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zazujoy · 4 years

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I’m sure this has been done but here’s everything I, a person who has listened to exactly zero seconds of The Magnus Archives, know about this podcast

Characters

Jon: He’s the main character, the archivist, and he’s got some spooky eye powers. I don’t know if he got them on purpose. He’s kind of a dick but in a way that makes the fandom love him.

Martin: Jon’s boyfriend, eventually. Unfortunately I don’t know much about him outside of that, but he’s both a. A monsterfucker and b. Pro killing all the monsters, so we’ll see how that works out for him

J. Leitner: fuck this guy. I don’t know anything about him but fuck him.

Daisy: is a werewolf maybe? She’s evil but she might also be friends with Jon, I’m not sure

Sasha: I don’t know much about her but she seems chill. She might be dead by now; there’s a not!Sasha which means she got pulled into one of the Spooky Things, so f in the chat for that

Tim: idk he exists

Georgie: might be a secretary or something? That might be a different character. There’s someone named Gertrude who I also know nothing about so it could be her.

Elias: is he married to Tim? Is there a different character named Tom that he’s married to? I think this guy got married and divorced and then remarried his ex-husband but I don’t remember his husband’s name. Also I think he’s insanely old. Maybe.

Basira: ???? [see also: Tim]

Spooky stuff

There’s spooky stuff. I don’t exactly get how it works but you can become an avatar of a Spooky Thing, although that seems like not the greatest life decision.

Trying to think of Spooky Things from TMA off the top of my head, I listed The Lonely, The Slaughter, The Flesh, The Eye, and Clowns(???) and then I just googled a list so I’m just gonna guess what the items on this list mean.

The Buried: There’s worms somewhere in this podcast and worms like to get buried in the ground so I’m saying The Buried is the Worm Spooky. I hate it.

The Corruption: yeah I have no idea. The word “corruption” brings to mind either religion or politics so maybe it somehow has to do with one or both of those things.

The Dark: darkness is spooky I guess.

The Desolation: yeah so “desolation” definitely sounds bad and scary but I have no idea what it means in the context of this podcast, because everything is bad and scary here except for occasional moments of tenderness. So this is a Mystery Spooky Thing as far as I’m concerned.

The End: I know there’s something in season 5 that hits uncomfortably close to Real Life Pandemic stuff that’s happening, so I’m gonna say The End is that. Probably it’s the end of the world or humanity or something.

The Eye: Jon’s an avatar of this one; I think it just lets you Know Stuff that you otherwise wouldn’t; also maybe you get literal extra eyes? Or can see through other people’s eyes? I’m just making things up but those might be true. I know “invasion of privacy” is a Spooky Theme in at least some of the episodes and The Eye seems like a likely cause of that.

The Flesh: gross meat stuff. 0/10, do not like. I think the Leitner dude that everyone hates is involved with this one

The Hunt: I guess it makes you want to go kill people?? Also maybe you’re a werewolf. I think Daisy is an avatar of this one.

The Lonely: pretty much what it sounds like: makes you really lonely and isolated. Martin got caught up in it for a bit in a recent episode but then he remembered he loves Jon so it’s fine for now.

The Spiral: sounds like some weird hypnosis shit

The Stranger: this is the one that got Sasha, I’m pretty sure. Replaces you with a spooky version of yourself or something. IDK what happens to the original person, maybe they die (rip). I think this is the one that led me to include “Clowns???” on my original list, though maybe that was The Spiral.

The Vast: emptiness as a concept is inherently spooky so maybe that’s what this is. Makes me think of a very large empty field and I hate that shit, so.

The Web: based just on the name, sounds like something that’d give you a supernatural mental connection to the other avatars of this thing.

Plot

I really really have no idea. You could string together literally any set of events and say it happened in The Magnus Archives and I’d believe you. But here’s my best attempt at piecing the events together:

Jon is doing archivist stuff; people come and give him statements about scary stuff that happened.

There’s a guy who got a cursed coffin that said not to touch it or open it so he didn’t. Legend.

Martin is new at the Institute, I think, and Jon doesn’t like him, but eventually they fall in love (slow burn, babey! But like really slow; I think they got together for real in s3 or 4)

Jon removes a rib or two, maybe to get his Eye Powers. One of the ribs is just sitting in his desk drawer. It’s fine.

At some point I think there’s a transition between “Jon listens to people talk about spooky experiences” to “Jon fights worms and other weird creepy things” and I don’t know when or how that happens.

Daisy tries to kill someone I think.

Some worms are fought.

Sasha becomes not!Sasha. I feel like this went unnoticed for a little while and then eventually caused fairly sizable problems.

(I wasn’t joking when I said I don’t know the plot of this podcast at all)

I think Jon and Martin are currently trapped in some tunnels fighting monsters. Martin wants to kill all the monsters. Jon is one of those monsters, technically, and probably he has some Issues and insecurities related to not being fully human (he needs therapy. They all need therapy). Martin had An Experience with The Lonely; it was a whole emotional rollercoaster but he’s in love and he won’t forget that.

The creators have said it’ll end in tragedy and I think this is the last season, but everything is sort of okay for now? It’s not great but Jon and Martin are still alive and together for the time being.

Other stuff

The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill Ltd. and licensed under a creative commons attribution non-commercial sharealike 4.0 international license.

“Statement begins”

“Fabric rustles” (NO kissing noises)

The creator’s name is Jonathan Sims and he just named the main character after himself for fun

Apparently “Jonathan” is supposed to be shortened to “John” but that’s bullshit

#the magnus archives #tma #tma spoilers #tagging that just in case but I can't imagine I got anything correct enough to spoil it #Joy to the World

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mst3kproject · 4 years

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Blood of Dracula’s Castle

This is another film by Al Adamson of Carnival Magic, starring John Carradine of The Unearthly and the weirdly rectangular Alexander D’Arcy of Horrors of Spider Island. If that weren’t enough, the first thing you see when you start the movie is an opening sequence of badly-shot driving set to an incongruously cheerful theme song, looking like something that should have credits over it, but doesn’t. Because obviously the perfect way to begin your movie is by giving everybody flashbacks to Manos: the Hands of Fate. Oh, boy.

Glen Cannon has just inherited a castle, so he takes his girlfriend Liz out to see the place and to meet the longtime tenants, Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. Unfortunately for Glen, Liz, and a number of short-skirted passers-by, the Townsends are actually vampires! They live in the castle with a menagerie of servants that include George the butler, Johnny the homicidal maniac (not the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, just a guy named Johnny who happens to be a homicidal maniac), and a hunchback named Mango. Not keen on the idea of moving, the undead try to persuade the young couple to either extend their lease or sell them the property outright. And if that fails, well, George does need victims to sacrifice to the moon god…

(Pictured above, three hundred percent more captive women than in Hercules and the Captive Women.)

You’d think a movie called Blood of Dracula’s Castle would be set in some ancient and spooky part of eastern Europe, wouldn’t you? And you’d be wrong, because the castle in this story is in the middle of the Arizona desert. Why is there a castle in the Arizona desert? The movie never explains, but I’m guessing the backstory is similar to that of Shea Castle in California, where much of the movie was shot – some rich asshole just decided he wanted to live in a castle. What I really want to know is why this specific castle has vampires in it. Deserts just don’t seem like good vampire habitat, you know?

Blood of Dracula’s Castle is particularly ridiculous about this, because like Attack of the The Eye Creatures or Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules, it features sun-hating baddies in a movie that is clearly shot in the daytime with a dark filter! And like those other movies, the sunshine is so intense that the filters do just about nothing. Also, why is there a beach nearby? Arizona is not exactly famous for those.

The Townsends are some seriously weaksauce vampires. A lot of movies have vampires with superhuman strength, telepathy, or the power of flight. These two are afraid of being shot, and can’t even escape from being tied up with silk sashes. I would say it undermines their threat, but they never seemed that threatening to begin with. Alexander D’Arcy and Paula Raymond play the characters very low-key and matter-of-fact, and their servants come across as far more dangerous than the masters. I suppose this is why the vampires turn to dust in an anticlimax, while the real movie-ending battle is with Mango the hunchback. He takes a bullet to the gut, an axe to the back, is set on fire, and finally topples over a cliff before he goes down! Even George the aged butler puts up a pretty good fight with a morningstar before breaking his neck in a fall down the stairs.

Johnny, meanwhile, is a very confusing inclusion. He’s been in a mental institution for murdering some unspecified number of people, and he blames his killing spree on the full moon. The movie harps on this at some length, with Johnny himself, the Townsends, and George all referring to it, so by the time the climax approaches we’re pretty sure we’re gonna get a werewolf scene. When George sets out to sacrifice a captive woman to the moon god, I was eagerly hoping this would take the form of wolfman Johnny showing up to tear her apart. But Johnny is present to watch, remains fully human throughout, and does nothing, while George simply sets the woman on fire! Why spend all that time setting it up? Is the point supposed to be that Johnny uses lycanthropy as an excuse for his killings when the truth is he’s just a murderer? If so, the movie misses by a mile.

Glen and Liz are technically the main characters, but they’re very much the type who are only present so this movie will have somebody to happen to. The writers, director, and even the actors are far more interested in their assortment of baddies. Neither of the couple has anything that might be considered a character trait. They are introduced in a montage of Glen taking pictures of Liz at Sea World, which establishes nothing but the fact that she’s hot and he’s recently asked her to marry him. There’s also a really weird bit where they make out under the watchful eyes of a voyeuristic walrus, which sure is a sentence I just wrote.

There are a couple of moments when it looks like Glen’s profession of photography might just be plot relevant. He tries to take a picture of Johnny, but Johnny doesn’t want him to, which could have been a precursor to one of them recognizing the escaped murderer. It goes nowhere. I also wondered if the film might make use of the idea that vampires don’t show up any better in photographs than they do in mirrors, but the idea is completely ignored.

About the only thing in Blood of Dracula’s Castle that works is one joke. Glen and Liz are snooping around the castle basement, where they discover the Townsends sleeping in their coffins. Liz starts to freak out, and Glen tries to reassure her by telling her that there’s a perfectly logical explanation. She demands to know what that is… and rather than offer some ‘rational’ bullshit Glen just straight up says, “they’re vampires, obviously!” The sheer surprise of seeing a trope subverted like that in this stupid movie made me laugh out loud.

Is there anything halfway interesting in this movie? Meh, not really. The closest it comes is when it suggests the Townsends’ distaste for ‘traditional’ vampirism. They don’t go around biting necks and leaving bodies behind – instead they drain blood from a vein and sip it out of genteel wine glasses. Killing Glen and Liz is not Plan A, it is what they’re forced to turn to when all else fails. Lady Townsend even contemplates the idea that someday somebody might invent synthetic blood, allowing vampires to become law-abiding citizens!

This could have been neat, but it fails to go anywhere because the Townsends seem entirely cheerful and blasé about the crimes they do commit. They have no problem keeping young women chained up in their dungeon, draining them of blood and then turning them over to Mango to be raped and murdered. They show no reluctance to sacrifice victims to the moon god. In fact, their performance has almost a Stepford Wives sort of feel, in which they are polite and pleasant about literally everything. Even in private, when they worry about possibly having to kill their guests, they sound cheerful. The fake smile plastered across D’Arcy’s face is downright terrifying, though not for the reasons it ought to be. He looks like being in this movie is causing him physical pain.

Another thread seems to be some commentary, probably unintentional, about the nature of relationships. Glen and Liz argue quite a bit, and I think most of it’s intended to be in fun but Gene O’Shane and Barbara Bishop are not good actors and it sometimes comes across quite bitter. Their disagreements contrast with the behaviour of the Townsends, who are perfectly in harmony in everything they do. Perhaps this is because the Townsends have simply known each other longer, having been married for some three centuries while Glen and Liz have only been together a year or so. The impression one gets, however, is an Addams Family sort of vibe, in which embracing the darkness within seems to lead to better relationships.

Now that I think of it… with the charming, well-dressed, and loving couple, and their cadaverous butler, there is definitely an Addams Family thing going on here. The comics had been around since 1938 and the TV series started in 1964, so it was out there for other creators to draw on.

In comparison to the other Al Adamson movies I’ve seen, Blood of Dracula’s Castle actually strikes me as more similar to Carnival Magic than to Psycho-A-Go-Go. The latter film was very upfront about its dark themes, while the former buries them under a cheerful carnival front. Blood of Dracula’s Castle also looks rather harmless on the surface, as the Addams Family comparison makes clear: the Townsends are very cheerful and friendly vampires, their castle more whimsical than foreboding. They and their strange servants could be characters in a comedy, were the movie not so explicit about their murders.

Blood of Dracula’s Castle is pretty dull. You won’t be missing anything if you skip it. If you do want to watch it, I’d better warn you: the opening sequence is set to an upbeat song called Last Train Out, and once it’s in your brain, it’s not going anywhere for a while.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #blood of dracula's castle #poor john carradine #tw: rape #60s

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the--sad--hatter · 5 years

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Name Calling (26)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - BUCKY X READER (female reader, no physical descriptions)

WARNINGS - ALL OF THEM, SMUT, VIOLENCE ANGST

DESCRIPTION - In which the ongoing and bloody war of words between you and Bucky turns in your favor when a disgruntled one night stand of his lets slip a secret when you run into her in the elevator… Now you have all the ammunition you need to destroy your enemy but you don’t plan on killing him quickly. Oh no, Bucky Barnes was going to suffer and you were going to enjoy every second. You just didn’t count on how much you would enjoy it.

Current Word Count - 74,382

Chapter Twenty Six - The Cat's Out Of The Bag

The Avengers were gathered in a meeting room in the tower, waiting on Ross. The mood was sombre. Their friend had just been dragged away to be put only god knows where and they hadn’t had the chance to explain to her why there was a video of her killing and nearly dying that existed to be leaked online in the first place.

“Who leaked that footage?” Sam asked the question they were all wondering.

“Docherty. He has to have been watching her, or having people do it for him more accurately.” Steve guessed.

“Why leak it today? Why now?” Rhodey enquired.

“She’s his Vernichtung, his little world ender. Having her being hailed as a hero must have pissed him off.” Tony said wearily.

“This is good. We’ve been looking for a way to get to him for a long time and we had nothing. Now he’s shown a weakness, something we can exploit. The angrier we make him, the more likely he is to make a mistake.” Natasha reasoned.

“First we have to get my little girl out of Ross’s clutches. I don’t trust him any more than I do Docherty.” Tony snapped.

“He’s right. Ross has been trying to get his hands on The Hulk for a long time, god knows what he’ll do with Vernichtung.” Bruce agreed.

“The X-Men said they would gave her sanctuary but that only works as long as nobody knows she’s with them. They won’t help break her out. The Avengers can’t be seen doing it either. I’ll have to take the fall for this, I’ll take her and we can go into hiding. Cap can you contact T’Challa? See if he can help?” Tony asked, pacing as he made plans.

“I’ll think we should take a page out of Romanov’s book and fight Docherty with his own tactics.” Bucky spoke up for the first time.

“That’s not a bad idea. It’ll push Ross into a corner and put Docherty off his game at the same time.” Steve mused.

“Plus it will put Docherty’s face on the map. It’ll be much harder fro him to hide.” Natasha added.

“For those of us not following?” Sam probed.

“The Vernichtung Files. We release them.” Bucky said.

“That’s the worst idea I’ve heard all day.” Rhodey stated.

“You want to expose Kit Kat to the world like that? No.” Tony said firmly.

“Tony the whole world knows what she can do and who she is. So let’s show them how much she’s endured and how many times she said no to using that power to hurt anyone.” Natasha said diplomatically.

“She’s a hero, we all know it. It’s time the world did as well.” Steve added.

Everyone but Tony and Rhodey looked convinced. Tony looked frazzled and torn but before he could press further, Secretary Ross came sweeping into the room.

“Where the hell is my kid Ross? You have no right to take her away like that, she gets to have a lawyer. As her father, her next of kin I demand to know where she is.” Tony insisted.

“You aren’t in a position to be making demands, any of you. You harboured an unregistered powered person and took them on active missions. If a fraction of what is on that footage turns out to be true, you’ve been sitting on the human equivalent of a nuclear bomb.” Ross said, his voice dripping with unbearable smugness.

“Then slap me on the wrists, put me in the naughty corner, prosecute me if you like. I don’t give a damn. I want to know where my daughter is.” Tony yelled.

“Oh there will be ramifications, for everyone. The UN will not let this slide.”

“You mean there will be ramifications for Stark and myself.” Bucky spoke up,

“I beg your pardon Mr Barnes?”

“There’s nothing on that video to suggest any other member of The Avengers knew about her. Matter of fact, Tony didn’t arrive until after. Maybe he didn’t know either.” Bucky said smoothly.

Ross’s jaw worked furiously as he tried to catch up to what Bucky was implying.

“The only person you can say with absolute certainty knew about Miss Starks abilities was me.” He continued.

“That’s not going to look good for anybody. Prosecuting a man you only recently pardoned. I’d hate to be you in that scenario.” Natasha said, catching on.

“Oh no, you can not spin this to your advantage. You really think you’re going to get away with this? The evidence speaks for itself.” Ross sneered.

“Speaking of evidence...” Dr Banner spoke and everybody turned to look at him. He smiled softly with a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Were you aware that Benjamin Newlands was creating a deadly virus to unleash on a well populated country? Doesn’t he have an uncle on the UN council?” Bruce continued.

“He does, his father in law sits on the council as well.” Natasha added.

“In case you were wondering, yes we do have evidence. Irrefutable in fact. There’s a witness who worked on the virus, a paper trail showing Mr Newlands plans for after the virus was unleashed and a sample of the virus itself.” Bruce concluded.

“And you want to know the kicker Ross, the final damning fact? It was ‘deathwave’ who infiltrated Newlands home, destroyed the facility and obtained the virus so a cure could be synthesized.” Natasha said, hitting the final nail into the coffin.

“So you currently have the hero who discovered a traitor in the UN in your custody.” Steve summarised.

Secretary Ross had gone pale. They had him over a barrel and he knew it.

“It’s a good thing you decided to utilise a valuable asset to weed out the traitor and saved millions of lives in the process. Of course you had to hold off on having Miss Stark signing the accords, this whole sting operation only worked so long as nobody knew who she was. This was well played Sir.” Rhodey said diplomatically.

They all held their breath while they waited to see if the Secretary Of State would take the bait. He could take the messy path and throw her into a cell despite the backlash he would receive or he could go along with the plan they had just laid out. Turn her into the hero who saved the Accords from being tainted by War Crimes and Genocide.

“Before you say anything else Secretary Ross, there’s something you should see.” Natasha said.

Everyone looked at Tony and after a long moment he nodded.

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“Breaking News! More details on the story of ‘Deathwave’, Tony Stark’s illegitimate daughter have come to light.” The news anchor announced.

“Well the cat is well and truly out of the bag now.” Rhodey remarked.

“We made the right move, now that crowd outside who already think she’s a hero is going to grow exponentially. Show people footage of a scared little girl standing up to a bully and then have The Secretary Of State announce she was secretly working for them to single handedly take down a madman who wanted to kill millions and by this time tomorrow the whole world is going to love The Newest Avenger.” Clint said.

“We made her The Media Darling and Dr Jack Docherty public enemy number one in one fell swoop. I’d call that a win.”

“Yeah, now all we have to do is find a way to explain to her why she doesn’t remember killing 200 people or being shot in the heart.” Sam snapped bitterly.

Bucky had had enough of listening to them all congratulate themselves and bicker. It was going to be a lot to process for her and forgiveness for all they had done wouldn’t come easily. Everytime he got somewhere with her something got in the way and he was sick of it.

Would this be the final straw? Would she give up on him, on them? Would she go back to hating him?

“WHO WAS IT?” Tony yelled, storming into the room.

“Wasn’t me.” Clint said immediately.

“Who was what Tony?” Steve asked calmly.

“Ross just called his men to have her released and brought back here. Only he can’t do that because someone broke her out of custody.”

His revelation was met with silence.

“Nobody wants to fess up?” Tony pressed, slightly urgently.

Nobody spoke up and a chill ran up Bucky’s spine. If none of them had broke her out, then who had?

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

You slowly roused from a deep sleep. The last thing you remembered was a lot of screaming, a klaxon blaring and a flash of red. You shot up into a sitting position, taking in your surrounding rapidly.

You were on a tatty sofa, springs digging into you. The room was musty and well lived in to put it politely. The door was kicked open loudly and your kidnapper/saviour came literally skipping into the room.

“GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!”

The defensive stance you sprung into was instinctual but the red spandex clad figure ignored it and held out something to you.

“Chimichanga?”

“Who the hell are you?” You snarled at him.

“I’m Deadpool sweetcheeks, and you should really already know that but the author really wanted me to say it out loud so there was no confusion for the readers so I’ll let it slide.” He announced tearing open the foil wrapped Chimichanga and taking an obscenely huge bite.

“Alright Deadpool, did you rescue me or kidnap me?” You enquired.

“Technically both Princess Peach. Ooooh, that’s what I’ll call you from now on since I’m not allowed to say your name.”

“Alright… what?” You were utterly lost.

“Quick note. The last person to rescue you adopted you so by those rules, you have to call me daddy. Or Daddypool.”

“I am not calling you Daddy.” You insisted with a confused grimace.

“Daddypool it is.” He said, clapping his hands together in excitement.

He leapt onto the couch you’d woken up on and struck a heroic pose.

“Now let’s end this chapter so everyone can mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming grand adventures of the dynamic duo…. Princess Peach and Daddypool!”

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

Short but important chapter... I really really hope you like this. It's a creative gamble on my part. Please like it!!! *sweats nervously*

@nerdandproud-86 @harrison-shot-first@chook007@thejourneyneverendsx@thelostallycat@inquisitor-selvala@the-corruptor @iovher@kendrawr-kitkat@phoenix-whiskey-tears @the–real-wombat@buckitybarnes@fairislesheets@angieptt@meganjonezzzz

@dugan365 @fluffeh-kitty@memanda17@krystallynx@theonelittleone

@piscesbarnes @free-as-fishes@tarastudiesalot@captainamericasbeard

#bucky x reader #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #avengers x reader #hattersmarvelverse

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mayeeeee · 3 years

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CASK OF AMONTILLADO

SUMMARY

One night, Montresor asked Fortunato if he wanted to drink the best wine that ever existed in the world – the Amontillado. Unbeknownst to the latter, Montresor was actually plotting to kill him. Montresor planned this for quite some time after deciding that he has had enough of Fortunato’s insults.

Knowing that Fortunato has a weak spot for wine, he introduced to him the best wine in the world in order to lure him into their family’s wine cellar. Making the Amontillado sound like the best wine one could ever taste, Fortunato agreed to be taken to the wine cellar in order to taste the Amontillado. Excited and curious, he went and drank with Montresor on the way. It was cold and dark but they still went deeper and deeper ignoring the skulls around them.

Fortunato didn’t feel any amount of fear nor hesitance in going deeper in the unfamiliar tunnel as Montresor made him drink wine as they walked. When they stopped upon a hole, Fortunato was already very drunk and didn’t have the energy to stop Montresor when he chained him up. Montresor then used bricks and piled it up to block Fortunato and trap him there.

A century later after the incident, Montresor mentions that nobody has ever touched the bricks where he trapped Fortunato.

ANALYSIS

Montresor’s intentions

People may describe him to be irrational for murdering Fortunato (he actually is) but at the same time, I would like to think of this as him protecting his family. It may seem as if Fortunato did nothing but hurt Montresor’s pride but in another perspective, he may have been afraid of humiliation as he is not the only person carrying that name. As a clan, Montresors may have a reputation to protect and Fortunato taunted that.

Weaknesses of both characters

I’m sure it added more spice to Fortunato’s characterization but I found his obsession towards alcohol was too unrealistic. But since this is a fictional story, I guess it’s fine. But I can’t help judging Fortunato for how gullible he is when he agreed to go to the wine cellar without sensing an inch of suspicion towards Montresor. I have personally met a lot of people who would definitely go loco for alcohol but not to the point of deciding on something stupid before even getting drunk. I must take note of the fact that Fortunato didn’t die mainly because of his weakness towards alcohol – it was his pride and ego that led him to his death.

This leads me to Montresor’s weakness as well. Both of them have big egos and aside from Montresor murdering Fortunato because he hurt his pride – he also did the same thing by challenging and tempting Fortunato with Amontillado. Pride definitely brought both characters down more than the alcohol did.

Moral of the story

Speaking from experience and how I related to the story, I can say that I have learned how to respect people’s emotions. We all have a different level of sensitivity and there are times when people tend to forget that people can be offended by things that don’t seem offensive to them. Montresor showed great value over his name and if Fortunato respected that, then he could’ve avoided getting on Montresor’s nerves in the first place. Another thing is that, communication is the key to every argument. I doubt that Montresor made Fortunato well aware of what he felt and thought hence the latter pushed even further.

REFERENCES

http://stephanietrinidad.blogspot.com/2013/12/montresors-downfall.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TF_sMg5pKI

THE GOD STEALER

SUMMARY

Philip and Sam are on a trip to the mountains in order to find an authentic god. Philip is an Ifugao who fled to Manila in order to live a new life as a Catholic and with him is Sam, an American who wanted to bring home with him a god as a souvenir. Philip wanted to help Sam to thank him for giving him a raise at work.

When they got to their destination, Philip’s grandfather greeted them warmly by throwing a party in Philip’s honor. But during the party, they find out that nobody wanted to sell their gods. Not wanting their trip to go to waste, Philip suggested that he steal his grandfather’s god instead. But then his grandfather died after Philip stole the god.

After the incident, Philip decided that he won’t return to Manila because he felt responsible for this grandfather’s death – the person who loved him the most. When he informs Sam, he is already dressed in a traditional Ifugao clothing while he carves a new god to replace the one which he stole. The two bid their farewells and Sam takes the old one to America as a souvenir.

ANALYSIS

Colonial Mentality

According to research, people with a colonial mentality believe that they are inferior ethnically or culturally as a result of colonization. For a person like Philip, this means an instant and unthinking rejection of all things Filipino, as well as an instinctive and unquestioning support for all things American or white. Philip experienced this and thought of his own ethnicity as something of lesser value than those who live in the city. Modernization was brought to Manila by colonizers and because colonizers look down on the locals – Philip may have desired the need to be “equal” to them by being one of them.

Ifugaos and importance of gods

People value their religion but there are some people who value their religion a lot more than others typically do. Ifugaos are known to be very religious people and rely on their deities on everything that they do. Some of these gods are responsible for their harvests and has great influence on medicine and their system of politics, which I think is colorful and just as meaningful as other religions. But of course, some people may find it odd that they worship idols and trees or animals – but I think it’s alright to find it odd when you don’t understand it but that doesn’t give you the license to disrespect what they believe in. Ifugaos have a lot of practices that aren’t all that familiar to the majority but thanks to F. Sionil, readers are given a glimpse of how important it actually is to them.

REFERENCES

https://wearekubo.com/the-effects-of-colonial-mentality-on-filipino-american-mental-health/#:~:text=People%20who%20possess%20colonial%20mentality,for%20anything%20American%20or%20white.

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/249316529341515065/

https://www.slideshare.net/tinelachica04/eng-7-the-god-stealer

SIX FEET OF THE COUNTRY

SUMMARY

Set outside of Johannesburg, this story follows a man and a wife, two “sort of” farmers, and their reaction to the knowledge that a refuge from Rhodesia has fled to their land and died from overexposure. “Six Feet of the Country” is told from the perspective of the husband, Bass. He regards himself and his wife as pseudo-farmers because he makes most of his money from a “luxury-travel agency” and bought the farm—ten miles outside of Johannesburg—as an idyllic distraction for his wife, Lerice, who is an aging former actress.

One night, Bass is alerted that something terrible has happened in the barracks where the young servant boys--all black--sleep. Reluctantly, the man travels to the dorms. There, he’s informed that another young boy whom he has never seen before has died, likely from a combination of pneumonia and heat exhaustion. He learns that the mysterious boy was the brother of Petrus, one of his trusted employees. Petrus, distraught over the death of his brother, tells his employer that the boy traveled from the extremely poor area of Rhodesia to the big city, looking for work.

Petrus’s family wants to give the boy a decent burial and pay dearly for the expense. But the day of the funeral, they learn that the body in the coffin isn’t that of the young boy. They demand a refund for the funeral home’s mistake, and to have the body of their loved one back. But the funeral home, run by white Afrikaners, refuses, saying that they (technically) already did their job; that they buried the wrong body is not their concern. Petrus and his family exhort their white employers to intercede on their behalf. Bass and Lerice attempt this, but they are neither rich nor influential enough to overcome South Africa's racist bureaucracy. Petrus’s family then must live with the knowledge that their loved one wasn’t properly buried six feet underground, i.e. he was not afforded even “six feet of country.”

ANALYSIS

It is with a heavy heart to say that black people were mistreated a lot back then, it's like they aren't humans at all. They were forced to work at jobs that needs a lot of physical strength and it leads to slavery. I remember, I read somewhere that black people had their own time to go out unlike the white people who can go out freely and wander endlessly. I also read somewhere that in public transportations, there's specific spaces for blacks and whites. Justice was also for white people back then. I'm not surprised because that was during the Apertheid System where they separate white and black people. Just like this story, Petrus and the other farm workers were not treated nicely. Petrus only wanted a proper burial for his brother but they had to pay for his brother's body only learning that the body they gave him was not his brother. It's so cruel of a human to do that. His boss couldn't also help him because they have no money to overcome the racist mindset of South Africa. So then, Petrus and his family had to accept the fact that they couldn't even bury his brother's body. They can't even give justice to his brother. Apertheid system was not necessary and so is racism. It is sad to say that this still exists today and is evident in different countries. It is just too inhumane to kill a black people just because of their skin color. I don't get why they hate people that are not of the same skin color as them. It's not like they wanted to be born like that. It's so sick to hate, mistreat, and kill black people.

REFERENCES:

https://www.supersummary.com/six-feet-of-the-country/summary/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/96335.Six_Feet_of_the_Country

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