characters but oh boy, eventually, you get to know more about the other characters, especially during the movie "The Rising" and the Second Season. There are POC characters, LGBT characters, and it seems that one of the new heroes from Season 2 is on the autistic Spectrum

I love Nathan <3 they are the big sibling of the heroes and usually listens to others and gives them advice, they also have their own company, such a badass hero!

Meanwhile one of the main protagonists and my favorite character, Kotetsu-San, is a veteran hero dad who is also a widow (has problems with alcohol, depression and seems to have ADHD), he keeps his identity a secret mostly to protect his family, despite they live away in a rural town, he cares deeply for his daughter despite he is an absent father (But most of the time is not his fault! His job is so demanding and even when he got a free day to visit, he still had to jump into action and even the bridge to his hometown fell down!) As well, meanwhile his brother and mother know he is a hero, they all keep it a secret from his daughter since he doesn't want to stress another family member

I love him so much, he is a dork, but a caring one

Kamen Rider however, is a bit tricky, while series are their own thing, there are crossovers and certain events do take part of another series or have things that require the movies or special mini-caps to understand. (Build is so far, the one that has everything so well structured, and everything connects perfectly, no gaps at least that I've noticed in terms of narrative, but it's a double-edged sword, if someone watches this show for the first time, the rest of the series of the franchise kind of look weak and terribly structured in comparison lol) As well, our protagonist Sento Kiryu, who is a genius, wears a beige trencchoat! And no matter what the true finale-finale with one of the movie says, his best match is his buddy (true love tbh) Banjou Ryuga!

Then, Kamen Rider Den-O is my comfort show, I just adore and it came to me while I was dealing some stuff (mostly, a friendship breakup) so, despite the story starts ok and then it's like... throwing away the canon, going sideways, continuite errors and such, is still a lovely show that you watch and then try to consume every piece of media where there is a crossover, because the characters are so lovable and you just can't help falling in love with them. The Taros are amazing and it's so hard to tell which one is my favorite character, I love Ryotaro the protagonist, but Deneb is like, the perfect mom <3

Deneb is the one at the left, the one at the right is his angry adoptive-son Yuuto

I'm currently watching a few animes as well, like "Ya Boy, Kongming!" and "Love after World Domination" besides the new season of Close Enough, Moon Knight and recently finished Our Flag Means Death.

#autisticdadcastiel #ask #red rambles #thigs about me!#kamen rider build #kamen rider den-o #tiger & bunny

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monkey-network · 2 years

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Good Stuff: Sing 2

Stepping into New Levels of Stardom

I feel like an apologist for Illumination Entertainment with of how much crap they get for being comfortably 5th place in eyes in the public. I somewhat get it, compared to the Juggarnauts, Illumination appear like the studio with the insultingly serviceable. Sing 2 looks no different where "higher minds" will call it predictable and "soulless" and yadda yuh. But lads, I'll tell you this: I loved it.

I'm a simple man. You play Prince and System of a Down, and I won't deny my joy.

Can I say it's predictable? Sure. It helps that it jumps right into things and it's reasonably simple with its character arcs. Can I say it's shoddy in some places? Yeah. Some points get a better focus than others to where I'll say like most Illumination films the 1st and 3rd acts make up for a mixed bag, forgettable 2nd act, especially when there's so much going on. Eric Andre's Darius is such a non-character that the film itself acknowledges how much of a nobody he is in it. Did they just throw a jukebox soundtrack together? For the most part, even if It's not bad like I didn't hate the songs they wedged in for the sake of it. The worst I can say was the film moved too fast so character development is very much not deep. I can and will say all this, but I won't call it "soulless".

The spirit ain't original but it was still there and it was alive

It's not lowering your expectations when you both know well what you're getting into and expecting a fun time nonetheless, because that is me. You don't always have to go looking for things you feel is or will be high art just to enjoy it. I was expecting them to blow me away with a smile and they did. The characters were understandable, I loved the music (w/ one exception), it got a few laughs from me, Porsha was a lovable dummy ["FURRY!" *bang*], and the main event musical had the energy and passion that I was hoping for. To call it soulless would mean I think I'm above a film like this, that my standards prevent me from finding good entertainment in something like this. That's not the case here, because it never felt like they half-assed making this enjoyable and spirited, giving the characters their time to shine. Best thing I got about it was its idea...

of Love and Self-Worth

I honestly liked this film better than the first because we get to jump to Buster Moon being enough of a success, everyone from the first movie are celebrated stars, Seth MacFarlene's character is dead, and the focus is taking things to a bigger scale. Everyone has proven their capabilities, but going down a new avenue can come with doubt being what separates you and that success you crave, whether it's "not being good enough" or feeling like carrying on is worthless when that certain something or someone is gone and there's a whole in your heart big enough to isolate you, make you have bad emotions towards the past you once had. Clay Calloway's kinda resonated with me where it felt like any love within me vanished, to the point where I couldn't love myself for a while, but he gets help through Ash and learns that he loved for what he did, what he could do. Same goes for the others, however small, they're there for each other to put on this Galactic sized stage play while the maniac mogul Crystal concerns about himself or his image in all of this. I say it does better here than in the first because it puts everyone in a more enjoyable place than having to do all that singing competition BS that was more boring by comparison.

I really enjoyed this film. I probably won't remember this as much as the more stand out stuff from this year, but I seriously wouldn't be against seeing this again and it was indeed worth seeing it in theaters. The movie delivered better than stuff like The Emoji Movie or most Live-Action remakes where they try to overshadow any shallowness with the idea of "commentary" or "enhancing previous elements". Sing 2 did things just as good, if arguably better, than the first and that's enough for me. Overall this was where presentation very much carries the uneven plot but I can't say it is a crime, for myself and my standards, in saying the presentation was worth the watch.

7 Out Of 10. A Fabulous Feature that Keeps a Good Beat

#Sing 2 #sing 2021 #sing movie #illumination entertainment #illumination #movies #cartoons #reviews #long post #Good Stuff

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buryme-makeoutcreek · 3 years

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Best shows I watched in 2020

I wanted to look at some shows I watched that I felt had some of the best writing. Most of these shows did not come out in 2020 but are shows that definitely deserve some attention for their masterful writing. Minor spoilers below.

1.Succession

This show took me by complete surprise. While I love stories about complicated, and darker characters I went into this show expecting it to be a classic story about power dynamics among the rich. And it is but the show is really about cycles of abuse and trauma and how that relates to a capitalist system. The show follows the children of billionaire Logan Roy as they continuously jostle for power within the family company, it’s very Shakespearian in nature but also one of the most absurd and hilarious shows on.

The writing on this show is very interesting because none of the characters can actually say what they want to say, it is all disguised such as a politician’s word choices would be. And bringing that veiled rhetoric into a family dynamic makes for an exploration of power and manipulation. The writing is also significant for doing something called by the cast, “the language of strength” which is using aggressive and sexually charged language frequently, this is used both in the company and within the family as both intimidation and to show off. There’s really a lot to dissect in word choice and meaning in this show and for that reason it is fascinating.

2. Hannibal

This was another show I didn’t expect to like but was pleasantly surprised by. This show ended its series in 2015 but it has always been a cult favorite and has been receiving renewed attention as of late and all I can say is thank god. This is a brilliant show both visually and story-wise. As I watched the first season I felt like I was stepping into a different world of just complete madness, and the show is really escapism in that way even though it features horrific deaths every episode. While I don’t think this is the best written show out of all the ones listed here, and I do think it expresses itself more through visual prose rather than words it is still reminiscent of a dark epic poem.

The show follows FBI consultant Will Graham as he investigates a series of grisly murders and comes across the path of notable psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (also notable cannibal and serial killer). The writing is very interesting due to it’s plentiful of metaphors. In regards to the main relationship between Will and Hannibal the distinctions between wanting to “eat” one’s love and wanting to be with them are really interesting and the word choices made can only be called poetic.

3. Atlanta

I went on a Donald Glover kick after finishing Community and I’m so happy I did because it led me to this show. Many have called this show “what TV could be” and it really is. This show starts off simply enough with the story of Earn trying to become a music agent for his cousin, the rapper Paper Boi. But the show delves deeply into the surreal in order to illustrate its points about poverty and being black in America.

The writing on this show bucks traditional story structure completely with each episode being more of a “day-in-the life” rather than a continuous plot driven towards a goal, this allows for much more experimentation but also the feeling that no matter what the characters do they’re going to get weighed down in some way or other. This disregard for classic show structure also bleeds into the genre, it’s hard to solely classify this show as a comedy because there are so many elements of horror, drama, and satire within it. The writing is overall beautiful, heartbreaking, and hilarious. This show is a must watch as it is probably the best thing on TV right now.

4. Ramy

This show is the spiritual successor to shows like Atlanta and Fleabag who have paved the way for this new brand of comedy show, often focused around a single character as they try to better their lives. Ramy is a show about a Muslim- American milennial who is trying to get more in touch with his religion, thinking that it will help him to get his life on track. While the humor can be brass and the story lines can get pretty weird and disgusting the first word I think of with this show is delicate.

Especially in its second season, which has moved away from Ramy’s perspective to focus on the rest of his family. The writing in this show can swing from a really fragile sense of beauty to super crass and sexual in the blink of the eye, which makes it so hilarious and interesting to watch. The writers have complied a series of character studies under the guise of a TV show, and watching this family deal with issues of assimilation, lost dreams, religion, and loneliness makes the watcher feel deeply connected to them.There’s a lot of stuff happening in this show that is very fragile but very moving and also hilarious.

5. The Great

This show is chaos embodied. From excessive violence, sex, and rampant and ridiculous abuse of power this comedy which is extremely loosely based on Catherine the great’s life is a real ride. It was created by the writer of The Favourite and interacts with absurdity and power in similar ways.

The writing is really interesting because it is so crass. In that way it is meant to be humorous but also terrifying. Many things in this show act in more than one way- Peter (Russia’s emperor) is terrifying, ridiculous, and lovable sometimes all within a single scene. And this ability to be all of these things makes this a very good examination of power.

6. Veep

This is how you do a villain arc. Perhaps the best and most honest show about American politics Veep focuses on Selina Meyer, the first female Vice President who is surrounded by the most competent incompetent people and virtually powerless and unfulfilled in her job. Throughout the seven seasons we follow her through presidential campaigns and personal woes all in classic dark comedy style. While this show is first and foremost a comedy it is not afraid, as it’s ending shows, to dig into dark themes and character exploration of a narcissist with a bottomless thirst for power going after the highest office in the country.

This show predates the Trumpian era America currently finds itself in but much of it’s subject matter and even specific plot points have come to be echoed in our current history. Such as an election depending on the results out of Nevada and a politician’s base protesting to “Count the vote” and “Stop the count”. This just proves that the show is so in-touch with the reality of American politics (even when the show was just a satire rather than the bleak truth). This is a perfect dark comedy with excellent, well-crafted characters, and solid plot points. Definitely a must watch for anyone.

#best shows 2020 #hannibal #veep #the great #succession #ramy #atlanta #ramy fx #atlanta fx #writing #screenwriting #tv shows #best tv shows #power

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dukeofonions · 4 years

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Thoughts on the new Asides

Alright, I’ve watched the new video three times at this point and finally have my thoughts together. Also just in case anyone was wondering no.

No I did not get breakfast magically delivered to me and had to eat a bowl of cereal.

Oh well, there’s always next time.

Anywho, spoilers below if you haven’t seen the episode yet I would not recommend reading this.

Ready? Let’s go.

So what are my general thoughts here, I loved it. Sure there were some things that didn’t make sense to me writing wise but overall this was an adorable, funny episode that provided us with a nice break from all the angst of the main series.

Now to get into the nitty gritty.

Right off the bat the art for this was just amazing. Honestly the idea to make this episode as an animatic was a brilliant move. Not just because of how things are right now in the world (but we don’t wanna think about that) but using this form allows the characters to interact in ways that they can’t when filming live. We got to see Roman and Virgil engaging with the world around them and how they interacting with Thomas when he’s not at home. It also gives us an idea of what the world of Sanders Sides is like. Everyone acts a little more cartoony, but it still feels like the real world as well.

Also the expressions on the characters, even the background ones, were perfect. You could tell so much from a quick expression or body language and as an animation nerd, I was in love from the get go. Honestly the team should think about utilizing this format more with these Asides as it allows more freedom for the characters which can help aid the story and can be used for comedy. Not saying every episode should be animated, but if they have an idea that they simply can’t achieve in live action, they now know that this format works.

And now, on to the characters.

So this is a Roman and Virgil episode, none of the other Sides make an appearance or are even mentioned. (Well I guess Janus is vaguely referenced with all the talk of lies going around) But I can understand their absence even though I would have loved to see them even briefly like how Remus and Janus were in Are There Healthy Distractions but besides one character (which I will get too later) I didn’t really mind and it didn’t take away my enjoyment of the episode.

As usual, Virgil and Roman have a great dynamic and are hilarious with how they bounce off one another. I do question the timeline of this episode given how relaxed Virgil is around Thomas, considering the last time they were together they weren’t on the best footing and he wasn’t present at all during Putting Others First. But I’ll probably make another post about that.

Starting with Virgil, it was fun seeing him act more like his pre-AA self. Getting onto Thomas’ case about every little thing was both hilarious and way too relatable (like way to call a dude out) and him explaining introvert culture was just *cheff’s kiss* It was nice to him slightly more laid back and worrying about something else other than whether or not Thomas is a good person and keeping a dark secret about his past hidden. Also the ending with him openly celebrating with Thomas and Roman was adorable. We’ve never seen Virgil with his guard down like this, letting himself be genuinely happy in front of the others. He always hides that part of him and seeing him like this just warmed my heart because that means Thomas himself isn’t feeling anxious and is allowing himself to enjoy the moment. Sure there are some moments of doubt here and there, but it was overall a great scene and I was glad they gave us a scene with them in the apartment.

Now Roman? Oh my gosh I needed an episode where he got his happy ending and it has arrived! Considering the punch to the gut that was POF’s ending I was ecstatic to see Roman finally, finally getting something he wanted. Think about it. Roman recently gave up the callback, which he wanted more than anything, only to have it all blow up in his face and be told that his sacrifice was all for nothing. Like, ouch. But here we see him once again pursuing something he wants, and he actually gets it! He probably thought it was going to be yet another loss for him, all their efforts were for nothing, but it wasn’t! That’s one thing I love about Roman, no matter how many times he loses he never stops trying. Even when he gets knocked down to his lowest he won’t hesitate to grab the next opportunity that comes his way. And as we can see, that will and determination has paid off.

Of course we can’t forget about Thomas himself. He’s so lovable in this, trying to just get through what should be a simple shopping trip at the mall only to have the most minor things continue to interfere with that. We don’t ever really see Thomas outside of his apartment so it’s nice to finally have an explanation for that. The focus of this episode though is his attempts to find out more about the handsome stranger across the food court and work up the nerve to talk to him. One of the funniest parts of this episode (in my opinion) is when Thomas comes up with the brilliant idea to use the stickers and pins as a way to start a conversation (which honestly could have been sparked by Logan who’s had enough of this) only for it to be shot down as a horrible idea because, what else would anxiety tell you? The monologue in the bathroom was another highlight of this episode and just, gosh Thomas’ acting here is just great. Even though we can only hear his voice there’s just so much emotion put into it. It honestly sounds like he’s crying in some parts and I loved it just as much as the bathroom guy did.

And finally, last but certainly not least, we have the wonderful Nico Flores. I did not expect to love him as much as I did but like, my gosh how can you not? He’s that perfect mix of cool while still being a bit of a dork. Like did he just grab a stranger’s food and wander around looking for them to return it? Had he noticed Thomas go in the bathroom and was just awkwardly standing around waiting for him to come out? His relationship with Thomas is already super cute and I hope that he becomes a recurring character and love interest for Thomas. (Note when I say Thomas I am referring to character!Thomas and not the real Thomas) Seeing as Thomas (now referring to the real one) said this episode would be important to the plot of Sanders Sides, I think it’s safe to assume Nico will be making a return and I for one can’t wait to see more of him, along with seeing how his relationship with Thomas develops.

If I had anything negative to say about this episode, I’d have three negative things to say.

I’ll start with one that I sorta brought up earlier which regarded the absence of a certain character that just didn’t really make sense to me, and that character is Patton. Now for Logan, Janus, and Remus, I can see why they wouldn’t be there. Logan doesn’t do feelings. Janus and Virgil would be having a hissy fit the entire time. And we all know what Remus would be doing. Not saying none of them could have shown up briefly, but their absence doesn’t bother me as much as Patton’s does.

Patton is Thomas’ heart, the core of all his feelings, why wouldn’t the heart be present during a time where Thomas is starting to fall in love? He wasn’t mentioned or anything! Not even when Roman was literally telling Thomas to speak from the heart. It just rubbed me the wrong way that he wasn’t brought up at all and the reason for that has to do with another problem I had with this episode, and that was the choice to have the main thing keeping Thomas from talking to Nico was him being a liar.

The episode starts with hitting the audience on the head with this idea that Thomas is struggling with lying. Despite the fact that nothing that happens is really his fault and everything else isn’t really a big deal. I just found it odd that this was the thing they were having Virgil and Roman get onto Thomas’ case for considering, well, we already had an episode (multiple really) that have already addressed this. One could say this was a result of Roman and Virgil teaming up and being upset over Janus’ partial acceptance. The reason I don’t think this is likely is because Thomas said Virgil finding out about Janus would be a major plot point and I doubt something like that would have happened off screen (honestly the timeline for this video is so confusing)

Another reason this bothered me is because Virgil comes to the conclusion that everything that has gone wrong (the rehearsing in the bathroom, the old friend in the food court, the plant, the pretending, the hiding, the god forsaken boiled carrots) are all lies and Thomas can’t build a relationship off of lies.

But... He literally wasn’t doing that?

At this point Thomas hasn’t even talked to Nico yet. He lied to the guy in the bathroom regarding the monologue (who wouldn’t) and he tried to pretend to be a stranger’s friend (which backfired horribly so lesson learned) I don’t even know how the plant would be considered a lie (and Virgil was the one who pushed him over there anyway) I’m not sure what Virgil’s referring to with the pretending and the hiding I can only assume is when they hid in a trashcan (unless I’m not meant to take that literally) and with the carrots Thomas should have just walked away the moment he saw the rainbow pin on the backpack. That was his fault.

But not once did Thomas lie about anything to Nico. In fact when they finally started talking Thomas was nothing but honest with him, embarrassingly so. The thing Virgil was claiming to be the source of the problem just, wasn’t true. It didn’t make sense to me and still doesn’t even after my third viewing. What I had originally thought was going to happen was that they’d come to a conclusion that tied into Moving On, the episode where Thomas dealt with the aftermath of a break up with Roman, Virgil, and Patton.

Wouldn’t that be something they’d be afraid of? Say Thomas managed to hit it off with this guy. They start dating, everything is going well, only for it to end the same way his last relationship did. Wouldn’t it make a little more since for the main thing to be holding Thomas back is the fear of getting his heart broken again? Of losing yet another person he loved?

Which brings me back to previous point of Patton not being there. Considering these three were the ones to help Thomas resolve things in Moving On, why shouldn’t these three be the ones to be by him when beginning a new relationship?

Unless Patton’s been avoiding these two since currently Virgil is still on rocky ground with Patton and after what happened in POF. But again we have no idea since we don’t know when this episode takes place (well as of writing this I have no idea considering how long it’s taken me to write this Thomas may have tweeted about it or something)

Another potential reason for Patton not being there is basically what I said earlier. In Moving On he was the one struggling the most since he’s Thomas’ feelings. He could have been overwhelmed by all the emotions Thomas was dealing with and simply couldn’t bring himself to show up. This has me hoping that we’ll get a follow up Asides episode where we get to see the other side’s reactions to Nico. If not all of them at least Logan and Patton since it’s been awhile since those two had an episode together.

If that’s the case then I can understand keeping Patton out of this one. But that doesn’t change the fact that I find the whole “lies” thing to be a bit ridiculous.

The final thing I have some of an issue with is how Virgil was the one to “save the day” in this. Throughout this episode Virgil was the one causing the problems (which isn’t to say anything bad about Virgil it’s literally his job to protect Thomas and that includes protecting him from rejection and heartbreak) while Roman was pushing Thomas to go take a chance. I dunno, this one isn’t as big of an issue since I still like the conclusion and Roman calling Virgil brave. It just would have been nice to see Roman going for something and getting it himself. Or at least him and Virgil deciding together that they weren’t going to let this opportunity go.

I dunno, I’m kinda impartial on that one. I just want to see Roman succeed.

And there you have it. Those are my thoughts. As usual, you may take them with a grain of salt. But also feel free to share your own opinions on this episode. It’s definitely become a favorite of mine and is up there with my other favorites.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go be sad because bathroom guy had his hopes and dreams crushed and he deserves justice.

#ts spoilers #sanders sides spoilers #dukeofonions

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retphienix · 4 years

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Ah. What a game this has been so far.

Now I had a million thoughts I wanted to share as this played out, lord knows I’ll forget a good portion of them but that’s the nature of my own ineptitude- plenty of things I’ll remember MILES after this post or only if prompted in a specific way and that’s just how it is.

To start- this isn’t the end of DQ11 for the blog just yet. I usually don’t dive into post game unless it feels right or people ask and I’m convinced- and more or less both happened this time. It does feel right- I have definite goals I want to tackle before saying I’m happy with what I did here- and more than one person has mentioned that the post game is worth touching so I’ll be doing that.

Also, for those unfamiliar with my long winded utter mess of a finale post style I go for- this is a lot of rambling as I try my best to touch on my thoughts on the game overall because I like to share. Feel free to just press “J” on your keyboard and skip right passed this- I know **I** struggle to focus my eyes to read long winded posts so I won’t blame you.

Also also, in order to try and spark some of those thoughts I had during this recording the first bit is gonna be me re-watching it as I wait on the video to finish processing and saying what comes up.

To start- really wish there was a save point there lol. I get that it’s a painfully easy backtrack to the save point at the start of the castle- but still, I like convenience.

The Dark Lord’s first form is a huge step up from his form before absorbing Yggdrasil and this first form fight was fun and had me itching to say some good things about it but honestly? I want to save praise for the fight that deserves it- phase 2.

PHASE TWO THOUGH!? GOD TIER RPG FIGHT.

I’ve seen better, sure, but come on, we’ve ALL seen better at all times on all things especially considering preferences coming into it- this was a 10/10 boss fight, top to bottom.

Design? Beautiful. Even continued the DQ obsession with puns with his tail being Mordragon, that is so PERFECT so ‘chef kiss’ flawless and it’s just a name. I LOVE how he looks. I LOVE how he moves around the arena changing which head you’re facing.

I love how each had different strengths to contend with (which I abruptly fucked up, don’t call me out, I’ll prove I know what was going on right here and right now-). The dragon had strong melee and breath attacks while the dark lord himself had magic aplenty.

I even utilized swapping out for the first time ever not because I hadn’t seen the value beforehand (I’ve spoken on how interesting a strategic option it was seeing as every unit has unique moves to bring to the table and it costs nothing but ATB for that unit to do).

Now, I fucked that up, but I did it purely because this is the first fight up to this point that felt right to do so. It’s the first time the tactical value of switching out to buff defenses with Hendrik outvalued ignoring that option and maintaining my ATB on whomever I would switch out. THAT FELT SO GOOD! And then I let my braindead fingers buff defense on a magic phase and you see the point. It was brilliant but I was not!

I did end up ignoring the option after a few turns not because the value wasn’t there, but because he ALSO spams stat neutralizing moves which made me reconsider focusing so heavily on buffs and instead focusing on maintaining steady heals (mostly with Hustle dance).

This fight? Beautiful. I loved every second of it. I loved adjusting my playstyle on the fly, I loved finding my footing. I just loved it.

Beyond that- the ending. I got a chuckle out of how abrupt the credits come in. It seems to wind up for an end sequence only for Erik to say “Well, let’s go home” and it cuts to the credits- but THEN the credits ARE the end sequence so it wasn’t ACTUALLY as abrupt as it seemed, but it got a laugh out of me.

Now those credit scenes? I’m a sucker for games that make you fall in love with the characters and this was an ending catering to those characters. Not too much to say outside of “I was smiling the entire time” which is true.

There were a couple moments in that sequence that I said aloud “JUST HUG HIM YOU COWARD” to various characters, like Hero and Rab, or the two dorks (hero and Gemma), etc.

And they played on the mystique of the post game’s content well enough to pull people in I’d say- certainly more than what I recall DQ8 doing with the dragon trials.

I am probably wrong, but I recall the game drawing next to no attention to that post game content aside from a few moments in the game dragging you to the location only to not let you access it (hinting at more being there).

Anyway.

Honestly, after rambling about the video itself I feel a lot of what I wanted to say about DQ11 was said during the playthrough just fine. I rarely feel that way.

DQ11 was fun.

As a DQ fan, you can best believe I had fun.

As a stick in the mud who is disillusioned toward the game industry and doesn’t like a lot of the filth that accumulates within it- I obviously have a few negative thoughts on the game, but there really aren’t perfect games so much as perfect experiences based on how it affected you.

And I’ve voiced those annoyances plenty I think. For completion sake there are cut corners on animations that seem off when other places have a ton of attention to detail, that’s like bottom rung “I don’t actually give a shit” stuff though.

The bigger problems were Sugiyama is a horrible piece of human garbage and the game is lesser because of his influence on it. There are plenty of reasons behind that both big and small. Big- it feels gross having a human shitsack touching this game after having been so vocal for years- there are replacements at the ready and we still have his LGBT hating, war crime denying fingers handling the music? Shameful.

Small (but man did it fucking suck) being that every five minutes I was annoyed at the music in this game. It sounds Bad. And I mean both orchestral and midi, it’s not great compared to anything he made before for DQ, but the fact that it’s midi in this is EAR BLISTERING.

I’m not one to listen close to most music while playing for whatever reason- and I admit that knowing who’s responsible is half of why my ears tuned it in instead of tuning it out, but man I couldn’t help it and it sucks.

The same 3 second ear rattling loops are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Grandiose moments are cut short by bland midi tunes. MAIN STORY MOMENTS ARE LACKING MUSIC ALTOGETHER FOR SOME REASON? When the hero gets the flute and plays it for the first time it just DIDN’T MAKE A NOISE? Subsequent uses of the flute made a noise, but not the main first cutscene?

It’s a whole thing.

And don’t make me get that dirty capitalist pain in my chest over the fact the S version was released 2 months after this and includes so much content that SCREAMS “This already existed and we diced and quartered it specifically to create the illusion of ‘value’ for this release”. Disgusting, man. :/

Gameplay wise, the biggest complaint I have is so loaded and half hearted but I have to say it anyway.

DQ is good because it’s simple.

DQ can also be a little lacking because it’s simple.

This was the second most fun I’ve had playing a main series DQ game (DQIII just hits right), and it definitely has better gameplay (so my opinion is subjective) than the one I prefer to this. But it was also a bit too simple... But you can’t change that and be DQ, it’s complicated.

To just say it- other than the final boss every encounter was a bit too easy. And I know I overlevel, I know that’s the point, I know there’s a hard mode modifier- I KNOW, but the final boss was REALLY GOOD AND still not too hard, so the fact that most every other encounter did the minimum or the minimum +1 is a little tiny (just a bit) disappointing because the gameplay could have been that much better.

But. That could just be my head spinning tales and being a biased asshole especially since I’m not offering any solution here and I’m admitting it’s both “better than my favorite gameplay in the main series” and “probably can’t be made more involved without losing DQ simplicity”.

But I’d kill for some different or new systems on top of this- dual and triple techs from Chrono instead of RNG pep, bosses with more varied strategies instead of “stun 2-3 and do raid wide attack”.

A reason to care about elemental damage (both incoming and outgoing), plenty of little things that would just make the already solid as hell combat more interesting to participate in.

Story was honestly fantastic. I didn’t know how I was going to end that until I just let it come. It was. This is the best DQ story thus far, and not to limit it to that scope- this was a GOOD DAMNED STORY overall and I’ve played a fuckload of games with good stories.

Before this I was a sucker for the original trilogy’s overarching story, which is unfair because that’s 3 games and that’s an old story and it’s only “good” because it’s unprecedented. But this is just plain great.

It writes such beautiful characters- it tackles a variety of conflicts both big and small- you have Sylv and his dad, you have a possessed king declaring his daughter Jade dead and Jade knowingly betraying him without knowing he’s possessed, you have Erik giving up on life and only putting himself so deeply into this adventure as a means of escape, you have Hendrik’s loyalty being- I can’t pretend Hendrik fits in he’s fucking stupid and needs to ask questions because loyalty for the sake of loyalty isn’t interesting at all lol.

You have Rab believing the world is doomed and doing all he can with Jade up until they find you are alive. You have the INCREDIBLE story of Veronica and Serena- you have all these intensely lovable and understandable characters (and Hendrik) and the story is so much more about them than just about the dark lord and the hero.

It’s so much more about each of their conflicts and growth because all of that is HOW the hero will defeat the dark lord.

It’s just so much more... investing than any of the stories I’ve had in DQ before and strong as hell amongst stories beyond just DQ.

I loved this. It was emotional at times, it was downright depressing at times which I wouldn’t expect DQ to successfully hit, it was downright rewarding getting to know these characters and I feel fantastic having beaten this.

This game is fucking good. I finally understand why some people have told me this is their favorite DQ now. It... yeah I think it might be mine too.

I’d be much more likely to revisit DQ3 than this because it’s shorter and has a specific kind of RPG (class based with freely recruited partners instead of named party members) I find more fun to revisit, but yeah, I think I agree.

I think for main-series DQs this is it, this is my favorite. It has to be, right? It’s got so many INCREDIBLE story moments and it’s pretty and it plays great- yeah. Hell, Sylvando as a character and Serena and Veronica’s arc BY THEMSELVES convince me of that.

Still got nothing on DWM and DWM 2 on the GBC, WOOOOT! Didn’t expect this post to divert from a serious closing thoughts (despite there being a few more posts to come) topic to posting this did you?

Behold the true faces of DQ perfection.

#RetPlays #Dragon Quest 11 #Dragon Quest XI #Dragon Quest

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carriagelamp · 3 years

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November 2020: A Months of Familiarity

This November ended up being a month of me either rereading old favourites, exploring new books by favourite authors, or a mix of both.

…Be prepared for so much Terry Prachett, I found his audiobooks on Libby last month and since that I’ve been unstoppable.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The first of my Terry Practhett books to mention! I chose to include this one on my list because it’s a beautiful stand alone novel, perfect to read if you’ve never touched on of Pratchett’s works before, and is often overlooked.

The book is about Maurice, an “amazing” cat by his own admission, who has teamed up with a stupid boy and his very own plague of rats. The moneymaking scheme is simple: set the rats loose on a town and after causing a panic let the boy stroll in and offer to play his pipe and lead them away… for a fee. This is working well, until Maurice, the boy, and the rats arrive in the town Bad Blintz. Here the rats are beginning to question the morality of their work, the boy gets entangled with a young, mischievous local girl, and they’re all shocked to find out that the town already has a real rat infestation… or so the rat catchers claim. Things quickly turn sinister and deadly as the group is forced to confront not only the cruelty of humanity, but something even more sinister living in the small, dark, hidden place of the town.

This is a YA book, unlike some of Pratchett’s other novels, so it’s a quick, fun read, while still having all of his dry wit and heavy, complicated thoughts about society, morality, belief, and what it means to be a person. It’s a genuine delight to see Maurice and the rats, recently made sentient by wizards’ rubbish, struggle to come to terms with who they were and who they are now.

Black Pearl Ponies: Red Star & Wildflower

Y’all it ain’t a secret at this point that I enjoy a stupid horse girl book, right? I picked up the first two books of the Black Pearl Ponies books from the library on a whim and they were basically what they promised. Girl lives with family on ranch, father helps train horses, girl goes on pony adventures with ponies. A particular focus is given to horse welfare and care. Very mediocre but a nice thoughtless covid read if you, like me, get a craving for animals books written for seven year olds from time to time. Plus this comes with the added humour of it being written, as far as I can tell, by a British author who thinks all Americans are stetson wearing cowboys which I find unreasonably funny.

Crenshaw

I love Katherine Applegate’s work; I read the Endling series earlier this year and they are overwhelmingly good. Crenshaw was also an enjoyable read, though not my favourite by her. It read a little bit like a book I read last fall, No Fixed Address, which was also a very good read though not my usual genre. Crenshaw is about a boy, Jackson, whose family, though close-knit and loving, is experiencing financial difficulties and struggle with food scarcity, homelessness, and all the instability and stress that results from this. During this tumultuous time, Jackson is surprised by the reappearance of a tall, bipedal, snarky cat — Crenshaw, his old imaginary friend. This is a charming book that blends genuine, real world hardships with whimsy and magical realism.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of WWII

Since it was Rememberance Day this month, I decided to pick up a holocaust novel. This book is about 12-year-old Anton, a young Jewish boy who finds himself fleeing from his Polish farm in the middle of the night with his old grandma when a German raiding party that attacks their village in an effort to make the countryside “judenfrei”. The book is, perhaps, not the most well-fleshed out, but it’s fast-paced and exciting for a child/YA audience that’s being introduced to holocaust literature, without trying to downplay the absolutely horror and brutality of the Nazis. It manages to strike a satisfying balance between fear, tragedy, and hope.

“Everything he had heard was true. He was just a twelve-year-old boy and yet they hunted him. He had broken no laws, done nothing wrong. He was simply born Jewish. How could anyone want to kill him for it?”

Gregor the Overlander

Somehow I never knew that Suzanne Collins wrote anything other than The Hunger Games? I stumbled across this series at a used bookstore and was first taken by the cover and then shocked when I realized I recognized the author’s name. Well The Hunger Games was such a good read, how could I not pick up a book with people riding on a giant fucking bat?

Such a good choice. I’m almost done book two and bought book three today after work. It is exactly the sort of low fantasy that I live for, when a fantasy world lives so close to the real world that you can practically touch it. I also love the fact that while all the wild fantastical elements are happening, you still have the main character taking care of his toddler sister the whole time. It’s at times charming, hilarious, and nerve-wracking!

It’s about Gregor, a normal kid who’s doing his best to help his mom take care of his two younger siblings ever since his father disappeared years ago. Gregor expected months of boredom when he agrees to stay home over the summer instead of going to camp like his sister in order to watch his baby sister, Boots, and their grandma while his mom is at work. He never could have expected that a simple trip to the apartment’s laundry room would lead to both him and Boots tumbling miles beneath the earth into the pitch black Underland, a place filled with giant rats and bugs and people with translucent skin who fly through the massive caverns on huge bats. He also could have never expected that he would get wrapped up in a deadly prophecy that would force him to travel into distant, dark lands into the waiting claws of an overwhelming enemy.

Kings, Queens, and In-Between

A Canadian queer novel that I’ve seen trumpeted everywhere. Libraries, classrooms, bookstore, this book got so much hype (and has such a pleasing cover) that I had to get my hands on it. Now, I’ve got to admit that it’s not really my genre; I don’t love realistic fiction. But that being said, it’s a fun, heart-warming, queer romp through that explores gender, sexuality, love, family, friendship… there’s a lot of lovable, quirky, complicated characters that get thrown together in unexpected ways at a local summer carnival. While there’s tension and misunderstandings and mistakes, this is overall a very optimistic and loving novel, and would be a great read if you want a queer novel that reads like cotton candy.

Love, The Tiger

This book is the graphic novel equivalent of a nature documentary. There’s no text, but you follow a day in the life of a tiger as it moves through the jungle on the quest for food. The art is honestly beyond outstanding, and though it’s a really quick read it is so very worth it. I’ve also read Love, The Lion in this series (also good, though a bit more confusing imho) as well as one of the books from his other series Little Tails which is still very nature and education based, though for a slightly younger audience.

Making Money

More Pratchett! Making Money was the first Discworld book I ever read, and it’s one of my most reread ones — it’s an ultimate comfort read! This is technically the sequel to Going Postal (another book I reread this month), in which conman Moist Von Lipwig is saved from a rightful death at the noose in exchange for agreeing to work for the city. Going Postal sees Moist narrowly dodging death in many varied forms as he tries to get the Anhk-Morpork postal service back on its feet and get the drifts of dead, whispering letters moving again. In Making Money things at the post office have become… too easy. Moist is bored, restless, until he finds himself thrust into a new job: head of the Royal Mint. There he has been given not only charge of the biggest bank in Anhk-Morpork, but also a dog with a price on its head, a lethal family with all the money in the world out for his blood, and the fear that his secret past life may be on the verge of being exposed to everyone, all while he’s desperately trying to make money…

The Moist series is honestly an example of Pratchett at his absolute best imo, and the amount of humour, wit, adventure, and scathing commentary he can build around a bank is outstanding. Cannot recommend enough.

The One And Only Ivan

Another book I’ve been hearing everyone talk about, as well as another Katherine Applegate book. It’s been on my radar for a while, but with the sequel and a movie coming out, it had everything at a fever pitch and I finally picked it up. Fantastic read, I definitely enjoyed it more than Crenshaw. This book was based off the true story of Ivan, a gorilla taken from his home in the jungle and sold to the owner of a mall, where he spent years of his life growing from child to adult silverback in a small, concrete enclosure. In this fictionalized version, everything changes for Ivan and his friends, when a new baby elephant is bought to help revitalize the mall attractions and Ivan makes a promise he doesn’t know how to keep: to protect this baby, and keep her from living the life Ivan and his friends were forced to. This book made me very emotional. Applegate’s picture book that goes along with it is also a great companion read.

Ranma ½

I realized that our library had the 2-in-1 editions of Ranma ½ and honestly that was it for me. This has been a favourite series of mine since I was in middle school and realized that the creator of Inuyasha had written other things. It is unapologetically ridiculous and larger-than-life and you have to love the shameless joy it has at being ludicrous. It does start to feel a little repetitive the further into the series you go, but at the moment, with covid, I find I have a huge tolerance for rereading slightly repetitive things so long as they make me happy. And boy howdy does the vaguely queer undertones, endless pining, and relentless slapstick of Ranma ½ make me happy. This is classic manga y’all and if you’ve never read it you should!

The basic premise, for anyone that doesn’t is that of an bonkers martial arts comedy. It follows Ranma and his father who, while training in China, fell into cursed springs. Each spring has the tragic legend of a person or animal who drowned in it, and if someone falls in they inevitably turn into that creature any time they’re doused in cold water. Ranma had the misfortune of falling into “The Spring of Drowned Girl” and, indeed, turns into a girl anytime he’s hit with cold water. Things continue to spiral out of control when Ranma meets his arranged fiancée, Akane, who is as exasperated by this situation as Ranma. Both would rather be fighting people than worrying about things like romance. And don’t worry, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of some of the goofiest martial arts fights that you can imagine for a bunch of high schoolers.

Through the Woods

A beautiful and creepy Canadian graphic novel. I honestly really don’t even know how to describe it in a way that does it justice. It’s a collection of short horror stories, with beautiful, flowing art style that draws you in and sends chills down your spine. I’ll let the art doing the talk, and honestly beg you to go find a way to read this graphic novel:

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: And Other Stories

The last Terry Pratchett book on my list (though shout out to the others I’ve listened to this month: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Men At Arms, and Snuff) and one that I actually physically, rather than listening to the audiobook. I included this one because unlike the others, this was a Pratchett book I had never read before. It collects a number of Pratchett’s short stories that had been written for children over a number of years. These weren’t necessarily my favourite examples of Pratchett’s writing (I prefer his longer work that can really dive into social issues) but it was such a quick, easy, fun read that you can’t really help but be charmed by it. I liked the stories that took place in “the wild wild west (of Wales)” in particular.

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midgarsflorist · 4 years

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hot take on season 4 stuff

I’ve seen a few posts circulating about season 4 of wtFOCK and the potential for a season 5. I put together this list in hopes that it will motivate people to continue their involvement in watching season 4.

1. Yasmina I shouldn’t have to say much more than this. Yasmina is an incredibly lovable character who we’ve had the delight of getting to know throughout the series. She is a solid landing place for Robbe, hinting his involvement in her season (aside from the parallels to the OG and other remakes).

Yasmina as a Muslim woman though, and as a main character, are big deals for marginalized groups that have never had that representation in a production before. The other seasons (primarily) highlighted how important this is and I’d like to stress the importance of this for Yasmina’s season as well. If we don’t support marginalized groups (women, poc, religious minorities, or any combination), it highlights our lack of interest to the entertainment world. Let’s not do that. For wtFOCK to end up in a large news paper, highlighting the 10 million views the show has gotten only for that to disappear when a Muslim woman becomes the main? That will send a message, intentional or not.

2. Potential for a Season 5

This is pretty basic. Interest in a show is one of the best ways to ensure that the show continues on in further seasons. I won’t explain more about this. That doesn’t necessarily mean being a tumblr blog dedicated to season 4 of wtFOCK but it does mean the engagement with social media and watching the show where you can. I don’t mean to say the online population is the primary source of hits for the show nor are we its target audience but there is some level of recognition that is garnered through social media. The producer has liked several posts about a Sander season 5. Does that mean anything? It may not, but why ruin our chances when it’s possible?

3. “But Season 3 was so stressful”

I have some basic things to say here. I’ve seen a number of people who said they were going to completely bow out of the fandom because of Season 3.

Unfollow people who have opinions that you simply don’t vibe with

Ignore or delete asks that complain about something you enjoyed

Don’t engage in discourse if it isn’t productive or meaningful to you

Block users that abuse the tag to spam their frustrations with the show especially if that negatively impacts you

Surround yourself with people who are respectful, thoughtful and reflective

Take frequent breaks from social media and especially the tag

This season was particularly stressful. There were moments of great writing and moments that have left us concerned or questioning. There were moments where a lot of viewers felt the writers were focused on shock value or cliffhangers instead of a full story.

While the season is not yet done and I can’t speak to those matters, I can say that I’ve enjoyed my experience by surrounding myself with people who communicate the way that I do. People who respect one anothers’ opinions, people who try to filter negativity out and only focus on the positives.

Did I see complaints on my dash about “not enough Sander” and then posts responding that it’s not his season? Yeah. But if it went too far, I unfollowed. There were a lot of posts about mental illness discourse, some of which were quite frankly really toxic. I unfollowed. Even if the user themselves doesn’t have those opinions but is spamming your dash with the opinions of other people just so they can argue, you don’t have to follow that.

You are not obligated to follow someone that stresses you out. You are not obligated to engage with people who stress you out. You are not obligated to post asks/anonymous messages of people who stress you out. Your social media experience can 100% be determined by your choices and who you interact with.

If the fandom stressed you out, seek out those people that lived in the middle ground, that celebrated what you celebrated and spoke about matters that were important to you. Your mental health is important and this show, or a section of its community, should not be apart of that.

so with this, I really hope to see active participation in season 4 of wtFOCK. I really hope that people were here for the story, the acting, the representation and I hope that they are not so caught up in Robbe and Sander that season 4 is not of interest to them.

I really hope that season 3′s success will only inspire further success for the next season which can create room for a fifth. I hope that next season, I don’t see people complaining “we had so much Zoenne in Robbe’s season, where are Robbe and Sander?” because it won’t be productive or conducive to conversations.

This is not, has not been, and will not be the Robbe and Sander show. Robbe lived with Zoe and Senne, making their interactions a pivotal part of his growth, relationships and every day life. Will Robbe and Sander be part of Yasmina’s life? Most likely but she will be the focus, just as Robbe was our focus now.

If we ever want a Sander season, I suggest that we learn to love the main as we move forward and let the story be theirs.

thanks for coming to my tedtalk

#wtfock #wtfock spoilers #queue

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theparanormalperiodical · 4 years

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The REAL Story Behind Sinister (2012), And The 11 Scariest Pagan Gods That You Don’t Want To Bump Into

It’s damn near impossible to find a really good horror film.

No, I mean a really good horror film.

You know, where the plot is winding, and unravels oh so gently until it snaps us back into its web, leaving us tied up in the lair of a monster as it inches closer and closer towards us.

Most horror films simply don’t make the cut.

But in recent years, there is one that does just that, twisting together an incredible plot, a truly terrifying monster, and the subtleties of gore that have you promising yourself you will never purchase a lawn mower again:

Sinister (2012).

That being said, this story of an unforgiving Pagan god and the innocent families that stumble across his path shouldn’t be shaking you to your core - it’s the real, historic legends that inspired this film.

Bughuul/Bagul is based on 3 Pagan gods, bringing the events behind the camera outside of our TV screen. But the thing is, it turns out Moloch, Baal, and Tlaloc are far from the only holy entities you don’t want to cross paths with.

Bughuul might just be more real than you’d like to think.

What Happens In Sinister (2012) And Sinister 2 (2015)?

Before Bughuul was conjured up from the darkest corners of our nightmares, and before Ellison Oswalt - the main character in the film - even signed the lease on his new house, was an idea.

Sure, the real Pagan gods inspiring Bughuul might be enough to keep you awake at night, but C Robert Cargill, the writer of the film, was inspired by something else at first:

It was a nightmare after watching The Ring (2002).

From here the fundamental building block of the plot was set in place: a supernatural entity spreads itself via films that need to be created and then passed on. The thing is, this being doesn’t channel as much sympathy as we all harboured for Samara.

The starring role of the Super 8 movies in this flick is taken by a far more terrifying being that doesn’t stick to such a rigorous time scale.

Our story follows a true-crime writer attempting to uncover an unsolved murder case to propel himself back to his former fame. But his distant family and obvious alcoholism are about to be the least of his problems when he accidentally unleashes a Pagan god.

You can’t find a Citizens Advice leaflet on that.

The tale begins when the author, Ellison Oswalt, moves into a new home. The thing is, he has a nasty habit of picking houses nearby to the cases he researches - only this time, he’s shacked up in the house where a whole family was murdered in the backyard and the youngest child went missing.

Nothing creepy here, right?

Oh, there’s a box in the attic with a Super 8 film projector and reels of film which display the murder of several families in their own horrific way.

*Inhale*

*Exhale*

Our new favourite true crime writer decides to team up with a lovable police deputy who does some digging around the murders. He discovers these murders took place from the 1960s up to present day, and occurred across the entire US. But what connected these murders - aside from that creepy figure in the background of the clips and the symbols - is that a child from each family went missing after the murder.

One quick Skype call to an esteemed occult professor later, and hey presto he’s realised he’s encountered a Babylonian deity known as Bughuul. But you can call him the Eater of Children, a nickname that caught on when they discovered he likes to consume the souls of children.

In case you can’t do the maths, Bughuul likes to have families murdered, and spare a child as a light snack post-murder.

Throughout this process of unveiling the truth of Bughuul, the paranormal activity begins. The steady climb in the supernatural peaks however when he hears the projector running in the attic. He checks out the situation, and realises all of the missing kids are enjoying a movie night - think less Netflix, more bloodthirsty Pagan god - when Bughuul rocks up via an unnecessary jumpscare.

Oswalt then makes the executive decision to burn the film and projector, and then swap this murder house for his previous residency.

Three cheers for common sense!

The thing is, Oswalt didn’t do his reading on basic horror movie monsters - ghosts haunt places, demons haunt people.

(Rooky error.)

Unfortunately Oswalt learns this when he’s mid-unpack of his old house. The professor then gives him a ring and lets him know that it's images of Bughuul that serve as a gateway for the deity to enter our mortal world. But it’s when kids come into contact with the image that they can be possessed.

That’s right - it’s the kids that do the murdering, the filming, and then the pissing off with Bughuul.

Shortly after this bulb lights up, our lovable deputy also gets on the blower, and lets him know that each family that was murdered did the exact same thing:

They realised their new home was haunted by some presence, shacked up at a new location where there were no Super 8 movies included in the rent, and then were killed by their child.

Yep - our favourite true crime writer has only gone and set off the exact chain of events he attempted to investigate.

(Rooky error.)

Just as he realises he’s been played by the B-man, he passes out. He’s just been poisoned by his daughter. He wakes up moments before being slaughtered with an axe.

The film ends with the child being carried away by Bughuul and teleported into the film with him.

Sinister 2 picks up the plotline several years later, following around the lovable police officer as he takes matters into his own hands; he attempts to destroy the houses that continue Bughuul’s spread across America.

But in this film, we actually get a behind-the-scenes view of Bughuul’s process of encroaching on children. And it turns out the possession is actually peer pressure from the missing children - but instead of trying a cigarette outside the back of the local Lidl, you’re being forced to murder your family in your very own brutal way.

And if this exclusive preview into our favourite Pagan deity wasn’t enough, Bughuul also upskills and learns to utilise a radio to spread his message.

*Deletes BBC Sounds App*

So - Who Is Bughuul?

Found footage is a difficult genre to break into.

Bughuul, however crashes into it, reviving the boring clips that dragged The Blair Witch Project into horror movie infamy and sent the Paranormal Activity viewers to sleep.

Sinister plays with the horror genre in a whole new way, using silent, grainy Super 8 movies to leave the viewers convinced they might awaken a long dead spirit by listening to their favourite murder mystery podcast.

But the visual horror - whether of the gory deaths we witness or of Bughuul himself - confines the movie to the streaming platform you chose that evening.

It’s the unnervingly real concept of Bughuul which allows the events concerning Oswalt to haunt us on a whole new level.

In the film we are told that Bughuul is a Babylonian deity - a Pagan or early Christian demon, if you will - who can possess children, is transmitted through images, likes to murder entire families, and then make do with a child’s soul.

You know, the basic stuff.

Whilst the finer details of Bughuul is not mapped out in theology, the fundamental building block of the body horror in this movie - that of sacrifice in horrific ways - has been practiced throughout history and devoted to 3 specific Pagan gods that the writers drew inspiration from.

And the first is called Moloch.

This Canaanite god was associated with many things, including agriculture and fertility, and sacrifice and fire, all of which are firmly represented in the movie. Whether it's the films’ focus on children, or its the spontaneous combustion of the Super 8 movies and the victims that do not conduct his bidding, Baghuul directly mirrors this entity.

Well, maybe ‘mirrors’ isn’t the right word.

Baghuul has the lookbook of a modern horror monster, from the Slender Man inspired suit to the smokey eye only a 13 year old could pull off. Moloch, on the other hand, is often depicted as a Bronze statue of a humanoid bull sitting down.

And it’s his statue form which lets you in on his preferred method of worship:

The statue would be heated with fire, and victims thrown in as a form of fiery sacrifice.

In fact, in both the 1920s and later in 1962, it was discovered via excavations of the ancient Carthaginian civilisations that both young people and animals were often the most popular victims, forging a link between the youth we saw on our TV screens, and the ashes left in the urns that were found.

This link was even addressed by the writers of the second film, with the promotional poster claiming Bughuul was the brother of this brutal god - but this isn’t the first time Moloch has appeared on the big screen.

Remember that episode in Buffy, you know, the one about online safety cause you won’t run into a paedophile but a glorified demon that wants to become a physical beast and wreak havoc on the world and is going to use you as a source of power?

Yeah, that’s the one.

In fact, Buffy stuck to the same premise, claiming Moloch was unleashed when an ancient text was scanned into a library system.

Sinister had less broody vampires, though.

Our next contender for coulda-been-Bughuul is Baal, a demon which has actually featured in a few other horror flicks of his own, so far. The Rite featured this ancient god who focused his attention on fertility, just like Moloch.

And, just like Moloch, archaeological evidence of sacrifices was discovered, but in a region of Egypt from which he was worshipped.

Amongst the sacrificed infants found was a collection of animals and prostitutes. Even the ancient texts detailing their powers and premise suggests a sibling-like link: Baal Hammon was worshipped by the Carthage people as a supreme god, just like the former entity, and instead of bearing the body of a bull, he appears as a ram.

Yet despite sharing both a ritualistic and physical approach with Moloch, it’s Baal’s backstory that brings us even closer to Baghuul.

Too close.

Legend has it Baal was considered more powerful than his father, suggesting children overpowering their own family is a vital premise of this god.

Our final contender for Baghuul-but-without-the-eyeliner is Tlaloc. And, once again, this entity is just like the previous gods, but belongs on the other side of the globe.

This Aztec god is the god of rain, water and fertility, and despite his rather more peaceful and popular worship today, historically things have been a little, uh, sacrificey.

The remains of war captives have been found near his statues, but this only hints towards his association with death; it is said that he was essentially the destination in the afterlife for those that died from a variety of ailments.

And one of these ailments was child sacrifices.

Think back to the Sinister movies for a second.

In the short Super 8 films we see Bughuul make cameo appearances (like Stan Lee in Marvel films, only he’s a wholesome old man and isn't going to gobble up Hugh Jackman’s soul when the credits roll). This suggests that Baghuul not only enjoys a hobby of snacking on innocent children, but also takes pleasure from the sacrifices of the other family members, and appears at their time of death.

Unfortunately, according to historic worship, Tlaloc prefers his sacrifices a little more niche than just dead parents. Typically he likes his sacrifices to have their hearts extracted from the corpses, and collected in a bowl by the temple.

If you thought Sinister was grotesque, be thankful you didn’t witness a 7 year old stabbing their mother in the chest with a cheese knife.

The 11 Other Terrifying Gods You Don’t Want To Encounter In Your Attic

Paganism is an incredible thing.

It’s a religion that puts the believer at the centre of a huge selection of gods, demons, and deities to choose from. Even modern paganism doesn’t follow any rules.

Simply choose an entity, and get worshippin’!

But there is a downside.

We already know that three Pagan gods are enough to have you avoiding your 5 year old nephew at the next family dinner. But unfortunately, Moloch, Baal, and Tlaloc are far from the only deities that will make you left eye twitch when you see so much as a polaroid camera for fear Bughuul might have taken a #vintage selfie.

There’s 11 more terrifying deities that you don’t want to know about but I’m going to tell you about anyway!

(Yay.)

#1 Chinnamasta

Self-sacrifice and sexual restraint sounds like values we should all practice, but when a Hindu goddess tells you to do it - and she has no head - you might be more reluctant to listen to her wise words.

The legend claims that a group of Hindu gods and demons churned the ocean in order to extract an elixir of immortality. Chinnamasta took a sip, swallowed the entire share for the demons, and chopped her own head off to prevent them from reclaiming it.

An alternative version tells a different story: Chinnasmasta and her crew were bathing too long and realised they were hungry. So, she satiated their hunger by decapitating her own head and allowing her attendants to drink the blood spurting from her neck.

And so, her image is immortalised by three fountains of blood coming out of her neck, and her attendants gulping back the liquid.

Casual.

#2 Pan

As well as being one of the most famous gods to date, this Greek deity is also one of the oldest. And whilst he he is the god of nice, wholesome things like cosy forests and flocks of cute animals, he would be deemed a sex offender today.

Pan would try and have sex with anything - yes, anything - that moved. And when one of these things tried to run away, such as the nymph Syrinx, he chased her down, and then turned her into a pan flute.

And when another nymph also turned him down, he had her murdered by his minions.

Fact is, you can choose which gods you can believe in, but the real horror in the world - sexual predators - will always exist.

#3 - Ishtar

Most gods are known for their brutal acts, whether in the name of justice, or for selfish purposes. The thing is, this goddess has a thing for gore.

And rightly so.

Having been raped by a gardener as she slept underneath the shade of his tree, she got her vengeance by punishing the Earth. She made the rivers flow with blood, she tormented the planet with storms, and she cast disease over our lands.

And similar to the gods already mentioned, she too has a habit of sacrifice. But she doesn’t want people to be sacrificed to her - she prefers to do her own sacrificing of her own lovers.

#4 - Cronus

Next up is the leader of the Titans. But his attempt to eat his own children to prevent them from completing a prophecy and overthrowing him doesn’t get a mention here - it’s what he did to his father.

He scythed off his genitals.

And if that wasn’t enough, he then chucked ‘em into the sea, spawning the goddess Aphrodite.

#5 - Teutates, Esus, and Taranis

Christianity’s got Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. Paganism on the other hand has its own trio. But these guys rely on routine human sacrifice. But what really sets them apart is that each individual god has their own preferred murder method.

Teutates likes to drown his victims headfirst in ale, Esus likes to have his sacrifices stabbed, hung from trees, and left to bleed out, and Taranis likes wickerwork figures that are set alight to contain his victims in a fiery death a la Nicholas Cage.

Squad goals?

#6 - Tezcatlipoca

The second Aztec god to feature in this post continues the trend of these deities preferring bodily organs. But this deity sets itself apart by craving a far slower ritual that culminates in a sacrifice.

A priest would select a prisoner who was to impersonate the god. Luxurious shenanigans would ensue, including 4 maidens dedicated to his every need. Unfortunately, his needs wouldn’t last too long.

He would have a year of this god-like life, walk up the steps of a temple, and have his heart ripped out.

#7 - Huehueteotl

He was the god of death, hot, and cold. And he liked his sacrifices to have experienced all three at the same time, apparently.

The process of sacrifice would include drugging the victim, roasting them alive, ripping out their heart, and then burning the remains again.

According to other accounts, the victim could simply be drugged, and then dragged with hooks to platforms for the ritual. And then the heart would be cut out and tossed into the fire. And then the rest of the bodies would follow.

Your choice, I guess.

#8 - Toci

Life must’ve been hard back then.

You know, the constant fear that you - yes, you - might be the next victim to be tossed to the flames of fiery sacrifice, or an organ of your deity’s choice was to be placed into what can only be described as a ritualistic olive bowl.

But at least you’d have an inkling of what’s to come. The worshippers of Toci weren’t quite so lucky.

Toci was the goddess of healing and a patron of midwives and healers. But rather than wanting to celebrate life in all of its glory, she actually preferred dead people as gifts.

And so, women were dressed as the goddess, told they were going to see the local ruler, climb the temple, and be met with a priest with a knife. The unlucky woman would be beheaded, her heart removed, and skin flayed.

The priest would complete the ritual - yep, it doesn’t end there - by wearing the skin of the victim.

#9 - Chac

When we discuss sacrifice in the name of a god, it is often assumed that the act took place many years ago, and that the traces of the murders have long since decayed and disappeared from our world. But it turns out that you can actually visit the location of 2 wells in Chichen Itza where sacrifices took place in the name of Chac, the Mayan god of rain, water, and lightning.

But aside from casting storms over his worshippers, he encouraged human sacrifice.

And so, his worshippers obliged by tossing their young children into their wells; they believed Chac resided at the bottom of sinkholes, and wanted their human sacrifices to be as close as possible to him to ensure safe delivery.

According to the film’s lore, Baghuul lives inside of the images, and uses the pictures, the films, and any other form of media as a gateway to our realm.

In that case, God only knows what this article may have unleashed.

Traumatised? Afraid to turn the light out and turn in for fear of hearing Bughuul filming his YouTube outro in your attic? The you might as well check out my other articles in the mean time…

And while you’re there, why not hit follow and see a new real ghost story everyday?

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flying-elliska · 4 years

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Ok I caught up with wtfock s3 because well, it felt weird to leave unfinished (except a few clips i just didn’t want to watch, like the attack one). here’s what worked and didn’t for me (i’m pretty critical so don’t read if that sort of thing upsets you or you’re not in the mood) because i still think having this story remade so often is an unprecendented storytelling experiment worth thinking about even when it doesn’t entirely work (and i think argumented criticism is good, but if you post hate about the actors/fans etc you really suck tbh) :

- to start with positives : like many said, the acting was pretty damn good. overall wtfock has a really solid cast. the willems have succeeded in creating an onscreen queer intimacy that feels very believable, no holds barred and no awkwardness, and they have to be commended for that. there’s a lot of chemistry and tension at first between them, which then turns into something very soft and sweet and puppy-love-like. it was nice seeing Robbe evolve and the sweet bean energy that emanates from how the actor plays him is very very powerful. i also loved the warmth of the flatshare, and as a Dutchie I just adored the Sinterklaas bits, it was so funny and i loved the found family vibes. warmth is just something they do really well, esp with the last clips, perfume shopping, playing board games, the party at the end. They use the Christmassy vibes really well. the cinematography has its moments too, contrasts between warm and cold, the episode at the beach is gorgeous, the sequence in the tunnel, the light on their faces when they are in that classroom surrounded by drawings. wtfock as a whole is also good at creating some very lovable secondary characters, be it Milan, Yasmina, Noor, or especially king Senne. So, I do understand that there are things to love about this remake, which is probably why my disappointment feels so strong. I really wanted to care about these characters in their journey.

- on to the controversial : i don’t necessarily fault them for wanting to show a more prononced aspect of homophobia. i think the debate about this often lacks nuance. on one hand, this is the sixth remake, and homophobia is something that is still often prevalent, and having one remake show that out of six is not in itself a problem. on the other, yes, happy fluffy stories are important, but sometimes people who have gone through stuff like this also need to see their experiences represented. the power of skam is that it shows difficult experiences BUT ALSO a happy ending. that can be very healing, i think, compared to other stories which focus only on the drama. the trouble is, i don’t think they dealt with it very well, or put any effort into processing the consequences of these harrowing things. and if you don’t, it feels cheap.

- on to my main gripe : the writing. previsible, i know. but to me, essential. and this is not about them ‘changing things’ - i like when remakes change stuff, when they do it well. the thing is, i have been burned too many times before. and when i sense that the writing is being wack, it makes it automatically much harder for me to invest emotionally in the characters. and simply put there were signs early on that made me distrust the writers. for starters, the first two episodes gave me a feeling that they didn’t have their priorities in order. the POV-immersion and depth is one of the most powerful aspects of skam, and it was lost. too many early clips felt out of Robbe’s perspective, and when it was him it was about Noor ; a few clips to show his discomfort were on point, but there were too many of them, and there were repetitive, losing time on what isn’t really an essential part of Robbe’s journey. and while they were spending time on clips that felt like misery flavored filler, they decided several times to condense original clips focused on Isak and Even, together ; like their first meeting and then their first hangout, or later in the series OHN and the minute by minute talk. and i think their story suffered from that. i think because they don’t have a real discussion early on, the buildup of their relationship feels mostly based on physical attraction. and while it certainly is a thing that happens, it just isn’t my fave love story thing. i missed the sweet pining from afar and tension that makes later drama believable. it felt like they brought the drama comparatively too fast without enough character work to make it worthwhile. Also there is just too much time spent on Zoenne drama, and their breakup seems like it foreshadows the dreaded s4 love triangle, which, yikes. the focus is all over the place, the rythm felt incoherent.

- what’s more, they decided to introduce pretty grave elements of plot, like Robbe using slurs against Sander, the homophobic attack, the suicidal urges on both their sides, Sander kissing Britt while he was still saying I love you to Robbe in the morning, without either proper build up or resolution. It made it all feel cheap, jarring, and unearned, especially when they didn’t put trigger warnings or made jokes about it on insta or waited forever to give news about the characters being ok. it felt like drama for the sake of drama, and definitely not written with a vulnerable audience of queer teens in mind. and at the same time, when it came to the ‘big scenes’ of their relationship, like the first kiss or the universes talk or sander’s episode, it felt more or less lifted from OG without a lot of effort made to adapt it to them. i actually quit live watching/blogging after the first kiss scene, because of how similar it was, and how uninspired it felt, and lukewarm. it felt like a lack of imagination. when it came to OHN, the scene in itself was lovely, but the weird time gap, random timing and people seemingly doing nothing after a suicidal Sander disappeared, sort of broke it for me. In the OG the combo of buildup, longing, realisation, fear, release works so well in a sequence, and splitting it over time really diluted it, to me. Similarly the quickly thrown out ‘life is now’ at the ending felt sort of out of nowhere, while in OG it was such a lovely bookend, him apologizing to Eva and reflecting on his growth. The symbolism, which ties everything so beautifully together in themes of rebirth, salvation, baptism, union, faith, deciding your own narrative in OG, here feels inconsistent. There is an attempt I see, something about wasteland vs. warmth/family, but it’s often absent of main clips. It’s nowhere near as coherent as it could be.

- all of this builds up to the main problem for me, of the season. which is, i didn’t really get into Robbe and Sander’s relationship. Or their individual arcs for that matter. When it comes to Robbe, I guess he just isn’t my type of character. I feel like he is missing the fire of an Isak. A lot of the time he just felt too passive, like he let other characters make his decisions. I was waiting for him to stand up for himself more than he did. And there are too many scenes of another character doing his coming out for him. And then Sander ; I have to say I don’t understand all the love his character gets. Maybe because that’s because he sort of gives me Dutch fuckboi vibes...but there were several times he just came accross as a flat out asshole. I found him intriguing in his intro clip, chaotic and charming, but that never really went where i expected it to. i didn’t get his passion, what drew him to art. the symbolism around his character - basically Bowie, and drawing Robbe, and Chernobyl (which is a bit tasteless imho, turning a tragedy like that into a cutesy romantic thing), feels ...disjointed, and shallow to me. Like I never really got into it. And maybe some people did and noticed deeper links but to me, I got stuck at the surface. I saw a lot of interesting theories with what was going on with him but in the end they just copied OG. And I’m sad to say, but he ended up feeling like a manic pixie dream boy cliché to me, and i just didn’t understand what drew them to each other so strongly. Yes, Robbe is caring and Sander is in need of care, but that feels like a very reductive reproduction of OG. Beyond that...i don’t know. Certain complexities of the OG i loved just...were sanded away, like Isak being ignorant about MI and learning compassion. This just...didn’t feel like it had the same depth, and often felt like soapy teenage drama, leaning too hard and too lazily on the actors’ chemistry. i like my romances wordy and solidly enmeshed in character development, and this was not it. It never felt like they had a real conversation about things, esp after the drama.

- i think this is the first remake that made me actually angry for reasons not related to problematic cast shit, and so i’m trying to analyze that emotion. for me it comes down to too much drama, too heavy handed. Too much of the boy squad being shitty to Robbe, too much Noor, too much filler clips without any deeper meaning, too much things distracting from getting to know the main characters and going into their issues in depth. They changed stuff, but didn’t have the guts to actually follow through. They broke the mold but only in ways that ended up feeling shallow and unconsequential. Like I would have loved seeing Robbe go to therapy ! see his mom ! Zoe and Robbe go to the police together ! Sander have a complicated home situation ! or doing a Bowie related art installation to express his feelings of alienation ! seeing more of the underground graffiti scene ! or just...something, idk. And them also removing the faith-related themes also felt disappointing. and the ohn clip taking place in the place where sander draws feels very....basic to me, even if it was pretty. very ‘oh he’s an artist, here is his safe place’....hm, okay. I didn’t like that they made Britt into such a villain, I didn’t like how the boy squad showed no care for Robbe whatsoever for weeks until the plot said it was time for them to be redeemed in a way that felt too jarring, and I didn’t like that they made Moyo so horrible but redeemed him so easily. I actually thought they would show that it’s okay to separate yourself from friends who are that bigoted, because it just shows they are not willing to care for people. And him suddenly saying those sweet and mature things felt too out of characters and a ahah ‘gotcha’ rather than depth . I didn’t like that Robbe, too, was made so virulent by his internalized homophobia but got over it so quickly. I think what disappointed me most, in the end, was that I kept picking up potential and the show kept doing absolutely nothing with it, or confirming my fears, and it made me feel stupid and out of tune with whatever they were doing. And it’s, to me, symptomatic in modern storytelling of a trend to privilege shocks and twists over inner coherence and build up. And it makes for...Very underwhelming stuff, in the end.

- all in all, i think this remake illustrates why s3 of OG is not as easy to remake as it sounds. it’s very intricate machinery, with a pitch perfect rhythm (and an extremely passionate nitpicky fanbase lmao). and if you don’t get all the parts of why it’s so great, you’re going to lose a lot of it. (and all the remakes ended losing up stuff in translation ; more or less compensated by inventivity and charm of their own.) so many mainstream press articles praise the real time/social media format and the ‘real talk about teen issues’ which, yeah, is part of the success, but doesn’t explain the devotion on its own. there’s the way the story uses real time to build up a storytelling rythm that feels organic and makes sense as if it was part of the lives of the viewer. There’s foreshadowing and aftershocks. Wtfock often feels like they wrote the clip numbers on darts and randomly threw them at a week planner. If an episode of a regular series ends on a cliffhanger, we can be thrilled and frustrated and put it aside for next week. but if you end an episode with a character shown to be suicidal, or you don’t show them being okay after a beating, for hours or days, that’s the emotion you leave your viewers with, because skam is a continuous experience. and remakes who pile on drama moments without respite (looking at you too skamfr s4) don’t get how tiring and disengaging this can be, in this format. skam worked so well because of how benevolent it was, on the whole. and also, cheeky, with that ‘don’t take it too seriously’ deflating humor. grumpy isak in ‘hate me now’ mode getting bumped into. this lightness and comedy often feels missing here. also my god the social media is absolutely terrible. plus...there is too much filler. honestly, them having more time, on the whole...ended up being a bad thing. Plus Wtfock feels like it has so much more unadressed plot points, like...why did Sander change his mind exactly and kiss Britt again ? How did Robbe’s mom react ? Who did the attack ? What is happening w Senne now ? etc. And it feels like they just missed the fact that OG, however subtly, did adress those things.

- now, don’t get me wrong, i’m happy it’s popular in Belgium. On the whole it’s still a beautiful story of love and acceptance. and that people found something in it that spoke to them. but as a remake, it’s probably one of the most disappointing yet, to me. and i sort of...don’t get the hype. and i don’t want to be too ‘oh cute boys kissing’ cynical about it. but i think this illustrates why in the end, this is also very subjective. there are probably things i missed because i didn’t feel the need to examine it in depth or do the extra emotional work that comes with being a devoted fan of something. and some of their choices made me angry, and i’m not forgiving when it comes to these things. i still wish them success for s4 and whatever else, but i don’t think i will watch live, at least unless it gets really rave reviews about their treatment of Yasmina’s season. i mean they got s2 right, who knows?

#wtfock #also i'm willing to discuss this reasonably but any sort of hate will be deleted on sight lol #i thought a lot about posting this or not but then i was like well this is my blog and i have a lot of emotions about this #so i needed to process

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daily-rayless · 4 years

Text

favorite games of the 2010s

Games with an American release within the 2010s. Arranged roughly in the order I played them, because figuring out favoritism is hard. Spoiler-lite. Also, in case it needs to be said, saying a game is my favorite doesn’t mean I endorse everything the game endorses.

Also important: this is about favoritism, not quality. I’m not saying these are the best games.

Okay.

Persona 3: Portable (Atlus)

P3 was always secondary to P4 to me until Persona 3: Portable came along. This isn't everyone's experience, but being able to play games as a female character is a big deal to me. FeMC's positioning as a capable, respected leader who isn't temporary and isn’t just some guy’s love interest is so wonderful. And I love that the game allows her to social link the entire main cast. While Ken's romantic option was a terrible choice, many of the others benefit: her friendship with Junpei is rich, touching, and believable, even when it devolves into resentment; Akihiko's and Shinjiro's arcs are sweet, but also melancholy; Yukari, Mitsuru, and Fuuka are supportive best friends without all the baggage of the male MC's love routes; even Koromaru gets his spotlight. Ryoji's social link adds important depth to his character, reframing the later stages of the game. As wonderful as Elizabeth is, I find I like Theo even better. The battle system is vastly improved, and while the visuals suffer in the PSP transfer, the story's still told well. P3P remains one of my absolute favorite games and was a great start to the decade.

Nier: Gestalt (Cavia)

Something you’ll see repeated across this list is that I love strong, complex character bonds. The emotional core of a game is really important to me. In combination, this game has one of the most unique main casts, and, in their closeness, one of the most powerful. The jaggedness of Nier, Kainé, Emil, and Weiss fit together as an intense and sympathetic whole. You want so much to see them all safely escape the dark stories surrounding each of them. Nier's secondary strength is its New Game +, which is wrenching, but reminds the player that you never see the whole story in just your first glance.

Fate/Extra (Type Moon & Imageepoch)

For seven weeks, Hakuno fights her way through a blood tournament; the story never spares her from it. Most often, a repetitive story structure is a liability, but in Fate/Extra, it builds the drama. Knowing from week to week that most of the cast is going to die – understanding, increasingly, that Hakuno may not have a happy ending waiting for her – the repetition and inevitability adds to the experience. All three of her potential Servants are interesting, funny, lovable, and morally troubling, and each plays well off of Hakuno's personality. Which Hakuno, despite being a silent protag, has plenty of. The game falls short in a number of areas, but for me, intercharacter relationships are always a big deal, and Hakuno's bond with each Servant is detailed, compelling, and develops across the entire game.

Tales of Xillia 2 (Bandai Namco Studios)

The original ToX is the richer, more complete, more epic game, and definitely the place where you should first meet these characters and this world. But for me, ToX2 edges out its parent for the uniqueness of its premise, its endearing silent protagonist, and the shattering twists and turns of its later plot points. I don't usually like kid characters, but Elle is a useless sidekick worth fighting for, every inch of the way.

Resonance of Fate (tri-Ace)

Set in a broken post-apocalyptic city, this game feels like a combination of Wild Arms and Xenogears. The story is intense and cryptic with a carefully controlled delivery to the player. The three main characters hide their wounds as well as their strengths – until circumstances force them into the open. There's some regrettable juvenile humor, and the story remains too shadowy in places, but Vashyron's, Leanne's, and Zephyr's bond kept me wanting to know more about them and the punishing circumstances they've been left in.

Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames)

Nier: Gestalt taught me that not everything would be as it seemed, and Nier: Automata fulfills that warning a second time. But what makes me love it are the three protagonists, 2B, 9S, and A2. Throughout the different story paths, each one sees their role change from hero to antagonist or antagonist to hero relative to the others' positions. This is such a stand-out concept, and it's written very well. Even when a character shifts from hero to antagonist, they still keep your sympathy; perhaps you don't agree with them, but you still feel for them so much. Incredible music and rideable moose are also a plus.

Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerilla Games)

I can always find room for improvement, but, for me, there's just too much to love about this game. Traveling over the gorgeous environments is wonderful by itself. The gameplay is engrossing, allowing you to try so many different strategies across different fights. The npcs are intriguing. The setting is unique. The monster designs are fantastic. The game gives you reasons to want to fight the villains, yet doesn't leave them unrealistic or ludicrously unrelatable. The hero, Aloy, is no-nonsense but not invincible, practical but also tender, and it's so satisfying building her legend alongside her. The story ends satisfyingly, but leaves the world wide open, just waiting for a sequel. This is a horizon I want to cross again and again.

Transistor (Supergiant Games)

People complain about the story being too obscure, and that's justified at times. But the heart of the game isn't about plot – it's about emotions. Specifically, the emotions Red and Boxer have towards the city, and the emotions Red and Boxer have towards each other. The game organically builds both of these relationships across five hours of gameplay, latching right on to the player's heartstrings and making you worry and fight every step of the way. The gameplay is deeply customizable, the art direction is velvety and lush, and the music is not only gorgeous, but sometimes subtly intermixed with the narrative. The world is shrinking around these characters, and you want to see them through to safety – and you wish you had more time to know them better.

The Banner Saga (Stoic Studio) (all three games)

Its narrative overlaps different plot arcs. There's more than one hero. The story is mature and serious, often threatening you with despair, but still urging you to believe that somehow your brave characters can make it through safely. Your decisions directly influence who lives, who dies, and where the story turns. The music is haunting. The game evokes Lord of the Rings, from its art style to its Norse influences to its focus on the significant actions of humble people. But it still shoulders its way out of that shadow with its giants, centaurs, and multiple central female characters. A game you want to play repeatedly, if you can stand the responsibility of having so many characters’ lives in your hands.

Pyre (Supergiant Games)

Purgatory Basketball sounds like a nightmare premise for me, focusing on the kind of gameplay I'm terrible at. However, the game is accommodating enough that I not only won my rites, I enjoyed the process. Even when I was bad at it. But what makes me love the game is its cast. While not all characters can get equal focus on a single playthrough, each is interesting, some very outside the typical RPG character cast. The main villain is handled atypically, and the story avoids many of the tired plot beats I've gotten sick of over the years. The main character, the Reader, is given a surprising amount of flexibility, and they're just another one of Supergiant Games’ protagonists who are silent, but still make a definite impact on the game's story and playing experience.

In short, this was a good decade for me, game-wise, especially in the last two years. Hopefully there will be lots of stand-outs in the 2020s too.

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