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batsarebetterthanpeople · 5 months

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Hi! I’m sorry if this is dumb but I’m not understanding why the Ed hate is racist? From what I’ve seen it has nothing to do with his race, just his actions? What is racist about it? I’m asking this very genuinely because I want to understand and learn more from this so please don’t take this as being annoying or patronizing or something!

ok so not all Ed hate falls under the racism catagory some people just have genuinely bad taste. The thing that is racist is insisting that he's an abuser. I've explained several times why he's not abusive, as have many many others. But, here's the quick recap: Izzy was abusing him, Ed has a history of lashing out towards his abusers with physical violence and Izzy established that he had been doing this sort of thing to Ed for years so you know, he's going the way of Ed's father and nobody would argue that Ed was abusing his father. Ed wasn't abusive towards the crew. Like he did some shitty things while suicidal. He hurt his friends I'm not saying he didn't. However: 1. This show is full of very very over the top violence and no one is getting up Button's ass about Lucius's finger. 2. It would be an incredibly strange move for a rom com to make one of it's leads a domestic abuser, It's not such a weird move to give a character in a rom com a suicidal arc where they push all their friends away. The first choice would yeild a completely unwatchable show the second is what happened in ofmd. 3. David Jenkins himself has talked about this and he said "What Blackbeard did was by the standards of the pirate world a bit much" I don't know if I even agree with this considering everything we've heard about Hornigold but I certainly agree with the sentiment that Ed did some shitty things but nothing that was significantly more horrific than other characters in the show who nobody treats the way they treat Ed.

So with all of that in mind: Why is it racist to call him an abuser. Like sure, all of this adds up to the abuse truthers being wrong and stupid but what does it have to do with Ed's skin color? This ties into the history that the Maori people share with a lot of indigenous groups who were colonized by europeans. I would encourage you to do more research on your own but I'll point you in the generally right direction. Indigenous men are portrayed as hyper violent in order to justify their subjugation (see head hunters stereotypes or how often people assume indigenous cultures were doing human sacrifice). A lot of the Ed hate exaggerates how violent he is in comparison to other characters. Indigenous men are portrayed as dirty and barbaric and in need of being civilized by a benevolent white savior. A lot of fic and meta positions either Stede or Izzy as needing to save Ed from himself, or as needing to babysit him or teach him to read or bathe, ect. That's why people are so up in arms about the soap eating joke.

And finally the abuse thing. Positioning indigenous men as abusers has been used historically as a shoddy justification for family separation. This stereotype pairs incredibly well with the violent stereotype. So IF Ed was abusing poor defenseless little white Izzy it would actually be a racist decision for the writers to make. Like there's a way to portray characters of color doing abuse, because being nonwhite doesn't make you incapable of doing shitty things, but that would not be it. Thankfully that is catagorically not what's happening, we've been told that the Kraken is an abuse responce, Izzy provokes the Kraken, we've seen Izzy be paralelled with Ed's two other abusers (Hornigold and Ed's dad), we've been shown Izzy controlling the flow of information between Ed and his crew, we've been showing Izzy manipulating Ed, we've been shown him lying to turn the crew against Ed, we've been shown Izzy attempting to murder someone Ed cares about specifically because Ed cares about them, we've seen Izzy threaten Ed's life for acting wrong, we've heard Izzy confess to doing all of that shit FOR YEARS on his death bed (a time which it would completely undercut the emotional impact of the scene if he was lying). So like... people ignoring all of that shit in order to portray Ed as shooting off his leg for no fucking reason and say he's the abuser is very... "You forgot the racism don't worry we'll add it back in for you" and continuing to insist on that and be shitty to people who won't cop to your dumbass shit is actively making the fandom a more racist space.

#ofmd meta #fandom racism

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suaine · 1 year

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I really want to talk about queerbaiting and how the definition of it shifts in usage and what it means at the core. The currents wikipedia article describes it as a "marketing technique in which creators hint at but do not depict" a queer romance or other queer rep.

The marketing technique part is two-fold: selling to queer audiences, and using queer audiences to drum up buzz.

The first is obvious and straightforward - a piece of content is marketed to a queer audience specifically promising content and then not following through or having the follow through be something that is either ambiguous or easily dismissable. Examples for this would be dozens of articles proclaiming "The First Gay Character!" in the MCU, or Disney, only for that to be an absolute non-event. (I'm sure you've seen the articles)

The second is more interesting and more insidious - a piece of content is made to appeal to a queer audience by hinting at or promising queer rep to tap into the audience's desire to make that thing succeed, using their considerable passion to basically get free advertising in wider fandom circles. We know that this works: look at how popular Our Flag Means Death became, or Yuri On Ice - they were sky-rocketing BECAUSE of their potential (and then actualized) queerness. But you don't actually have to follow through to get this effect, and many don't. It takes a very long time for queer audiences to get tired and give up. Some of us never do.

How many times did you start watching something because Those Two Guys were on your dash enough?

Now, queerbaiting is not an easily definable concept because it doesn't necessarily require all of those parts of the definition to be real and it doesn't necessarily have to be on purpose.

Sometimes the people doing the queerbaiting think they're doing the queer audience a favor by giving us hints and nudges, by feeding us a fun pairing that we can play with. And in some ways, that's true. We get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But it's no longer the 90s, where queer pairings HAD to live in subtext. Xena, Due South, etc. They gave us as much as they could at the time, or at least it felt that way.

Today, there is a growing perception that creators have more freedom to establish and play with queer characters, that there isn't institutionalized homophobia above their heads stopping them from executing these stories the way we yearn for them. That's not usually true, the more and more queerfriendly production teams are still running up against prejudice and conservatism, and it manifests in weird ways. It's okay to have this much rep and no more, you can have a gay side character, but not a bi male main etc. The gays can get together, but they have to suffer in some way. Bury your gays is alive and well for a reason.

And then there's the showrunners who really truly created those initial stories by accident and resent the hell out of the queer audience for being more invested in that than the rest of their story. That happens and it sucks but it is what it is. You can never know which way it goes until someone tells you.

But queerbaiting is more about audience than it is about content - using a queer audience to promote your show is still queerbaiting if the romance happens but then one of the couple is brutally murdered. It's still queerbaiting even if the promises being made are all subtext. It can be queerbaiting even if there's other queer rep on your show. Because it's about using the queer audience to create buzz.

When David Jenkins was interviewed after the success of Our Flag Means Death, he talked about queerbaiting, and the many things he as a straight man had never considered. And it's honestly an eye-opening moment in this conversation:

What is it about Our Flag Means Death that made it so easy for people to really sort of miss the early queer subtext that’s barely subtext?

I’m the wrong person to ask because I, well, I know a lot more now than I did a month ago, and I know a lot more now than I did two weeks ago based on how this show was going to roll out. I thought it was pretty clear to me that you get halfway through, and you’re like, “Oh, OK. These people have feelings for each other. And they’re attracted to each other.”

Little bit, yeah.

And it’s clear. I think I didn’t realize — because I see myself represented on camera, and I see myself falling in love in stories — I didn’t realize how deep the queer baiting thing goes. Being made to feel stupid by stories, I guess.

How do you mean?

As we were breaking the season and looking at how it would go, part of me knew that, yes, Stede and Ed’s romance was going to be real. But one part of me felt like, “We’re going to do this story, and they’re going to kiss, and maybe that’s not even going to be that big a deal. Maybe it’ll just be a blip.” But then, looking at how people were kind of afraid to let themselves believe that we were doing that was a surprise to me, and it’s heartbreaking.

I understand it much better now, and it’s like, oh, you were made to feel stupid by a bunch of shows — unintentionally, by and large, I think — but made to feel like “maybe I’m going to be up there. Maybe that’ll be me in this story.” And then at the end of it feeling like, “Aw. No, it’s not me. I’m not in this one.” That fucks with you at any age, I think, but especially when you’re young and impressionable. I know it would make me feel that I didn’t belong, and I think that’s part of where the response to the show comes from.

And I think that's where a lot of the anger and pain comes from: it's a form of narrative gaslighting where you start to doubt not just your ability to read story cues but maybe a little bit the legitimacy of your own experiences. It cuts to the bone in ways that regular het ship bait wouldn't.

As I said above, it's not always about the amount of rep in a story, but about the way a story indicates to queer audiences that a long-form story MIGHT be for them and then doesn't deliver - Sterek was still queerbait even with gay characters on the show, Clexa was still queerbait even though the relationship was consummated. Because the queer audience was used but never truly taken into consideration.

So would you call Buddie, specifically, queerbait? The ship was teased/jokingly referred to in season 2 in a deliberate way - this is a matter of fact straight from Tim Minear's mouth and the literal text of the show (see the worm in face influencer call). Then from season 3 onward their relationship was developed in ways that use a lot of narrative romance tropes, from camera angles to acting choices to dialogue, there's enough there to make you think, "hey, maybe?"

Now, in interviews and other official outlets, Kristen Reidel has always been careful to manage people's expectations, she's never promised anything. But inadvertently the social media presence, the media buzz and the way people have responded to the fandom have certainly not done anything to dissuade people's belief that it would/could happen and happen soon.

I got into the show based on the queer grapevine buzz. I made two other people watch the show, one because she loves procedurals, one because she's A Gay Like Me.

There's grounds to call the handling of Buddie specifically queerbaiting, I suppose, other impressive rep notwithstanding. Hen and Karen, Michael, and Josh, and so many of the calls - 911 is unflinchingly queer-friendly without question. Whether or not Buddie can still be queerbaiting is honestly a matter of interpretation. I personally don't think arguing about the semantics here is doing us any favors.

Because ultimately, an accusation of queerbaiting does nothing or only hurts - we don't have the power to change the minds of executives or creators who just don't want to go there. If for some reason they don't want to do this and the development so far has been entirely unintentional, then accusing them of queerbaiting will almost certainly result in reflexive no-homo additions, up to completely narratively separating the characters.

And if the development has been intentional but just never came to fruition for other reasons (executive meddling, time crunches, etc.) then yelling at people who are on our side probably won't help either.

It's certainly not done until it's done and I promise you, as someone who has lived through fandom since the X-Files, it could be so very much worse than this.

But. My friend has stopped watching the show and I don't begrudge them the choice. Because my god, we're old and tired, and hope can hurt a little too much sometimes and it's hard to cling to when you just lost a lot of ground. Again.

So when kids yell queerbaiting over the finale I know it comes from that deep well of anger and pain. It's not about rep, per se, it's about stories that feel like they might be ours and then aren't, and that hurts, especially if we have invested more than just passive consumption (writing meta, creating art and fic and gifs, so many gifs, telling people, so many people, to watch the show with us, because it feels like this time, you know, this time it's happening. That story, the one you've been waiting for.)

I get it and I'm sorry you're suffering. If it helps a little, I do believe that 911 is not made by people who resent us.

#buddie #911 on fox #911 meta #fandom meta #fandom discourse

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appleteeth · 1 year

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I posted 32,764 times in 2022

271 posts created (1%)

32,493 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ourflagmeanslgbtqia

@cursmudgeon

@dingdongyouarewrong

@neoncomets

@snake-snack-stede

I tagged 13,578 of my posts in 2022

#our flag means death - 3,238 posts

#ofmd spoilers - 283 posts

#rhys darby: official tumblr sexyman™ - 269 posts

#rhys darby - 164 posts

#wwdits - 162 posts

#stupid fucking gay pirates - 161 posts

#ofmd - 143 posts

#stupid fucking stede bonnet (affectionate) - 131 posts

#rhys darby: earth's hottest cryptid - 123 posts

#pffffftttttttt - 119 posts

Longest Tag: 124 characters

#🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

My Top Posts in 2022:

New Taika behind the scenes pics from the official OFMD Twitter.

See the full post

2,071 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

Rhys Darby's ongoing adventures with the family dog he insists he hates.

See the full post

2,962 notes - Posted May 3, 2022

How we doing, gang? Having a normal one?

3,828 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

One of the scenes that I again felt was incredibly lovely in Episode 9 is the one between Stede and Ed sitting on the beach. It's very quiet and intimate, and the kiss happens, which doesn't come out of nowhere given the mood of the scene, but almost takes both characters a little by surprise. What did you want to capture most about that moment in playing it with Taika, and was there anything that you decided to bring to it apart from what David [Jenkins] had on the page?

DARBY: I wanted to make sure that the audience knew that Stede didn't really know what love was and hadn't really expected a kiss or anything like that. He was very naive to it all but was just on this rollercoaster because he enjoyed every minute of it, and he didn't know where it was going to end. I think he expected, in some ways, for Blackbeard or Ed to take the lead — which he has, in most of the things we've done on board. He's the experienced pirate, and Stede tried to give his own 10 cents by helping out with gentlemanly things and the use of cutlery and wearing fine fabrics and things like that. But there was certainly a lack of confidence in the area of... I think that's probably the same for both of them, with love.

I really could come down to either of them probably taking that next step and just touching each other in that way. But it just so happened to be Ed, because Ed felt invigorated. He felt like he had finally let go of the persona of Blackbeard, the evil side of him. Once the beard came off and everything, he's like some dashing guy from the Mills & Boon — you probably don't know what those books are.

I do, the romance novels.

DARBY: The romance novels. Yeah. So he is sitting there, but he's certainly more at ease, you can see that. Because Stede isn't. Stede's realizing that he has possibly screwed everything up and that they're going to die, and I think he's got a lot more going on in his head, and you can see that when they do the kiss. Then Ed walks away, [and] there's just this really puzzled look on Stede's face where he's taking that in, but he's taking so many other things in at the same time, which are: Is this the end? What do I do here? Have I done the right thing? Yeah. But I think I hopefully played that right.

- Collider, 24th March 22

Fuck my man, you played that so so right.

5,293 notes - Posted May 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I saw this joke but thought the punchline would be different, so please enjoy.

17,111 notes - Posted April 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Fucking hell the crj meme is still going strong #My legacy also includes coining the tag:#rhys darby: official tumblr sexyman™#What a year eh?

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knowlesian · 2 years

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Genuine question, what we know of real blackbeard he was British which ofmd has clearly shown his British roots so we know its canon there. His parents are also white in the flashbacks. So why do you keep saying blackbeard is maori? It seems to me Taika is maori but this part of the actors personal identity is not being highlighted or referred to in the show so I am just curious as to why this seems to be prominent in your metas.

so: i am going to take you at your word that this is a genuine question, and you truly want to understand. i hope i'm right, because i’d like to live in a world where this is genuinely a teachable moment. that said: there is a sick feeling in my stomach as i answer this, and i want you to know that.

the sick feeling is named "this person just did the thing i'm talking about. i have spent all this time and effort and care trying to communicate something i find so very important: it was wasted. either i failed, or they didn’t even try."

like i've said in my meta: when this happens, it hurts. it makes me angry. there is a much angrier version of this ask in my heart where i give it to you real good, because it would make me feel good to do so.

gonna be honest: i do not like this ask, sam i am. i considered not even answering it, in the same way i auto-delete anything hateful or obscene (not colloquial or affectionate). i try not to waste my time in life, and indulging open bigotry with debate or explaining things to people who aren’t interested in what i have to say both feel like time-wasters to me.

but much in the fashion of olu (because at the end of the day, i really hope if i’m like anybody on this show, it’s him) i'm gonna keep hoping for a better world, and so i will swallow that first emotional instinct and lay it out in kinder terms. and just as much as i hope you understand that even asking me this question kind of sucked if you read a word i’ve written and taken it seriously, i hope you take my answer here to heart instead.

there is a quick, practical answer. i will knock this out first, because it’s easy: the reason i say that is because david jenkins says that. to quote this interview:

It ended badly in real life, but we're not doing real life because we've got a Polynesian-Jewish man from New Zealand playing Blackbeard. Once you're doing that, you're not doing real life.

so: i keep saying it because the show is saying it. if you want to argue with the entire creative team up to and including the creator, that’s your choice, but the matter is settled.

(also, just to clarify: his mother is not played by a white actor in the flashback, while his father is.)

now. let’s tackle the reason i keep having to take stress breaks while i write this.

i understand that you think this was asked politely. you didn’t insult me; you just asked a question. and if we simply deem ‘polite’ to dwell in framing but not context, then i suppose you have been.

i do not see the world this way. hatred rendered in poetry is hatred; justice communicated through the profanest terms is justice. i care a lot about the words i use, in part because i know they’re going to be out there in the world without all the context that lives only in my head and my experiences. it’s why i know i fall short all the fucking time and want to keep improving and refining my language as a life goal, not just a writer thing.

so, you and me? we’re one on this. i’m not saying all this to be like “you are a unique and shitty person”. i have asked many an inadvertently shitty question myself, and i assume i will do so again and again and again.

now: i’m gonna go ahead and use your words next.

“It seems to me Taika is maori but this part of the actors personal identity is not being highlighted or referred to in the show”.

i have bolded and emphasized that myself, obviously, because that’s the actual point here. to you, it has not been highlighted or referred to.

and just real quick, because it’s gonna bug me not to say it:

ofmd has clearly shown his British roots so we know its canon there

using british that way implies british always means white; i am not british, but i can assure you it does not.

now, my own analysis on these issues has focused in on colonialism and race and christianity’s impact on the world (and much like i myself am not māori, i am not jewish; i am very openly a Weird White Jesus expert, so pretending i can speak with any authority on the matter outside my general focus on the very broad history of colonization/empire/enslavement and my own lived experiences would be A Dick Move) but i can also assure you, these things are being highlighted.

the hard pill to swallow here is that these stories are happening right out in the open, alongside a million others; you just can’t see it. and that baseline fact is also okay! like i said: i can sometimes tell those stories i will never live and often can’t even claim i brush up against are happening, but the best i can do is listen and absorb and not pretend i own every floor i step on. so we’re also together on that.

i am 10000000% sure i have missed so much of the commentary this show is making. it’s part of why i love it so much!

in that vein, the māori and jewish members of the audience i’ve seen speaking on these issues have a lot of really important shit to say, so i’ll direct you towards those perspectives for more on the specifics there and direct myself back to what i can talk about with any authority: why regardless of intent, this question is actually saying “i want you to stop talking about race”.

because why ask it like this? what’s the utility here? you could have just said “hey, i want to understand but i’m not seeing it. why is it important that ed’s māori?”

instead, you came in with a set point: “it’s not there, because i don’t see it. i’m asking this like a question, but it’s actually a rebuttal.”

i don’t really have a big emotional ending here like i usually do, because i’m tired and was supposed to be doing other shit tonight, but this felt worth nipping in the bud.

so i guess i will just say: i hope this answers your question, and that it was a genuine question at all.

#so yeah #please don't ask stuff like this.#if you want to ask yourself or google: go wild #this now serves as my tap the sign moment #like... yeah. honestly a little frustrated #if you don't care... don't read my shit!#it's so very long #i promise it'll save you time and we will BOTH be happier #now: i'm gonna go make a fucking drink

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lesamis · 2 years

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Hi lilli! I wanted to ask you bc I think you watched black sails as well, would you recommend our flag means death to someone who liked black sails?

hi anon! i'm really sorry this took so long to get back to. it's a bit of a difficult question with a longer answer than you signed up for, please bear with me:

a lot of people love and enjoy black sails & ofmd both. i personally still believe that recommending ofmd by evoking black sails can be a bit of a catastrophic comparison. because yes, there are those who are just thrilled to get to get a subversive show about pirates again, but i've also seen a bit of a mood going around of like. wariness? by people who are very protective of black sails and seem to worry that there's a self-satisfied smugness to omfd, as though it's an attempt to one-up or fix something about black sails. it absolutely is not, but i see how it could be perceived that way with how often these two shows are mentioned together and compared (and, in some cases, even pitted against one another). that's really a shame.

to me - and again, this is subjective - much better reference points for ofmd are galavant and what we do in the shadows: ofmd is a workplace comedy, like wwdits, that very lovingly pokes fun at genre conventions, like galavant. it doesn't have qualms breaking its internal logic or playing fast and loose with history. hell, i'd even argue it has more in common with ted lasso than black sails: similarly to how ted lasso is a show about football with fairly little football in it, ofmd is show about pirates that doesn't have all that much piracy. like, david jenkins is on record saying he doesn't care about pirates. he uses a traditionally violent and masculine setting, kind of like ted lasso does, in order to Make Men Talk About Feelings And Cry On Screen. history couldn't be more secondary to this. if most of what made you love black sails is that it treats history as a main character, that it takes every last implication of its historical setting extremely seriously, that this constitutes such a major part of flint's position as a tragic hero, then the sheer irreverence of ofmd may well not be for you.

i've honestly never seen a better case-in-point for the idea that tone ultimately takes precedence over setting than the reception of these two shows. comparing them seems unprodutive to me, it's a typical apples and oranges situation - except the orange may not be an orange at all, but something entirely different: a lot of people don't seem to know yet what to make of ofmd genre-wise, and i honestly don't either. ofmd does camp and silliness and slapsticky violence and it goofs around and kicks logic to the curb. it also breaks your heart, and goes to darker places than you'd expect just having seen the pilot. it's more thematically dense than we're used to from a comedy. that, i think, is what makes up a lot of its appeal to those who love black sails and ofmd both.

so tl;dr - i don't think our flag means death benefits from being placed next to black sails, and i'm worried that putting them in conjunction so often might make people who love either show unnecessarily defensive. watch a trailer, watch the pilot, give the show a go if you want to, don't if you don't - no need to justify your preference to anyone.

#sorry for the novel lmao i feel weirdly strongly about this #especially bc what i've seen from the crowd that loves black sails & can't warm to ofmd makes me kind of sad? like #they have SO little in common! i know the superficial similarities may be hard to ignore #but as someone who has always cared infinitely more about tone than setting and genre #i'm really struggling to put black sails and ofmd in a constellation where comparing them makes sense #consider what you love about black sails & consider what you love in shows generally. if hard worldbuilding matters to you then oof #this one might not be it yknow!#if you're a feelings-first type of person then hey you might just enjoy ofmd #anyway #sorry again anon i hope this was even Remotely helpful lmao #our flag means death #asks #anon

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scarletjedi · 2 years

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OFMD predictions

spoilers ahoy

okay, so first of all - I don’t watch romcoms, really, so I’m less familiar with the tropes. HOWEVER, I saw a post earlier today (I’m not sure if it was here or twitter) that said this seasons ends with Stede at the “running through the airport” moment but with Ed still in the “It’s over, and love is dead” part - they’re at different beats. But! the next beat is reconciliation. So....how will it happen?

Here are a few thoughts. Some are mine. Some I’ve seem before but agree with:

1) if Stede hadn’t arrived at that island in the last few minutes, then that would have been the opening sequence of season 2.

2) Being that Kracken!Ed has Jim, Frenchie (and Lucius, see next point), we can assume that Steede and the Revenge crew are going to go after them. This will be the plot that leads to reunion (if not reconciliation). The question is not what will happen, but *how* and *how long*. Personally, I love the idea of them being reconciled after an episode or two and then facing other stuff, but I can also seem them not getting back together for realz until the end of the season (see point 4).

3). Lucius isn’t dead. One of the first things that Stede shows Ed about the revenge is the secret passages he has all about the ship - I know I’m not the first person to say this, but I’m on team “Lucius hiding in the ship’s secret passages like hawkeye in the air vents of Avengers Tower circa 2012 fanfic”. From a writers standpoint, then, we have Jim and Frenchie on board to help - and I’m gonna say that Fang and Ivan help too.

3a) I think if Lucius was really dead, and permanently, he would have been killed in front of people with a body. There’s foreshadowing of his hiding as well, from when Jim and Oluwande hide him.

4) reconciliation - Kracken!Ed “killing” Lucius and Stede leaving give each other something to forgive - something terrible that represents what each feel is the worst part of themselves (killer vs coward) but was in a sense “undone” and something the other can forgive. Because in reality, Ed isn’t a killer and Stede isn’t a coward - but Ed makes Stede brave and Ed can, to quote Florence Welch. “put it down in the pleasure of [his] company”

4a) The remark that Stede makes in episode 9 about facing one’s mistakes and making right by facing the consequences....come on guys. We’re going to see that dialogue again, and it’s going to be when Stede is on the deck of the Revenge before Kracken!Ed, who asks why he came back (now, when he didn’t come back before--)

4b) I saw something else earlier today, about how Ed needs to learn who he is before they can get back together - and I agree. A “synthesis” of the parts of him he wants to keep (it’s the egg post - I can’t find it, but I’ll link if if someone finds it). I don’t think Ed will be able to hear Stede until he learns who Ed is, not who others want him to be. (I think the groundwork is certainly there for Stede to accept Ed wholeheartedly - most of Stede’s censure is of things that Ed doesn’t really like either, but does because of old habits).

5) We’re going to see where Stede gets his historical flag - the skull flanked by a knife and a heart. Consider Blackbeard’s flag - the skeleton stabbing the heart? Stede’s pirate flag is based on Blackbeard’s - perhaps even a joint venture between the two?

6) History tells us that when Bonnet and Blackbeard parted ways, they never met up again. David Jenkins tells us "fuck history, gay pirates.” So - they will meet up again (they have to get Jim and Frenchie and Lucius!). History tells us that Bonnet sails under the moniker “Captain Thomas.” The show tells us that faking one’s death and starting over is a valid plan. I propose the following:

The show will end with the “death” of Blackbeard, but the final shot will be of Captain Thomas aboard his ship, with his co-captain Ed. A final bit of fuckery.

#OFMD #OFMD spoilers

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killherfreakout · 3 years

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tag 9 people to learn about their interests!

i was tagged by @lesbianearn and @ottelu thank u! 💘 i also saw some on my dash and love reading these

i will tag @vexedtonightmares @debickis @fireflysxx @lucasotteli @thegirlyouknow @martinskiseyes + anyone who wants to if you would like !!!

MUSIC

fav genre? indie alt ish and like bedroom pop kinda stuff

fav artist? BANKS prob <3

fav song? everybody wants to rule the world by years for fears is a classic

most listened to song lately? it’s officially leo season so ofc it’s the leo anthem: clarity by kim petras

song currently stuck in your head? bad dream baby by hippo campus

5 fav lyrics?

- what is light without a crack to let it in? — ‘come up short’ by kevin garrett

- well i thought i was eve but i guess i’m the snake — ‘welcome to eden’ by samia

- one of us will coolly hold the others hand / no metaphor for this that i could understand — ‘waiting in the shadows in the dead of night’ by little comets

- i’m not a saint so just give me the blame / i know what i want and it gets in my way / i know i’m not easy, darlin — ‘easy’ by troye sivan, kacey musgraves, mark ronson

- all the double-edged people and schemes / they make a mess then go home and get clean / you’re my best friend and we’re dancing in this world alone — ‘a world alone’ by lorde

BOOKS

fav book genre? i actually think i prefer realism but i love fantasy as well

fav writer? i don’t think i read enough to have one? :( my friend has recommended a lot of taylor jenkins reid’s works so i’m going to read them next

fav book? either the dream thieves/call down the hawk by maggie stiefvater <3

fav series? the raven cycle r we surprised !

comfort book? i’ve reread it like 5 times . so will grayson, will grayson by david levithan and john green (..i know)

fav book to read on a rainy day? i have some allen ginsberg and emily dickinson poetry books i love !

fav characters? ronan lynch, declan lynch, adam parrish, noah czerny, blue sargent (yes they’re all trc shut up)

5 fav book quotes? (all from trc and mostly ronan-centric shh)

- “No one in the church ever noticed him and it was possible God didn’t, either.”

- “‘Democracy's a farce,’ Ronan said, and Adam smirked, a private, small thing that was inherently exclusionary. An expression, in fact, that he could've very well learned from Ronan.”

- “‘You have to go after what you want,’ Kavinsky said. ‘You have to know what you want.’ Ronan said nothing. Under those parameters, it would be impossible for him. What he wanted was to know what he wanted.”

- “‘How do I know I love her? Because I can sleep after I talk to her.’”

- “Noah said to Ronan, ‘I know why you’re mad.’ Ronan sneered at him, but his pulse heaved. ‘Tell me then, prophet.’ Noah said, ‘It’s not my job to tell other people’s secrets.’”

MOVIES/TV

fav movie/tv genres? drama/thriller/horror and indie coming of age are the sweet spot for me

fav movie? thoroughbreds is my go to answer for this question

comfort movie? frances ha & miss stevens

movie you watch every year? ferris bueller’s day off & rise of the guardians

fav tv show? as of rn it’s prob succession, dare me, lucifer, genera+ion

comfort show? the oc and skam s1/skam france s3

most rewatched show? new girl or teen wolf honestly

5 fav (tv) characters? lucifer morningstar, riley luo, beth cassidy, stiles stilinski, seth cohen

if u read this far i’m kissing u on the lips mwah

#i spent too much time on this #i promise i read more books but not ones that make the cut ok #tag game #about me #caro.txt

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crowdvscritic · 4 years

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round up // MAY 20

When the going gets rough, I find I keep coming back to two kinds of movies: Romantic comedies and action adventures. For whatever reason, those are my comfort food, even if I’m watching someone get their heart broken or fight for their lives.

Hopefully you’re finding small ways to make your days brighter with books, movies, music, and shows that either help you fight or forget some of the darkness around us for a time. These were a few that made my month brighter, including a number of rom coms and action flicks.

May Crowd-Pleasers

SNL at Home

I almost cried for joy when I learned SNL would finish out its season even though it wouldn’t be in Studio 8H—it felt like a glimmer of a lot of joys we’ve lost in the last few months. While the At Home episodes have an odd rhythm compared to the usual broadcast (that live audience makes a difference, especially during “Weekend Update”), I still laughed every week. A few highlights:

“Bailey at the Movies”

“Dreams”

“Grocery Store”

“MasterClass Quarantine Edition” + “Another MasterClass Qurantine Edition”

“RBG Workout”

Watch those skits, then enjoy an infographic-heavy review of the season from Vulture.

Extraction (2020)

Is this a groundbreaking action movie? Heck no, but watching Chris Hemsworth fight to save a kid with a supporting appearance from David Harbour made for a great Sunday evening. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6/10

The Wedding Singer (1998)

Somehow I’ve never gotten around to this rom com, perhaps because Adam Sandler’s sense of humor usually isn’t my cup of tea. But here he replaces the gross out jokes with a sweet chemistry with Drew Barrymore. I liked it so much I gave 50 First Dates a shot, but, uh, I only recommend movies I finish. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

Baby Boom (1987)

Another not-innovative genre entry, but a satisfying one. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

Action Movies set in 1700s America: The Last of the Mohicans (1992) + The Patriot (2000)

Sometimes I don’t want a complicated villain—sometimes I just want Jason Isaacs (aka Lucius Malfoy) to be so evil I want Mel Gibson to take him down with a tomahawk. The Last of the Mohicans: Crowd - 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10 // The Patriot - Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

Taylor Swift City of Lover concert (2020)

I’ve seen Ms. Swift live twice and have loved the stadium tour spectacle. But an intimate show heavy on acoustic performance reminds me how well her songwriting holds up no matter the production

Prop Culture (2020)

I know, I know: Disney+ original series are well executed, long-form advertising. But can you find better-executed advertising than Jason Schwartzman chatting about the Mary Poppins snow globe at a piano with Richard Sherman, the character he played in Saving Mr. Banks? These staged treasure hunts for Disney movie props may be a bit self-important, but they’re also a dose of nostalgia and lessons about the technical side of filmmaking.

This Drake Bell TikTok

If you get this, you get this.

Silverado (1985)

My weird New Year’s resolution? To watch Westerns, a genre I’ve basically skipped until now. Silverado feels like a throwback to classic Westerns with a modern sensibility and more laughs. Plus, baby Kevin Costner and Jeff Goldblum in a fur coat! Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

Chromatica by Lada Gaga (2020)

Turns out I’m not just a fan of the A Star Is Born/duets with Tony Bennet/Joanne Lady Gaga. I’ve always been cooler on her electronic-dance-club Top 40 hits than her recent guitar-and-vocal stylings, but I can’t stop listening to album-long jam sesh. It’s old Gaga meets 2020 beats meets Depeche Mode/Flock of Seagulls/Madonna/New Order of the ‘80s.

The Heat (2013)

Two of my favorite funny ladies teaming up was—not surprisingly—a win. No one delivers a kooky insult like Melissa McCarthy. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

May Critic Picks

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and more try to keep Hollywood and their careers afloat despite a bizarre series of kidnappings, line flubs, and tap dances. Of course the Coen Brothers have a dry, wacky take on the Hollywood studio era. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Jane Eyre (2006)

Confession: I have not read Jane Eyre. But my mom did, and since she enjoyed the book so much, I figured a happy medium would be to watch this BBC miniseries with her commentary about what they changed from the Brontë classic.

Daisy Jones & the Six (2019)

The highest compliment I can give a book is staying up way too late to finish it, which is what I did with this buzzy Taylor Jenkins Reid book. It’s a barely-fictional oral history of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll in the ‘70s, and somehow it’s not crass or gratuitous about any of them. Most impressive is that Jenkins Reid keeps her characters well-defined even though it’s not written in a traditional novel format. My favorite parts of this story are the deep dive into the creative process and the exploration of how we remember the past. Here’s hoping the Sam Claflin/Riley Keough-led, Reese Witherspoon-produced, (500) Days of Summer team-written Amazon series can do this book justice—I need this soundtrack!

The Plot Thickens podcast (2020)

A Turner Classic Movies podcast hosted by Ben Mankiewicz about film history is a specific—and predictable—Venn diagram of my interests.

Alfred Hitchcock Double Feature: Psycho (1960) + The Birds (1963)

The story about Psycho goes that my grandmother ran out of the movie theatre screaming during the shower scene. Now that I’ve finally watched it, I know why. This horror drama is still terrifying today even if you know what’s going to happen. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 10/10

The story about The Birds goes that my mother was terrified as a little girl after walking into a room where it was on TV, and now she still won’t watch it. The Oscar-winning visual effects have aged so much I didn’t find it scary, but I was still sucked in by the eerie plot. That said, I did have a frightening dream last night involving Tippi Hedren, so it may be more effective than I realized. Give me just a sec while I schedule some Hitchcock-focused family therapy. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Spend two hours with the two nicest bank robbers you’ll ever meet! A winsome Paul Newman and a laconic Robert Redford make their escape on the scenic trails of the Southwest, and gosh darn it, if they aren’t just a barrel of fun. I enjoyed this Western so much I recommended it in a piece I wrote for Round Trip, too. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

Katharine Hepburn Double Feature: Alice Adams (1935) + Woman of the Year (1942)

Saying you love Katharine Hepburn is like saying you love sunshine and flowers—of course you do! In Alice Adams, she’s an optimistic Cinderella with a down-on-their-luck family who falls for a high class fella (Fred MacMurray). In Woman of the Year, she’s a high-brow journalist who falls for sports columnist Spencer Tracy in their first of nine films together. She earned Oscar nominations for both, but I dare you not to fall in love with her after watching just one. Alice Adams - Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 8/10 // Woman of the Year - Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

Also in May…

When you’re not allowed to travel, you get creative! For Round Trip this month, I recommended 13 movies about travel that will make you feel like you took the vacation COVID-19 made you cancel (including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). And if that’s not enough, why don’t you recreate your trip? I turned my apartment into Paris, and here’s why you might want to do the same.

Kyla and I didn’t go far back in time for most of our Gilmore Girls pop culture references on SO IT’S A SHOW? We covered three movies (or two, depending on how you see it) from the 2000s with connections to this year’s Oscars, 8 Mile and then Kill Bill. We also looked into the famous architect Stanford White and a movie he was featured in, 1981’s Ragtime, which had more connections to today’s culture than we expected.

I made another attempt at Jim Jarmusch for ZekeFilm with Broken Flowers. I still don’t get Jim Jarmusch.

My movie count in quarantine is up to 156. You can see them all on Letterboxd.

Photo credits: SNL, Taylor Swift, TikTok, Lady Gaga, Daisy Jones & the Six, The Plot Thickens. All others IMDb.com.

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rp-repliforce · 4 years

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{Get to Know my Muse in 8 Songs or Less}

Music is a great way to get a sense of a character’s personality, history, or general vibes. You might only have a handful of songs you associate your muse, or you could have a massive playlist that’s impossible to list. Songs make it for all kinds of reasons: the lyrics, the genre, or maybe you just found the song at random and it stuck. The purpose of this meme is to introduce your muse in the span of one album or less, share some of your musical inspiration, or even stuff you’re into right now while you write! You can explain as much or as little as you like (multimuses are welcome to do one track per character too!).

((I kind of broke the rules of this meme, and made a playlist for my main 3 muses. It’s a lot to go through, so its ok if you don’t want to listen to them all... ^^;))

General

1. [Stadler - Dreams of war] This was actually one of the first theme songs I chose for General, but I feel like it still manages to capture his personality prefectly. I think it kind of speaks for itself.

2. [A Cerulean State - If Only I Had Forever] When I listen to this song, I imagine General leaning against a balcony and staring at the stars... Maybe thinking about the things that could have been.

3. [Evening Star - Octavia] Here’s one that’s more upbeat. Even though this is an MLP song, it’s always reminded me of General. I don’t really know what this one makes me think of though...

4. [Two Steps From Hell - Submariner] Here’s a look at General’s more serious side. This one makes me think of General on the move. Most likely headed to a battle.

5. [David Edwards - Insurrection] I’ve been thinking about choosing this song as his new combat theme, because it captures how scrary it would actually be to fight him. His armor is nearly impenetrable, he’s strong enough to bash through the walls of fortresses, can easily crush a reploid in his hand, and It’s almost impossible to hide from his onslaught (if you’re a reploid) because his whiskers can detect electrical activity. I tend to assocoiate heavy sounding orchestral stuff with him anyways.

6. [Audiomachine - Last Plane Out] I chose this song to be the theme of General’s sacrifice. I remember that in my story, I actually drew the scene out a bit. Instead of moving himself into the path of the final weapon’s beam, he instead dives into the structures surrounding the core, and uses the last of his strength to cause as much destruction as he can. General eventually succumbs to his wounds, and has a surprisingly peaceful death before the inferno from the core’s implosion could take him. He died a true hero, giving up everything he had already sacrificed so much for to protect the innocent humans and reploids of earth.

7. [The Volga Boatmen (Paul Robeson cover)] I remember sharing this song to show how I imagined General’s singing voice to sound.

Colonel

1. [Two steps from hell - Never back down] This is the song I chose to be Colonel’s theme song. Beleive it or not, it has actual lyrics. I think they suit him really well.

2. [Kingdom Hearts II Soundtrack - Passion - KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version] If I could make this Colonel’s theme I would, but I have a personal rule against using songs from popular media for themes. I remember a time when I had almost lost muse for him, but listening to this song helped me remember his more noble and heroic side (mostly at 1:56 though).

3. [Thomas Bergersen - Immortal] This is actually one of the previous theme songs I had for him. I think it still does kind of fit

4. [Two Steps From Hell - Winterspell] Whenenver I listen to this one, it almost makes me picture a scene where Colonel goes on some kind of mission. Also so far it seems like most of these songs make me think of Colonel running. He’s pretty good at that after all, being able to reach a top speed of 30mph on foot.

5. [Charlene Soraia - Wherever You Will Go] Sometimes I imagine Colonel singing this song to Iris. It reminds me of an idea I had a while ago where Colonel and Iris would have a bit of a falling-out, and Iris would try to stay on Earth with Zero while Colonel would try to go space with General. Still, even though her descision had hurt him, he respected her choice. They had been close their whole life, and now... They would be truly separated for the first time. Even though she’s not there to listen, it’s like Colonel is silently calling for her to come back. It makes me feel a little choked up knowing that despite all the greif that Iris had caused him during the war, he never stopped loving her. (One of the lyrics doesen’t really work here, but... you know.)

6. [Manowar - Die with Honor] The lyrics of this song really makes me think of Colonel’s last stand against Zero at the spaceport. I remember imagining that He had actually decided to stay back and fight off the hunters so that General could escape. Maybe I’d change a couple words in the song though, since Colonel never had a son... ^^; It also makes me think of this card from Teppen, which says: “Pushing himself ever further for the sake of his comrades, this proud reploid's blade can cleave any enemy in to two.”

7. [Two steps from hell - Unforgiven] This is the battle theme I’d decided on for him. The ascending notes in the background are like rising winds, the snare is like rain hitting your face, and the big drum that comes every now and again is like a thunderclap. Near the end, I imagine that Colonel is wounded, but has one last surge of energy before he either wins or loses. I didn’t call him the “Silver Prince of storms” for nothing. I remember imagining that his final battle with Zero would get so stormy and rainy that they would both have reduced visibility and would be at risk of falling off of the bridge they’re fighting on.

8: [josielemmings - In a Dying Whisper] “...Never in my life did I expect you to be the one to strike me down... Our practice duels... At one time we bonded over them... But now... It seems that they were only the beginning..." -Colonel, when he realized he was dying I’d say that by the time the chorus starts, he’s completely gone.

Iris

1. [Lucas king - Smiles] This is the song I chose for Iris’s theme. I think it really fits the impression she tends to leave on people.

2. [Lucas King - Cat] In Iris’s bio, I used this song to describe the way she feels when she’s with Colonel. Warmth, happiness, security, familiarity... Those are the words that come to my mind. I like how the bass of the song almost makes me think of Colonel’s presence and/or voice.

3. [Yann Tiersen - Summer 78] I’m not quite sure why, but this song still reminds me of Iris. I guess it’s her more ‘serious‘ theme. I feel like this track and the one after it do kind of capture her hopefulness.

4. [Yann Tiersen - Mother's Journey] This one makes me picture Iris running through the rain as fast as she can, as well as how she did her best to endure the turmoil happening around her. It makes me think of her perserverance and her quiet desperation.

5. [SAMUEL BARBER - Adagio for Strings] I imagined this to play when Iris would go to Repliforce’s spaceport, but she would find that not only have all of the ships left, there’s also fallen Repliforce soldiers littering her path. Eventually, she finds Colonel laying there... Completely motionless. She was too late to say she was sorry...

6. [Really Slow Motion & Giant Apes - Swirling Dinosaurs] This one was a last-minute descision, since I was kind of dissatisfied with the battle theme that’s actually in her bio (for X4). When Iris fought Zero, she was pushed to her physical, emotional, and psychological limits... All for the sake of trying to finish Colonel’s fight for him.

7. [Lucas King - Hurt] I picked this song to play for Iris’s death scene. No joke, when I played this over the cutscene in X4 (redubbed), I felt like my eyes got slightly moist. It really reminds me of her body struggling to stay alive in that moment as she becomes weaker by the second.

BONUS TRACKS: Post a joke song, a song fitting a relationship, or anything else you couldn’t make room for)

[Atherine Jenkins & Laszlo Maleczky - Amigos Para Siempre] I’ve kind of made this my song for Colonel and Iris. I oftem imagine them singing it as a duette.

[Two Steps From Hell - Dark Harbor] I think this song would be good for Jet Stignray’s grim mission... Cut off the Hunters’ supply lines by destroying its very source.

Tagged By: @radio-pirate (Sorry I took so long... ^^;)

Tagging: @keiko-sacaro @ask-navigator-layer

#Repliforce Highlights

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bobbystompy · 4 years

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68 Quotes I Enjoyed From 2019

Below are my favorite quotes from 2019. Though most occurred throughout the year, some took place before but were encountered during.

1) “I don’t bitch about Millenials.

John Entwistle once complained that he didn’t understand rap. Pete Townsend said, ‘It’s not our job to understand it. It’s our job to get the fuck out of the way.’

New generations come of age. The older generation’s job is to shut up and adapt.” - @danagould

2) “I can’t do drugs with you until we kiss.”

3) “If you pay me $50 I'll show up to your funeral but stand really far away, holding a black umbrella regardless of the weather, so that people think you died with a dark and interesting secret.” - @DanaSchwartzzz

4) “A human being is a dangerous thing to let loose in a room with itself, when it cannot think.” - Roger Ebert

5) “There are no bad bourbons, only better bourbons.” - Dave Hernandez

6) “You can’t put a dollar in a kimono.”

7) “This is how it was.” - rampant takeaway from watching ‘Superbad’ several years after its release

8) “What if I had been born fifty years before you in a house on the street where you lived / Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike / Would I know? / And in a wide sea of eyes, I see one pair that I recognize” - Ben Folds, ‘The Luckiest’

9) “Learn the rules so you can break them.”

10) “Nobody makes chili for two.” - Stacy Massey

11) “‘Best city in the world,’ I mutter to myself, as i adjust my ‘driving blanket’.” - Chicago resident Deanna Belos, during the 2019 Polar Vortex

12) “Dude, no one’s ever got arrested for listening to Counting Crows.” - Ricky O’Donnell, justifying late night music volume at his party

13) Bill Belichick: We’re going to have fun tonight. Rob Gronkowski: Yes we are. We deserve it. Belichick: You’re damn right. Gronk: I haven’t stepped out in like eight months. I gotta step out tonight. Belichick: I’m with you, man. I’m even going to step out. Gronk: Oh, I like it!

A Super Bowl winning exchange.

14) Center David Andrews thanked Bill Belichick for giving him "a shot".

Belichick disagreed with it.

Andrews: Thank you for giving me a shot. Belichick: A shot? I didn't give you shit. You earned it! I don't give anything.

Another Super Bowl winning exchange.

15) “We elected one of the very worst living human beings to be President, and it's exhausting. Each and every day, it's an exhausting slog, just to exist in a world where that's true.” - Michael Schur

16) “Some of y’all always picked Odd Job when you played Goldeneye and it shows” - @thedad

17) “Any app is a dating app if you try hard enough.” - Z.W. Martin (though he says it’s lifted)

18) "Once you're as woke as I am, you learn to feel bad all the time.”

19) “Everything’s a balance beam when you’re 90.” - John Dingell

20) [I wake up in a world where The Beatles never existed]

Me: Check out this song I just wrote

[I begin playing “Ob La Di Ob La Da” without having first built up years of goodwill]

Crowd of people: Wow, this sucks ass

-- @seanoneal

21) “People change people.” - Corey Matthews, Girl Meets World

22) “The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.” - William Goldman

23) “Dan could be like a difficult uncle. I didn’t love his fire-breathing conservative politics. I didn’t love the transformation that came over his novels. In Semi-Tough, he created two benighted Texas jocks and laid their prejudices bare. He was declaring himself a member of the Mark Twain coaching tree. In later books, Dan seemed to be trying to prove he could still tell a racist joke. He insisted that his memoir—the last truly immaculate piece of writing he delivered—include a tirade against political correctness. When his editor said people might be offended, Dan said, ‘Fuck people.’

There are certain writers whose style you pilfer. Certain writers whose moral fiber you try to inherit. For me, Dan represented a third category: a writer whose aura you replicate—or, failing that, try to stand in for a while.” - Bryan Curtis, on Dan Jenkins

24) “Never marry anything. Never choose. Even in love, it's better to be chosen.” - La Dolce Vita

25) “An uncluttered, uncomplicated happy ending might sound wonderful, but it’s hardly ever satisfying. Because the value of great stories lies in the tension between desire and need, between the yearning for the ideal, and the unshakable conviction that ideals don’t really exist, at least not the way we want them to. A great story should hurt a little when it leaves us. There should be some hope, but that hope should remain somewhere just an inch beyond our fingers, because that’s the truth. Even if you had all the perfect moments in the world, you’d still be reaching.” - Zach Handlen, on the Futurama series finale

26) “You can’t see him because he has sunglasses on.” - Alissa Levy

27) “The cinema is the greatest art form ever conceived for generating emotions in its audience. That's what it does best. (If you argue instead for dance or music, drama or painting, I will reply that the cinema incorporates all of these arts).” - Roger Ebert

28) “‘Are you gonna let politics ruin a friendship?’

Yes tf I am

People talk about politics as if it’s this isolated, abstract concept that only matters at election time. Somebody’s politics is their world view. It’s whether they think certain human beings deserve rights. It’s how they think the world should be. And if somebody thinks that the world should be colder, meaner, less accepting and downright hostile to people that are different to them, then sure as fuck is the friendship over.”

29) “Can the Supreme Court get me mushrooms?” - J-Papp

30) “Any song under two minutes already has a head start on its way into my heart. Just scream at me and then leave me.” - Drew Magary

31) “Long neck cold beers never broke my heart.” - Clemson Tom

32) “I’d just like to point out that the last spoken words of Game of Thrones were:

‘I once brought a jackass and a honeycomb into a brothel.’”

- @Authoroux

33) “Just once before I die, I want to toss my keys to someone and tell them ‘Bring the car around’.” - Mike Skully

34) “For all the weight they're given, last words are usually as significant as first words.” - Grand Maester Pycelle, Game of Thrones

35) “The best remedy for unrequited love is a trip around the world.” - Cheers

36) [on switching from a hotel to a motel]

Manny: I don't like the sound of that. A lot of amenities disappear when an H turns into an M. Jay: Hey when I met you, you were eating cereal out of a bucket.

-- Modern Family

37) “You and Lindsey don’t want to be ‘estranged’. Estranged is the relationship we want to have with our mothers.” - MegFil

38) “Cigarettes are undefeated.”

39) “My toes are like my fingers on my feet. I can pick stuff up with them.” - Tracy Cunningham

40) “Republicans govern without shame, Democrats shame without governing.” - Bill Maher

41) Sam: I don’t understand the vagaries of the Internet Josiah: Post often, without thought, and you’ll either get cancelled or cancel someone else.

-- Blink-155

42) “Hang a lantern on your problems.”

43) “What a weird web we weave.” - The Situation, The Jersey Shore: Family Vacation

44) “Let the ocean worry about being blue.” - Alabama Shakes, ‘Hang Loose’

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45) “Honesty without tact is cruelty.” - Shelley Rokos

46) “My whole life is the wrong porn link.”

47) “One parent can take care of 10 kids, but 10 kids cannot take care of one parent.” - Joe Gestetner, via “an old Yiddish saying”

48) “There are no heroes in the room.” - Classics of Love, ‘Gun Show’

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49) “If I am a little dismissive, it's only because of my harrowing backstory.” - Mitchell, Modern Family (on why he doesn't like sports)

50) “Every time I’m wearing black, I meet a dog.” - Tracy Cunningham

51) “Shower sex? Why would I fuck in my crying chamber” - @chridollarsign

52) “My theory about quarterbacks, having written about some of them, is you either have to believe in god or think you are a god.” - Mina Kimes

53) “The contradictions of capitalism always manifest in our lyrics if you look deeply.” - Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker, Riot Fest 2019

54) “Got a ‘hang loose’ from the weakside bartender.”

55) “It’s Jennifer’s birthday always.” - Eric Hutchinson

56) “I can’t think of a less relevant artist in 2019 than Kanye West. A Jesus freak in a MAGA hat. Yeah, congrats dude -- you’re every grandma who watches ‘Young Sheldon’ and mails checks to Joel Osteen now.” - Dan Ozzi

57) “The past and future are in the mind. I’m in the now.” - Tom Brady, via someone else

58) “Sometimes you walk around boring places and you feel like the most exciting thing in it.” - Drew Magary

59) “Sitting is the new smoking.” - Modern Family

60) “I'll straight up fight folks at a book club and discuss books at a fight club I really don't give a shit anymore.” - George Wallace

61) “Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.” - Rose Garvey via wine country

62) “It’s all ‘ok boomer’ until you need someone who can drive stick shift.” - @OrdinaryAlso

63) “He likes the result of the math.” - Dad, talking about my worst subject frustrating during the process but satisfying in the end

64) Stepmom: Do you want a Bears urn or Alabama urn? Dad: Ask me after they play Auburn.

65) “A cold body carries a warm heart.” - Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Instagram, after his Iceland sabbatical

66) [preparing a dish called the Sandwich of Justice with his friend’s recipe]

"The fun thing about it is when you give it to someone, you can say 'Justice is served.’ That's, uh, Ryan's line. I built my whole life on the backs of my friends." - You Suck At Cooking

67) “Usually three people can keep a secret only when two of them are dead.” - The Irishman

68) “An artist can't control who consumes their content any more than a chemist can control how their chemicals are used once they're created.” - Brian Crooks

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solidarityinloneliness · 5 years

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Love is sometimes predetermined by Race

James Baldwin and Barry Jenkins are artists that pay close attention to the relationship between love and bigotry. Prior to release of the If Beale Street Could Talk film adaptation, Baldwin and Jenkins already shared thematic similarities in their bodies of work that reflect their shared passion for discussing love and bigotry. Baldwin has authored Another Country, which observes many different types of relationships including interracial and homosexual. Prior to Beale Street, Jenkins wrote and directed Moonlight, a movie that follows the life of a gay black man named Chiron who comes back to confsess his feelings for his friend Kevin Miami, despite successfully re-inventing himself as a hypermasculine drug dealer in Atlanta.

I love Barry Jenkins. And I have always respected James Baldwin. I had not realized how prolific and talented of a fiction writer Baldwin was until this opportunity to view Jenkins’ adaptation of his novel. The more I prepared for the class through tackling Cederstrom and Freeburg’s readings, and the more closely I watched the movie, I realized how much I was going to enjoy this week’s class discussion.

Then came the class. It turned out, I had a hard time participating in the discussion. I hardly talked. It wasn’t that I wasn’t prepared for the class, nor that I found the topic uninteresting. I couldn’t participate because I didn’t feel safe being vulnerable to talk frankly about my thoughts on love and bigotry, since my experiences with them have been so empirical and personal.

I am a Korean American dating another Korean American. As a person of color, I often wrestle with what it means to be a racial minority in a Caucasian-majority society. Much like Tish and Fonny existing in their own world in the opening scene of Beale Street, when my boyfriend David and I fell in love, we weren’t aware of all the societal expectations we were going against. However, also like Tish and Fonny, David and I had to sober up to the fact that we are a minority in the public’s eye. Needless to say, my reaction to the film was particularly visceral.

On the first session of Love & Film, we listed the types of connection that love can give. Physical, emotional, spiritual… I remember other students presenting good adjectives, but no one seemed to say what I felt was the most obvious: cultural.

I realize now why it was so obvious to me while not so obvious to others: I spent significant amounts of time in both the U.S. and South Korea. As one of two international students in the class, I can confidently say that I am quite fluent in American and Korean cultures. While some students of color are present, I am sure I am more keenly aware of how culture can act as a barrier in making meaningful connections. This is not to say that I am completely tied to either my Korean or American identity. As an example, I once dated a guy who was born and raised in Korea, but broke up with him largely due to our lack of cultural understanding of each other. I am simply saying that my upbringing taught me and my dating experiences reinforced the fact that cultural connection is a crucial basis for love.

All of this is to say, that I believe that love is often pre-determined by race. Even this week, we spent a lot of class looking at data showing that Americans are more likely to marry within their race than out of it. In the U.S., we try hard to embrace the cosmopolitan ideology. We so badly want to believe that we are okay with other ethnicities and races. When it comes to marriage, however, people prefer people who look like them.

Both Freeburg and Cerestrom are concerned with Baldwin’s philosophy that true love only exists when both people are equal in power. For instance, an interracial relationship would never work, both because of societal power dynamics. Interracial dating doesn’t work because “For whites to accept blacks as ‘one of themselves’ means jeopardizing their own superior status as whites” (Freeburg qutoing Baldwin). In short, as long as Caucasians stay relatively more powerful and more privileged, minorities are not respected enough for interracial dating to be an egalitarian experience. We see a glimpse of this in Beale Street’s department store sequence: White women smell the back of Tish’s - the clerk’s - hand; black men prefer to have the perfume sprayed on their hands; and white men grab Tish’s hand without permission. While this sequence is not even of romantic nature, one can easily see how the societal hierarchy would prevent the society from viewing people of color as equal to whites. When you are not seen as an equal in the first place, it is impossible to be seen as a potential romantic partner.

The natural rebuttal to Baldwin’s thoughts on race is then, “What if an interracial couple does come together, despite societal expectations?” Baldwin is not optimistic on this notion either. In Another Country, Baldwin shows Ida, a black woman, attempt to have agency in a relationship with Ellis, a white man, only to realize “that [she] is not only black and a woman, but that her attempts to rise in the white world are transparently childish” (Cederstrom 182). In other words, an interracial couple is decidedly unequal even when the individuals involved think they have agency.

The Beale Street grocery store scene epitomizes both the societal and the individual reasons that interracial relationship is never going to work: A white male stranger harrasses Fonny calling her “brown sugar,” and when Fonny throws him out of the store, a white cop catches the act and immediately suspect that Tish was at fault. Further, as they leave the store, Tish lashes out at Fonny for speaking to the cop on his behalf. I discuss this scene for to reasons: first, the store harasser shows that black women like Fonny are seen as objects of lust, rather than humans with feelings. Second, the fact that the only time Tish ever shows dominance over Fonny is after he has been almost incriminated by a white cop, demonstrating that as long as white supremacy exists, black men and black women are not equal either. Through examples like these, Baldwin suggests that human agency has little to do with finding love, as long as the society as a whole is unequal.

Discussing Baldwin’s other novels and the Beale Street film are a rather depressing discourse to have. It is quite the wake up call to our society’s desire to see American society as a land founded on equality, when the truth is the opposite.

This is not to discredit the fact that Tish and Fonny are a truly wonderful couple when they are on-screen together. I remember our professor Dr. Meredith Ward remarking on the movie, stating, “There’s nothing wrong with the couple, but there’s something wrong with the world.” We root for Tish and Fonny, but their relationship is strained and threatened because of their race.

While David and I have not experienced the same degree of racism as Tish and Fonny have, we are still acutely aware that our togetherness is inherently offensive to some people. It is nice to be able to recall at those times, that Baldwin is the harshest critic when it comes to racism, but he actually has a very wholesome philosophy on the power of love, when it is founded on equality:

“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word “love” here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth” (Freeburg).

I agree with many of Baldwin’s critiques, but I also love America. I find its inequality heartbreaking because I see so much potential in the future. I hope that our society will learn to love with a “universal sense of quest and daring and growth.”

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d2kvirus · 5 years

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Dickheads of the Month: September 2019

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of September 2019 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

As if proven liar Boris Johnson suspending parliament to try and force through a No Deal Britait at the end of August didn’t look dictatorial enough, he then moved on to threatening and Tory MP who doesn't fall in line with deselection - and yet, rather than call this the obviously despotic move that it is, instead the media spent more time focusing on him adopting a fucking dog

Master strategist Dominic Cummings said that, rather than listen to “rich Remainers” in London, people should listen to those all over the country - which certainly helped, as Cummings’ genius idea to have proven liar Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson walk the streets of Morley and Doncaster saw said proven liar have to listen to the non-rich giving him both barrels for being responsible for the mess we are currently in

Not only did Laura Kuenssberg repeat what the press did with Carrie Symonds’ neighbours and throw around the term “Labour activist” to dismiss the very real concerns of the father whose daughter was in the understaffed hospital that proven liar Boris Johnson visited for a press op and then called out the proven liar’s claims it wasn’t a press op by pointing to the camera crew a few feet away, but she went one step further by doxxing the person by posting one of his tweets to her Twitter timeline, which unsurprisingly led to him getting a dog’s abuse from people because he dared say bad things about proven liar Boris Johnson - abuse he would not have got if Kuenssberg hadn’t doxxed him to her 1.1m Twitter followers, all because she wanted to distract attention from the fact her beloved BoBo had been caught on camera lying to someone’s face

...and it wasn’t long before the BBC proved their blatant double standards, having circled the wagons around Kuenssberg to say she did nothing wrong while doxxing a member of the public, yet disciplining Naga Munchetty for an off-the-cuff remark about the Orange Overlord saying Trump saying non-whites who criticise him should “go back where they came from” is racist

There is nothing sinister about Dominic Cummings saying that, if MPs wants to stop receiving death threats, they need to get Britait done. Absolutely nothing sinister about that at all...

When Jacob Rees Mogg wasn’t literally lying in parliament, he was dismissing the genuine concerns of neurologist Dr David Nicholl by comparing his concerns to those of anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield, who was struck off for giving erroneous advice

I’m trying to work out if Justin Trudeau forgot about the whole wearing blackface thing, or merely assumed everyone else had. Either way, at best he could generously be accused of gross naivety - especially when the second round of photos came out, after he tried to pass it off as a one-time prank

So not only did proven liar Boris Johnson sound supremely cuntish by saying that leaving the EU would honour the memory of Jo Cox - that’s the same Jo Cox who, while campaigning for Remain, was murdered by a member of Britain First - but when quizzed on this Bernard Jenkin could only respond about the stress that the proven liar was under, because as we all know the real victim is the person who said something monumentally dense and not the person murdered by a member of the far-right on the streets of their constituency

If anyone can explain what the hell compelled Stephen Kinnock to suddenly decide that Theresa May’s deal should have yet another going over in parliament in spite it being defeated three times already and her not even being PM at this point, let alone why he wanted to bring this up at the moment No Deal was being defanged, I would love to hear it

Something compelled Quentin Letts to compare the recently-deceased Robert Mugabe to Boris Johnson...as a compliment

Compelling argument against nominative determinism James Cleverly thought he was being clever by keeping up the “chicken” jibes against Jeremy Corbyn that proven liar Boris Johnson and his cronies at The Sun had been keeping up for days in a desperate attempt to pretend Corbyn hadn’t spotted an obvious tarp by Dominic Cummings and sidestepped it...right up until his stunt ended up seeing the entire Tory party get bitchslapped by Kentucky Fried Chicken

...and it wasn’t long before proven liar Boris Johnson rendered all jibes of Corbyn being “chicken” laughable when he responded to some heckling when visiting Luxembourg by publicly running away from a press conference with Luxembourg’s PM

According to Kwasi Kwarteng there are people up and down the country questioning the impartiality of the Scottish judges who ruled Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament unlawful. Just a reminder, Kwasi Kwarteng is the Business Secretary and not a Youtube right-wing conspiracy nut

Waffling gargoyle Nigel Farage has decided that those dozens of appearances on BBC political programming over the last decade were examples of the BBC being biased against him, and he;s boycotting all future appearances. He neglected to mention whether or not any other member of The Nigel Farage Ego Project would follow suit...

We saw just how little credibility Laura Kuenssberg has on the 2nd September edition of The Six O’Clock News where she stood outside 10 Downing Street talking about how proven liar Boris Johnson would be calling a snap election, only for her to be cut off mid-sentence by the proven liar walking out to waffle for five minutes where the only thing of note he said that wasn’t an easily-debunked lie was that there would be no election...and once he was finished Kuenssberg continued talking about a snap election as if she hadn’t been stood less than twenty feet away when it was said there would be no election

The fact that nobody was surprised when James Cleverly falsely claimed that the Tories created the NHS during the Tory conference isn’t a surprise - not least because it’s not even the first time Cleverly has made that patently false claim

It would appear that Alan Sugar misses the days that he and not Alexander Boris De Pfeil Johnson was being held up as the British answer to Donald Trump, judging by his posting a tweet taking aim at the dogwhistlers’ favourite target Diane Abbott

We are supposed to feel sorry for David Cameron after his memoirs stated that he thought that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove behaved “appallingly” before and during the EU Referendum campaign. If only the party leader did something about this, which they were in the position to do, and what was the name of the leader of the Tories at that moment in time again...?

Forgetting that we’re supposed to be calling Jeremy Corbyn a chicken, instead our good and honest friends at the Daily Mail instead ran an article about how awful it was that Jeremy Corbyn supported the Guildford Four’s Paul Hill. That’s the Paul Hill who, like the other members of the Guildford Four (and the Maguire Seven) were threatened, beaten and tortured by the police and served fifteen years in jail for being members of the IRA in spite of the fact that they weren’t members of the IRA nor plotted any terror attacks, and the Mail thinks it’s bad to show support for someone who was a victim of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history

It’s a bit rich for Rachel Riley to be the face of the Don’t Feed The Trolls campaign considering her history of harassing, doxxing and encouraging pile-ons on anyone who disagrees with her

Sentient testicle Toby Young thought he was being really, really clever when he accused Phillip Hammond of an “anti-semitic conspiracy theory” after Hammond stated that the sole reason for proven liar Boris Johnson trying to take the UK out of the EU by October 31st is to help out his speculator mates - although the cleverness rapidly evaporated when Hammond responded personally with a threat of suing for libel, and for some strange reason Young’s really, really clever tweet vanished off the face of the earth

...and because Toby Young has to be Toby Young about things, rather than keep his head down after Hammond’s threat of legal action instead he came rushing to the defence of the proven liar by saying that female Spectator employees felt upset if they weren’t groped by proven liar Boris Johnson, which is not only the defence of the rapist but his “defence” only serves to say that proven liar Boris Johnson has a history of groping

It’s as if The Sun have decided they can go back to their pre-Leveson levels of scumbaggery, judging by how they’d both told Gareth Thomas’ parents he was HIV positive and threatened to publish it, as well as reporting how two members of Ben Stokes’ family had been shot and killed several years ago without actually obtaining consent from Stokes before splashing it across their front page

...and right on their heels was the Daily Mail doxxing Jo Maughan for the sole purpose of...nope, no idea why they felt the need to do so, but they did it anyway

If Steve Baker thought he was helping the Leave side look non-deranged, his claiming that proven liar Boris Johnson is moving the Tories back to the centre ground failed to do that on a molecular level

It’s all well and good the Liberal Democrats acting as if bringing in Luciana Berger and Angela “funny tinge” Smith as MPs is some kind of major breakthrough...but they sure kept it quiet that they wouldn’t be defending the parliamentary seats they’ve been squatting in since February

So nice of Mike Gapes to join the dogwhistling brigade with his deciding to highlight Diane Abbott’s poor use of grammar...by highlighting that she was using grammar correctly while Gapes’ attempts at grammar bullying only served to highlight his grasp of the English language could be better

It says it all that the Daily Mail was encouraging their readers to stop sponsoring the RNLI for the crime of using 2% of those donations to support causes abroad

To nobody’s surprise, as soon as John Humphrys was out the door he harrumphed about the BBC’s “liberal bias” to the Daily Mail - as if over thirty years of his using the Today programme as a platform of his right-wing views and generally being a miserable twat

How generous of Tim Martin to say that, as the UK had left the Customs Union, Wetherspoons could now charge 20p less per pint...except Britain hadn’t left the Customs Union, revealing that Martin could have cut prices long ago if he wanted to, but he obviously felt he didn’t need to as the chain’s profits weren’t nosediving as a direct consequence of Tim Martin alienating half of his customer base for the past three years

According to reports, Nicalis head honcho Tyrone Rodriguez went to the same business school as Channel Awesome supremo Mike Michaud, judging by the reports coming out that he would go weeks without answering any calls - which is not what an indie dev who sent their game over to Nicalis to be ported wants to discover - as well as a laundry list of evidence of him not realising he isn't a 14-year old edgelord who can only talk in raicst, antisemitic, homophobic or ablest slurs, on top of his charming habit of bullying members of staff

In the latest attempt by PewDipShit to prove he's not beholden to the alt-right section of his fanbase he offered to donate $50,000 to the Anti-Defamation League...and when that same alt-right section of his fanbase kicked up a fuss, he cancelled the donation and waffled about “taking responsibility” while demonstrating that how averse he is to the idea

This month it was John Ocasio-Nolte who was getting insanely triggered by Greta Thunburg, taking to Twitter to suggest she either needs to be spanked or receive psychological counselling (which worked about as well as can be expected the second the tweet was posted) while Dinesh D’Souza said she looks just like images used for Nazi propaganda as if that means anything other than Dinesh D’Souza spend hours going through Google image searches to try and find something, anything that would serve as the basis of an utterly batshit proclamation that his moron followers would swallow

Not a good look for Focus Home Entertainment to decide that, once their deal to distribute Frogwares’ games expired, their solution would be to drop all of Frogwares’ games from every online store - yet rather than return the code to Frogwares, instead they’d be keeping those as well because if Focus Home can’t sell those games, no-one can

It’s not a surprise to see The Sun forgot the faux outrage they stoked last December at trying to say Jeremy Corbyn called Theresa may a “stupid woman” (even though any lipreader will tell you he said “stupid people” of the entire Tory front bench) judging by their response to proven liar Boris Johnson calling Corbyn a “big girl’s blouse” was to dispatch one of their hacks to Corbyn’s house the following dya waving an item of women’s clothing at him, seemingly under the impression this looked anything other than mad

Meanwhile The Daily Telegraph wrote a piece comparing waffling gargoyle Nigel Farage to Britait’s Icarus...somehow forgetting how the story of Icarus ended

Britain’s most triggered man Piers Moron Morgan took to Twitter to howl about how Dora the Explorer discourages men from becoming explorers. I’m guessing that he forgot how Indiana Jones and Nathan Drake exist...

What would a month be without Donald Trump doing something utterly lunkheaded? Not this month, that’s for sure, judging by his response to mistakenly claiming that Hurricane Dorian was heading to Alabama wasn’t to admit the mistake or even never mention it again, but instead draw on a weather map with a Sharpie to make it look like Dorian’s path would now head into Alabama - so not only did he prove he can’t admit to being wrong, but he’s so thin-skinned his being wrong eats at him so much he can’t let his being wrong go, which only draws attention to his being wrong in the first place

#dickheads of the month

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mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker · 6 years

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Let’s debunk this hot trash

“Part of the problem in front of Marvel Comics is the Marvel Universe is one long, mostly-unbroken line since its inception in 1961's Fantastic Four #1. There have been retcons, changes, tweaks, and cuts, but by and large it's a straight run. The universe has seen a number of resets, but it's mostly been returned to the state that long-time fans are comfortable with.”

Why is this a problem? Marvel is the highest selling comic book company in America and the long continuity is objectively not a problem.

It’s just something people incorrectly claim is a problem.

By the 1990s Marvel already had shittons of complicated continuity that had been going longer than most other long running franchise stories.

The readers back then jumped on ship just fine.

The AMOUNT of continuity you have is never the problem it’s how you manage it. In the days where every issue was treated as someone’s first and made accessible the amount of continuity was never a problem.

“Marvel Comics as a whole and the current creative stewards of its characters have to roll with 57 years of punches. They have to take the good and the bad. In the case of Spider-Man, the current writers, artists, and editors have to occasionally tackle the fact that Peter Parker hit his wife, made a deal with Mephisto to wipe out his marriage, or that Gwen Stacy had sex with Norman Osborn. ”

They don’t HAVE to deal with any of that.

They already dealt with the first of those things and simply SHOULD deal with the other two by erasing them.

But it’s also not like the presence of those things (sans OMD) is a huge hamper on the storytelling abilities or sales of the writers.

“Many of these are moments that readers and creators would simply like to forget, but they're a part of the fabric of the character. ”

Yes and welcome to ‘This is how a dramatic character on serialized fiction’ works.

“With Marvel's Spider-Man for PlayStation 4, Insomniac Games had the chance to start from scratch. They get to pick and choose what works for their version of Peter Parker and his alter-ego. The only backstory he brings to the table is that which Insomniac has carefully considered. This allows the team to drop the facets of Spider-Man that maybe didn't work and play around with some new ideas that might be better. And if Marvel's smart, they should steal some of what Insomniac Games did here.”

Why?

Insomniac already stole from Marvel.

Sales and storytelling potential for Spider-Man is NOT hampered by large continuity or even negative patches of it for the most part.

When bad stories happen so long as they are fixed then things get to move on. Even something as bad as Sins Past isn’t overly a drag because the story itself is so nonsensical it might as well not be canon, people have isolated and ignored it and the scope of the damage it can cause is fairly limited, it doesn’t really cut to the heart of the franchise. The time he hit his wife on the other hand was dealt with and moved on from.

So the existence of bad patches doesn’t really matter. Doctor Who has had no end of bad stories merely in it’s TV incarnation (to say nothing of it’s plethora of spin-off media which are all canon to varying degrees) and all those things still happened. But the show is still going strong and hit stratospheric popularity in the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s.

Hell the Simpsons is still going despite there being at least 20 years of mediocre-bad stories.

“I'm going to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Mary Jane Watson. I don't necessarily have a problem with the character, but I've never really been a fan either. The marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson was done on a whim and many writershated it at the time.”

Oy vey this shit again.

The marriage was not done on a whim. Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man wanted it to happen and EIC Jim Shooter decided to synch it up with the comics.

At the time Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz had been building up to Peter and MJ’s wedding with the intention of her jilting him.

But the build up from them, and other writers like Peter David, was still there.

Only the outcome changed.

As for this ‘many writers hated it’ thing, the article links to ONE writer’s opinion on the subject.

If we actually look at the majority of Spider-Man writers to have written for Spider-Man during and after the marriage we see most of them were okay or neutral on the subject.

David Michelinie wasn’t thrilled with it, but he came on side eventually. Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were the same. Matt Fraction wasn’t too sure about it but wasn’t innately against it either. Nick Spencer clearly liked it. Howard Mackie has given statements indicating he was against it at a time but might over all be neutral. Roberto Aguirre Sacasa has never said anything on the subject to my knowledge but his work implies he’s supportive of it. Mark Millar has never said anything on the subject. J.M. DeMatteis, J. Michael Straczynski and Peter David have been outright supportive of it, as was probably Todd McFarlane, Jodie Houser and for sure artist Ryan Stegman.

Oh and Stan Lee the creator of Spider-Man. Let’s not leave him out.

Compared to that we have Roger Stern, Terry Kavanagh, John Byrne, Paul Jenkins, Gerry Conway and Jim Owsley who were against it.

Conway’s opposition was possibly due to his going through a divorce at the time. Stern’s opposition was based upon his idea of MJ being stuck in the Silver Age but he wasn’t innately opposed to Spider-Man marrying in general. Jim Owsley on his linked to blog (where he routinely lies, including claiming Ron Frenz was potentially suicidal when he never was) had a stupid sexist rationale for disliking the marriage. John Byrne is creepy shithead who would’ve preferred Spider-Man was dating underage girls anyway and along with Terry Kavanagh never wrote a good Spider-Man story in his life. In Kavanagh’s case he never even wrote a good story in his life.

So of all those people only Paul Jenkins dislike of it wasn’t unjustified. But he was an outlier.

Every other writer either liked it, was neutral on it, disliked it for nonsensical reasons or didn’t know about good storytelling in the first place to make citing them worth a damn in the first place.

And aside from aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of this...does the author realize Peter and MJ’s relationship and MJ’s whole character doesn’t begin and end in the years they were married?

Like he talks about their marriage as though this being bad proves their relationship and her character is bad when there was 20+ years of MJ prior to that.

“I think Peter has had better love interests over the years, including Gwen Stacy. ”

And the author would be wrong.

Gwen Stacy is neither better nor more interesting that Mary Jane.

That’s why THEY KILLED HER!

“Part of that is giving Mary Jane something to do. She's been a model and an actress, but the books were always more concerned with the superheroics, so you never really got the chance to feel her drive there. She was a nightclub owner, but again, the same problem persisted. ”

Except Spider-Man stories ARE NOT MORE CONCERNED WITH THE SUPERHEROICS!

My God. How the fuck can someone have read any number of Spider-Man stories and not realized, oh yeah, the book is about Peter’s life over all and his normal life is as if not MORE important than whoever he is punching this month.

By this logic Harry Osborn, Aunt May, Flash Thompson and literally every supporting cast member who isn’t J. Jonah Jameson or like Ashley goddam Kafka, is a better supporting character than Mary Jane.

Mary jane doesn’t have to be involved in the superhero side of Peter’s life because the Spider-Man series isn’t about that. It’s about his life in general and sometimes one blurs over into the other but not always and frankly if you go by the classic stories not even most of the time.

That’s why on the occasions where such things did happen it was a big deal.

“Other than supporting Peter Parker, what did Mary Jane Watson really want? ”

To be an actress

To be taken seriously as more than a model

To support her sick cousin

To earn a psychology degree

To avoid commitment

“Sometimes she just wanted Peter to not be Spider-Man anymore, which is a downer of a conflict.”

This is another lie.

The ONLY times during which Mary jane didn’t want Peter to be Spider-Man were during the Clone Saga when she was pregnant, he’d retired and Ben Reilly was the new Spider-Man and new main character (meaning there was no issue there) or during the Mackie/Byrne reboot where she was being written deliberately out of character as an act of sabotage.

Unless the author meant like in specific stories where Peter was injured and she didn’t want him to go off and be Spider-Man at that moment or in that specific context, as opposed to wholesale retiring. At which point...how is this a downer conflict? It’s a starkly realistic and emotionally justified conflict in a series built off the back of realistic emotions because Spider-Man is a human drama and soap opera FFS!

“Sometimes, things are good... ...sometimes, they're not.

Go to the article itself and notice the second image the author uses.

If you’ve ever encountered similar lines of anti-MJ/anti-marriage argument before those panels, that artwork or stuff similar to it might strike you as familiar.

Why?

Because it’s from the exact same story. Maximum Carnage.

Every asshole who tries to make this argument uses Maximum Carnage, one of the worst Spider-Man stories over all to bolster their claims. The repetition of scenes from this story (and usually the same scene) is telling because it’s either cherry picking from a notoriously bad story and pretending like it represented a norm (and removes it from important context FYI) or...these people don’t know what they are talking about and just parrot one another with the same examples.

“Over in the Ultimate Comics line, writer Brian Michael Bendis would give Mary Jane a career choice that dovetails well with superheroes: journalist. See, the reason DC Comics' Lois Lane works is her driving motivation—to be the best investigative journalist in the world—puts her on a path to run into Clark Kent and Superman. ”

Yeah and the problem is that MJ worked as well for decades even when she wasn’t a journalist. Shit she worked for the majority of Ultimate Spider-Man’s run prior to her becoming a journalist!

Yeah, remember that tiny piece of vital information the author conveniently ignored. For MOST of Ultimate Spider-Man’s 10 year tenure with Peter Parker as the lead character Mary Jane wasn’t a journalist!

Shit, she worked for her school paper so the idea that it made her involvement in heroics more organic is pretty bullshit.

More importantly prior to her journalist job Ultimate MJ’s role and function within the narrative was strikingly similar to her 616 married counterpart!

“Her intense curiosity and lack of self-preservation makes her endearing; the audience knows what she wants and the lengths she'll go to get it.”

And MJ’s goofy deameanor at times, inner strength, sociable nature, insecutirs, struggles with guilt and commitment make her endearing.

“So Insomniac decided to take the Ultimate version of Mary Jane and play it up to Lois Lane levels. She's an investigative journalist at the Daily Bugle searching for more on the recently-arrested Wilson Fisk. Her own adventures put her on the path to meeting with Spider-Man. You get that moment where they're both asking, "What are you doing here?" and you realize there's old, unmentioned romantic history. MJ already knows Peter is Spider-Man and she's fine with that side of his life. ”

And it works great...in a video game setting where you truly are spending 90% of your time in the middle of action and the plot needs to be entirely in service of that plot.

But in the context of a comic book more about the normal lives of the characters than revolving around superheroics and starring the most famous character (who’s clad in red and blue) of one of the two biggest companies in the world MJ as a journalist would die on it’s ass because it WOULD just be derivative of Lois Lane.

I mean Jesus Christ people also deride Black Cat and Norman Osborn for being derivative of Catwoman and Norman Osborn even though they deviate in big ways. But if Spider-Man major love interest/wife literally also became an investigative journalist and primarily interacted with Spider-Man (at least within the context of the main plot) within that role it would literally just be Lois Lane.

“This Mary Jane's problem is one of equal partnership. She's a great, inventive journalist. Sure, she could die on an investigation, considering where she decides to focus her talent, but in her mind, that's no different from a police officer or firefighter dying in the line of duty. The truth is important. This flips the dynamic a bit; her problem is that Peter doesn't acknowledge that she's also right where she needs to be. She's his equal, even if she doesn't have fancy Spider-powers. ”

MJ was Peter’s equal in the comics too.

Being someone’s equal as a person doesn’t mean doing the same job as them, working in the same line of work or directly contributing to the superhero action.

You just need to be an equal in your personality and agency which in-universe MJ has had.

This is to say nothing of how by this logic Alfred, Batman’s FATHER FIGURE, is not his equal or how Ganke Lee in Miles Morales comics wouldn’t really be HIS equal either or how, again, Spider-Man stories do not innately codify the superheroics as MORE important than the normal life stuff.

“It's a great change.”

Yes it is, in the context of a video game.

“This Mary Jane is funny, a bit headstrong, and leaps sometimes before she looks. ”

You mean just like comic book Mary Jane.

“ Comic Mary Jane has many of these facets, but it's tough to get a grasp on what she really wants outside of Peter. ”

Unless you’ve literally read the issue immediately after Peter meets her where she makes it clear she wants to be an actress. Or read any comic in the interim where she wants to have financial security, be taken seriously, reconcile with her family, indulge in/get over her commitment issues, help her cousin, learn psychology, etc.

“Journalism doesn't have to be the answer, but there needs to be one that intersects with the lives of Peter and Spider-Man. ”

No there doesn’t. In the real world couples jobs don’t have to intersect. Many of Peter’s supporting cast members do not have jobs that intersect with his life outside of the fact that they are his friends and/or family. This is true of other heroes too.

MJ being Peter’s friend/girlfriend/wife is enough of a reason for her to intersect in his life and be featured in this stories, beyond that she can be given subplots of her own just like many other characters had.

Two of the best subplots in Spider-Man involved Flash Thompson. One of them was his and Betty Brant’s affair and the other was his struggles with alcoholism. These were problems that for the longest time Peter wasn’t even aware of but they were compelling and entertaining unto themselves because Flash was a great character and we cared because he was Peter’s friend. However these stories also at no point ever really involved Spider-Man’s life. It was strictly confined to the problems of Peter Parker’s world.

MJ’s job can be much the same.

MJ’s normalacy is in fact a MAJOR reason why so many fans love her so much and why so many people love Spider-Man himself.

Why make her more like Lois and her dynamic like that of Lois and Superman, those two characters who famously are awesome but also not as relatable as Spider-Man and MJ!

“With Insomniac's Mary Jane, everything just clicks into place.”

As would it for comic book MJ if you bothered to pay attention.

“The problem here is Marvel never sat down and explained how this worked. Again, Peter's death was the impetus for Miles becoming Spider-Man. In the Ultimate comics, he had the powers long before he actually put on the costume. Miles' creator Brian Michael Bendis never sat down and explained the new backstory before he jumped over to DC Comics. We don't know the specifics of why this version of Miles took up the mantle, the question of his motivations always remains a bit fuzzy.”

No it isn’t. Miles wasn’t REBOOTED into the 616 universe. He was integrated in with everyone’s memories altered around.

His backstory was the same as in the Ultimate Universe he just literally, physically migrated over.

Miles motivations were thus the same albeit undermined from a creative POV.

“When the title of Spider-Man was passed on in the Ultimate universe, that made sense. But the question the Prime universe needs to answer now is: Why do they share the title? ”

Because that was Miles’ chosen title and Peter gave his blessing for it and on a meta-level it is intended to represent how anyone can be Spider-Man.

“Peter has offered it to Miles, but why does this version of Miles want it in return?”

Because Ultimate Peter died and Miles wanted to honour him.

It isn’t the case of he just ALWAYS existed in this universe. You cannot time travel back like 15 years into the 616 Marvel universe and locate baby Miles Morales He literally, physically doesn’t exist there.

“That's really why these new versions of the characters work. I can see what they offer Peter and what he offers them in return. ”

Comic book MJ offered Peter a human connection, a friend, a confidant, someone to support him and companionship.

Why does she need to offer any more than that when in real life no one is hinging their deeper relationships upon the basis of what that person does for them in terms of their jobs or hobbies.

“And that facet is sometimes missing in the Marvel Comics iteration. ”

No it isn’t.

“I see what they offer Peter, but sometimes it's hard to see what they get out of the relationship.”

MJ gets a friend, companion, someone who understands and supports her, someone who helps emotionally fulfil her and make her a better person and sometimes someone who can help her in times of emotional and physical crises.

“Great artists steal, Marvel. The comic publisher is already bringing Insomniac's Spider-Man into the the universe with the upcoming Spider-Geddon crossover (shown below). Now it's time to steal certain facets of the storytelling for the universe. Marvel Comics is stuck with the millstone of continuity around its neck, but that doesn't mean there aren't new directions the company can move Spider-Man and his amazing friends toward. ”

Marvel has never rebooted it’s history since 1961.

DC has done so in varying ways 5 or 6 times.

Marvel outsells DC.

Of all iconic characters owned by DC, Batman’s history has altered the least from one reboot into the next.

Batman outsells every other DC character.

In the 1980s Marvel fans had no access to the internet, few information books or other resources and few reprints with which to catch up upon the 20-25 years worth of history for the characters and of the few resources they did have not everyone had access to them.

Marvel comics sold more physical copies back then than they do now.

The highest selling Marvel titles of the 1980s and 1990s were the X-Men related titles which had objectively the most complicated, convoluted and least accessible .

So STFU about too much continuity oh my God!

#Spider-Man #Spider-Man ps4 #Spider-Man Playstation 4 #Insomniac Spider-Man #insomniac games #mjwatsonedit #mary jane watson #mary jane watson parker #MJ Watson #Peter Parker

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locke-writes · 5 years

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2019 Oscars Thoughts/Predictions

Tagging: @ghostofachancewithyou

Note: These are just my thoughts on each of the nominees as someone who loves films but also as a filmmaker. This is broken down by category and by nominee

Best Picture:

“Black Panther”: This was a great film but I don’t see it winning. If I’m being honest I wasn’t even sure it was going to be nominated. My thoughts on Black Panther winning are pretty much the same as my thoughts on Get Out last year. I enjoyed the film and if it wins I’ll be surprised but fine with it. If it wins I’ll be anticipating uproar but if it loses I’m anticipating uproar as well. “BlacKkKlansman”: I wasn’t able to see this so I don't have very many thoughts on this nomination. I enjoy Spike Lee’s films and I’m sure this follows as one of his best but I can’t say too much about something I haven’t seen. “Bohemian Rhapsody”: I see this more as the underdog film. While it was good I just really don't see it pulling off the win. Even the nomination was surprising if the Academy was picking based solely on critic reception. But I found the performances well done and I did enjoy the experience so if it wins it won’t be all bad. “The Favourite”: What can I say. It’s certainly a Yorgos film, no doubt about it. I enjoyed the story and the way that it was set up. I’m not anticipating this to win best picture but I was anticipating it to get a best pic nom. It was well put together and it’d be a surprise win. “Green Book”: Based on what happened during the Golden Globes I’m really unaware of what to expect. I doubt it will win Best Picture due to the films it’s up against but if it follows in reception then it is very possible. I’ll be surprised if it wins since I found the story lacking. I understand that it was more a family story since most of the writers/producers are related to Viggo Mortenson’s character (I know he was a real guy but I can’t remember his name). I just feel with the way it was marketed as a story about racism and friendship in American as well as a focus on the actual Green Book with it’s use. But the film itself felt lacking in this area and I believe it honestly should have focused more on Mahershala Ali “Roma”: This is my winner. I have a feeling that it’s going to take the top. It was a beautiful personal story for Alfonso and that came across in everything. Every shot, every line, was gorgeous and moving. I’d be shocked if it didn’t win. The performances are amazing, especially from Yalitza as a non-actor. Yeah, I’ve got high hopes for this one. “A Star Is Born”: Eh. The film was fine. It wasn’t spectacular, I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was well done. I found the shot choices and the lighting tied it all together. The performances weren’t terrible but I’m not sure that they gave it enough to put it as the top nominee. “Vice”: I’ve heard that it was a great film but I haven’t seen it. Anyway based solely on the other films in this category that it’s got a high chance of winning but I’m doubtful that it’s going to be the winning film.

Lead Actor:

Christian Bale, “Vice”: If he doesn’t win based on his performance as Cheney, then I’ll be thoroughly surprised. Bale always throws himself into his roles and while I haven’t yet seen the film, from the clips that I have seen, he’s done another great role. Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”: His character has never been too difficult to portray based on the past versions they’ve had of this film. I think Bradley made his version only a bit unique by having it set in modern day but I mean, it didn’t thrill me. If he wins, ok, but it wasn’t something jaw-dropping Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”: I love Willem Defoe and I wasn’t able to see this film but if he wins then that’s fine with me. Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”: Rami may possibly win this. The fact that unlike the Golden Globes he isn’t in a separate category than Bale does make it a neck-and-neck race. As Freddie he was immensely convincing and the fact the Freddie is such a music icon as well as an LGBT+ icon does make the role difficult. Not because he’s a real person but because a lot of people are going to make judgements about every move you make as Freddie. Rami pulled it off tremendously and if he wins it will be worth it. Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”: Viggo could potentially win the race. Again I wasn’t that much a fan of Green Book but voters sure do seem to be.

Lead Actress:

Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”: Just give it to her now. I mean her performance was beautiful and the fact that she’d never acted before is somewhat a benefit to that. Alfonso wrote her character to be personal, to basically be his mother and it worked. Her line delivery was beautiful and there are scenes I won’t mention (because of spoilers), that were breathtaking Glenn Close, “The Wife”: I love Glenn Close and if she wins it I won’t be mad. They haven’t been playing “The Wife” anywhere near me so I don’t have anything much to say since I haven’t seen it. Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”: The fact that quite a bit of her scenes relied on the use of facial expressions alone is insane. The fact that she was so convincing in her role with just the use of her facial expressions is a testament to Colman’s acting. I’m not certain that she will win but I have a feeling that there’s a large chance she will. Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”: She was good, no doubt about that. I think that her connection to Ally was obvious. She knew the experience of trying to become a musician but maybe not in the same way as Ally did with sudden fame. That being said I know a lot of people want her to win but I personally am fine with her only taking the nomination. Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”: This is the nomination I’m most surprised by. Honestly I didn't think anyone was paying attention to the film. I enjoyed it and Melissa’s performance, it was nice to see her in a dramatic role for once. I doubt that she’s going to win but it’s nice that she was recognized for this performance

Supporting Actor:

I don’t have many thoughts on this category since I’ve only seen two of the films in this. I have a feeling it’ll go to Rockwell whom I love as an actor and will be happy if he wins but I also feel they could hand it to Mahershala. Just like with Melissa McCarthy I’m surprised that Richard E Grant received recognition for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, I enjoyed the film but it wasn’t really talked about much as an award contender. As for Sam Elliott. Sorry Sam, I know you’re a family friend and all but I don’t think you’ll win and I’m surprised you’re even nominated because you were barely in the film at all.

Mahershala Ali, “Green Book” Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman” Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born” Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

Supporting Actress:

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. Really in this category everyone was brilliant and everyone deserves it and I don’t care who wins because I’ll be happy either way.

Amy Adams, “Vice” Marina de Tavira, “Roma” Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk” Emma Stone, “The Favourite” Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Director:

I’ve loved all these directors for years. Spike is so deserving as a first time nominee and I’d love to see him take it. I’d also love to see either Alfonso or Pawel take it because both of them created beautiful films that I’m happy they reached out of their country of origin and spanned the world. I truly would be happy for anyone to take it and my prediction is Alfonso.

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman” Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War” Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite” Alfonso Cuarón, “Roma” Adam McKay, “Vice”

Animated Feature:

“Incredibles 2,” Brad Bird: Maybe it was because it came out years after the first when I got over the hype. I’m not seeing this as the winner. It didn’t blow me away, it was fine and I don't think it’ll win. “Isle of Dogs,” Wes Anderson: This was hilarious and if it takes Pixar down than I’ll be excited. I’m doubtful that it will win but I would love it if they did.

I haven’t seen these other three but I’ve heard good things about each. Whoever wins will be great I’m sure but I don’t have a full prediction

“Mirai,” Mamoru Hosoda “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” Rich Moore, Phil Johnston “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman

Animated Short:

Bao is the only short in this category I’ve seen which means that I don't have anything to say. If it wins great, but I'm sure the other films have as much of a chance.

“Animal Behaviour,” Alison Snowden, David Fine “Bao,” Domee Shi “Late Afternoon,” Louise Bagnall “One Small Step,” Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas “Weekends,” Trevor Jimenez

Adapted Screenplay:

I don’t really know about this category. I have a feeling that it will go to A Star Is Born but there’s a possibility of it going to If Beale Street Could Talk.

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Joel Coen , Ethan Coen “BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins “A Star Is Born,” Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters

Original Screenplay:

I enjoyed all of these films. First Reformed was wonderful and I’m glad it received the nom. I’m favoring Roma but again it could really go anywhere in this category.

“The Favourite,” Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara “First Reformed,” Paul Schrader “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón “Vice,” Adam McKay

Cinematography:

Ahhhhhh. The Favorite, Roma, and Cold War are the three top contenders in my opinion. I’m not certain which I want to win more. The cinematography for each was gorgeous and made the films what they were. I’m sure it’s going to be one of those three however.

“Cold War,” Lukasz Zal “The Favourite,” Robbie Ryan “Never Look Away,” Caleb Deschanel “Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón “A Star Is Born,” Matthew Libatique

Best Documentary Feature:

I’ve not seen any of these, I’m just surprised the Mr Rogers doc wasn’t nominated.

“Free Solo,” Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” RaMell Ross “Minding the Gap,” Bing Liu “Of Fathers and Sons,” Talal Derki “RBG,” Betsy West, Julie Cohen

Best Documentary Short Subject:

I’ve not seen any of these this year so I’m not certain who should win.

“Black Sheep,” Ed Perkins “End Game,” Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman “Lifeboat,” Skye Fitzgerald “A Night at the Garden,” Marshall Curry “Period. End of Sentence.,” Rayka Zehtabchi

Best Live Action Short Film:

Again I haven’t seen any of these so I can’t make a comment.

“Detainment,” Vincent Lambe “Fauve,” Jeremy Comte “Marguerite,” Marianne Farley “Mother,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen “Skin,” Guy Nattiv

Best Foreign Language Film:

I have a feeling that Roma will win but I’d prefer it to be Cold War. Cold War was a beautiful film and since Roma is nominated for Best Picture while Cold War is not I would truly love it if Cold War won Best Foreign Language film.

“Capernaum” (Lebanon) “Cold War” (Poland) “Never Look Away” (Germany) “Roma” (Mexico) “Shoplifters” (Japan)

Film Editing:

I’ve only seen two of these and while The Favourite had beautiful editing I can't really compare it to any films I haven’t seen.

“BlacKkKlansman,” Barry Alexander Brown “Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Ottman “Green Book,” Patrick J. Don Vito “The Favourite,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis “Vice,” Hank Corwin

Sound Editing:

I’m not saying too much about this category except that if they don’t give it to A Quiet Place I will be pissed. It’s the most deserving in terms of Sound Editing and you can fight me if you disagree.

“Black Panther,” Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker “Bohemian Rhapsody,” John Warhurst “First Man,” Ai-Ling Lee, Mildred Iatrou Morgan “A Quiet Place,” Ethan Van der Ryn, Erik Aadahl “Roma,” Sergio Diaz, Skip Lievsay

Sound Mixing:

Give it to Bohemian Rhapsody but uhhh. A Quiet Place was fucking robbed.

“Black Panther” “Bohemian Rhapsody” “First Man” “Roma” “A Star Is Born”

Production Design:

Truly I have nothing much to say in regards to this category because all these films had incredible production design and I’d be happy with any win

“Black Panther,” Hannah Beachler “First Man,” Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas “The Favourite,” Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton “Mary Poppins Returns,” John Myhre, Gordon Sim “Roma,” Eugenio Caballero, Bárbara Enrı́quez

Original Score:

Desplat is nominated and so he shall win. Doesn't necessarily mean I want him too although his score was wonderful, it just means that he's the big name on this list. All the scores were well orchestrated so I’d be pleased with any outcome

“BlacKkKlansman,” Terence Blanchard “Black Panther,” Ludwig Goransson “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Nicholas Britell “Isle of Dogs,” Alexandre Desplat “Mary Poppins Returns,” Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman

Original Song:

They’re going to give it to Shallow I can feel it. I am surprised that they chose “The Place Where Lost Things Go” as I was certain they’d nominate Trip A Little Light Fantastic or (Underneath the) Lovely London Sky for Mary Poppins Returns. Personally I would have loved is A Conversation was nominated for the live performance alone but either way they did choose a good Mary Poppins song.

“All The Stars” from “Black Panther” by Kendrick Lamar, SZA “I’ll Fight” from “RBG” by Diane Warren, Jennifer Hudson “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns” by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt and Benjamin Rice “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Makeup and Hair:

Oh it’ll go to Vice but I’d prefer if they handed it to Border

“Border” “Mary Queen of Scots” “Vice”

Costume Design:

Black Panther needs the win. I personally think it’ll be the only win for the film but it’ll be a good one. Having to design that many costumes for entire nations in a fictional setting based off real tribal clothing is so intricate and they’ll be robbed if they don’t win. I know the classic choice will be The Favourite but who cares. Black Panther had the better costumes.

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Mary Zophres “Black Panther,” Ruth E. Carter “The Favourite,” Sandy Powell “Mary Poppins Returns,” Sandy Powell “Mary Queen of Scots,” Alexandra Byrne

Visual Effects:

My bet is for First Man but they tend to favor superhero films in this category and I’m not certain where the win will go

“Avengers: Infinity War” “Christopher Robin” “First Man” “Ready Player One” “Solo: A Star Wars Story”

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Nobody is an Action Movie That Questions ‘Toxic Masculinity’

https://ift.tt/39f1Es8

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is (as his film title suggests) a Nobody. He’s a schlub who gets up for the same soul-deadening routine each day: he drinking his coffee, forgets to take the garbage out, and sits at his boring desk job. He then comes home to kids who barely tolerate him and a wife who literally makes a barrier of pillows between them in their bed. When he fails to protect their house against a home invasion–even though he clearly could have–the sense of disappointment from his family is palpable.

But the incident awakens something long dormant in Hutch: a set of skills and a primal anger that served him well in a former life and career defined by violence. Hutch has to give that repressed rage an outlet, which unfortunately brings him into the sights of a deadly Russian crime boss, even as it reawakens his soul and reconnects him with his wife and family.

Directed by Ilya Naishuller (who helmed the equally explosive Hardcore Henry in 2015), Nobody also stars Christopher Lloyd, RZA, and Connie Nielsen as Hutch’s wife Becca, a successful career woman on her own terms, and who probably no longer needs her seemingly insubstantial husband all that much. Yet what Becca does or doesn’t know about Hutch’s past is one of the more intriguing questions that this action-packed film raises.

The Danish-born Nielsen’s first major English-language role was in 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate, and since then she’s appeared in films like Rushmore, Gladiator, One Hour Photo, The Ice Harvest and many more. A new audience embraced her more recently thanks to the role of Queen Hippolyta, the mother of Diana of Themyscira in Wonder Woman, Justice League, Wonder Woman 1984, and the just-released Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which sees her role beefed up considerably from the 2017 theatrical version.

Meanwhile, she and the great Odenkirk play off each other exceedingly well in Nobody, a fact that came up during our Zoom chat with the actress.

Den of Geek: Right at the beginning of this film, there’s a home invasion and Bob’s character, Hutch, doesn’t do anything to protect his family. Did that feel very relatable, this idea that your spouse may not have your back in a situation like that?

Connie Nielsen: I loved that scene. I loved how in the aftermath of that scene you had the neighbor literally representing toxic masculinity: “Oh if it was me, I would have taken him out.” And then you have the kid, our child, our teenage boy, so impressionable, and totally buying into this idea of masculinity: “Yeah. We could have taken him, Dad. We could have taken him.” And it’s just like that’s exactly what we’re trying to say to everybody. Stop putting that stuff on men to be that guy, stop saying that a guy has to be all of these different things because it’s not healthy.

What you then have is basically–you start a film about action movies and about action, and about those tropes within an action movie, but then it actually starts questioning what the idea of masculinity behind all of that is. I just loved the irony of that and that importance of that too, because it does make it so relatable.

How does the relationship between Hutch and Becca play into that?

One of the things I said from the beginning was, “Let’s not make Hutch feel intimidated by his wife. Let’s instead underline the fact that he’s the one who’s depressed. He is not threatened by her success. It’s that he feels like he is nobody. He feels that he has no importance. Everybody’s going to be fine if he just freaking wasn’t there, she would be able to continue taking care of the kids and the money and everything else.” It’s this feeling that he has, that he doesn’t matter, and that he’s not important.

And that is such a brilliant way of framing the midlife crisis of this guy, and also the crisis of the relationship where the power balance is out of whack and they can’t reach each other, they can’t figure out how to be a team until they’re forced to become a team.

It’s also rare in the action genre that the relationship is also age appropriate. There’s not this 25-year gap between the husband and wife.

That has always been a pet peeve of mine, even when I was a kid in this business. When I’m watching a movie and I’m seeing a girl who’s 24 playing the mother of four kids. I’m like, “What?” It’s just so dumb. There are so many women out there who get really offended as they watch these kinds of movies. So it’s just also dumb of producers and directors to cast without being age appropriate, because women get mad, they get irritated.

What other little details do you think you contributed or discussed with the director in terms of just making these characters more vivid on the set?

First of all, one of the things that was most important was when we were talking about my character’s success, that it was believable within the context, and that we didn’t make it a takedown of successful women–if it was problematic, it was not her problem, but his problem. I think that also we really talked about making her behavior understandable. There’s a second home invasion where it becomes pretty hard for her to not pose questions, so how do we play that? For me, the most important thing was to come up with a balanced behavior that also posed questions in hindsight as to, well, who is she really, what’s her background story, how is she dealing with all this, and is there something else there?

It’s a little ambiguous how much she knows about Hutch’s past. She’s never overly shocked by anything that Hutch does when the full scope of his character comes out. And that goes back to the idea that you sometimes really don’t know the person you’re married to.

That also goes for the moviegoers, they may not really know who the character of Becca is either. That’s part of what we also had a lot of fun talking about on set–what are the things that you don’t know about her?

What kind of set did Ilya run? Was there an openness for ideas and improvisational type of things?

I think so. I think especially when we were doing scenes that were about the emotional relationship, it was just really about making it come alive and truthful, that it was profound and that was meaningful emotionally, that we didn’t make it a small moment, but a big moment.

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This is the first time you ever worked with Bob.

Yeah. It is, and we never met before.

What is that like when you have to meet and immediately create a relationship between these two characters?

It’s odd, it’s so bizarre and strange. The first day on set when we were doing hair and makeup tests and so on, I was taken to this hangar and there’s box of sand on the floor with a green backdrop and a photographer in front of it. And it’s, “Oh, we’re about to do your family pictures,” and then, “Oh, and this is Bob.” Then you basically sit down and you just immediately move into pictures of our honeymoon and all of these different vacations that we’ve had back in the days when we were happy. I basically just met this man. It’s awkward, but that’s also acting, right? You’re just bringing your own experience and leaning into it as if you know this person.

Did you see the director’s previous film, Hardcore Henry?

I did not see Hardcore Henry, but it was very clear from the beginning that Ilya has this particularly cool way of marrying both music and action and image. So I just felt very comfortable that our producers believed that he was going to bring that same thing to Nobody.

When you look at the way action is done in movies today, on one hand you have the stylized stuff that we see in this movie, and then there’s the way Patty Jenkins shoots the Wonder Woman films, which has this majestic painterly quality. Does this seem like an interesting time for the genre?

I think so. I think that it has just changed so vastly from back in the day with films like Rambo. I think that a lot of these movies used to have a very jingoistic quality to them, and that instead, action has mutated. I think maybe that Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and China brought progress to the genre and really updated it and brought in fantasy elements that were really exciting. Superhero movies have definitely updated those concepts as well. So I do think that action movies continue to evolve. The John Wick trilogy is just such a great example of something that just evolved into this whole world, this John Wick world, which was so cool.

What are your thoughts on Zack Snyder’s Justice League arriving? Did you do any additional shooting for it?

I did my work with Zack on set. I did not have to go back for any reshoots. When Zack was going to start the project back up, he had the courtesy and the kindness to call everybody and ask if we were willing to support him in this. I think every single person immediately just said, “Of course.” I know that we’re all super excited that he’s bringing this vision forward to everybody. And I know that he does not consider this as another Justice League, he considers this a standalone movie in its own right.

Are you signed for Wonder Woman 3?

I know that there’s a storyline that involves the Amazons, that’s really all I can say.

Nobody arrives in theaters on Friday, March 26.

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