#and people are really really bad at analyzing the MCU
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i honestly don't care if you don't like star wars or aren't interested in watching it, but i swear to g-d nearly every single filmbro quote unquote 'so-bad-it's-good' quote unquote 'i'll watch anything for my hot dead actor fave' camp lover who acts like they're better than everyone else for not watching it just because it's a popular thing always end up being the most annoying and miserable motherfuckers on this here planet earth.
#here comes all the 'but it DOES make me better than you' comments. L + Ratio + not cute + i don't care + put some love in your heart.#myevilposts#'oh but star wars does suck' i wasn't saying it was good either. it has its bad moments for sure. bad entire sections.#but wasn't it you saying that you loved 'bad' films?#plus star wars 100% has it's 'so bad it's good' campy moments. if u weren't aware.#in another life a new hope was a standalone cult classic that has an online fandom-fandom of 50 people tops.#the original trilogy has more in common with the cult films you guys worship than the mcu and if u watched them maybe you'd see that.#'i'll watch anything for peter cushing' really. really. would you really. let's be real here. would you really.#L + Ratio + how deep is your love + i am feeling like holden caulfield in this tumblr.com tonight.#and i'm not like that person complaining about the serbian pigeon film. i love obscure cult foreign films.#i consider myself an intellectual. i enjoy such things as having critical thinking skills and analyzing shit films.#i also enjoy a popular series. you don't have to enjoy it too but it doesn't solidify your spot in heaven to hate on popular media.#and star wars is plenty deserving of hate. btw. but this holier than thou nonsense is getting on my nerves.#just say you don't wanna watch it and move on.
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I haven't enjoyed a Marvel movie since I stopped bothering to keep up with the MCU in 2014. I don't care for most Marvel movies. I think Marvel Studios is a case study in things that are shitty in the entertainment industry. But holy shit, pretentious posts along the lines of "haha, I don't watch Marvel films, I have real taste, go watch another movie!" are so fucking annoying.
Like, go put up your middle finger at some preps or something. People are allowed to watch whatever they want and enjoy whatever movies they want and make whatever fandom stuff they want, and that doesn't say anything about their intelligence or morals or character. It doesn't mean they are somehow bad at watching movies, or are too stupid to realize whatever nugget of wisdom ye high-and-mighty Marvel Haters think you're the only ones to understand.
Again, not personally a Marvel fan, but this whole "haha, I'm better than Marvel fans" relates to something I've been musing on about media analysis as a whole. There is a persistent idea that mass entertainment is inherently lower quality or less artistic because it's made for a wide audience, and that bad art isn't worth analyzing or engaging with just because it's low quality. In this mindset, the only art that has the possibility to be any good at all is 100% independent projects made by amateurs, and anything produced by a studio or with wide appeal is inherently poser art with absolutely nothing meaningful to say. In this mindset, you can't possibly learn anything or take anything from bad art, and if you find meaning in bad art, you're clearly just stupid and uneducated and have bad taste.
The thing is? Liking bad art is not a sin. Having a different opinion about what constitutes "bad art" is not a sin. Finding something entertaining despite its flaws is not a sin. Studying bad art is not a sin. You can learn a lot from bad art, you can learn a lot from interpreting propaganda, you can learn a lot from engaging with things even if you don't think they're very "good."
My vaudeville research keeps turning up author after author who talks about vaudeville as some sort of "point of no return," like the performing arts all turned to shit the second things were intended to be seen by more than a single audience for a single show. Popularity gets equated with lack of skill or quality, because all the performers were "just pandering to the audience" instead of relying on "real skill."
For one, what the fuck does that even mean, but for two, the theatrical quality of vaudeville isn't what makes it interesting and worth engaging with. Every single thing that ever came out of vaudeville could be 100% total utter garbage, but vaudeville would still be worth studying because of how influential it still is on arts and entertainment today. It has significant historical and educational merit. And some of it is still genuinely fun and entertaining, once you pick out all the things that didn't age well or were just plain bigoted. There's artistic merit in those old sketches and songs, and there's meaning to be drawn from plenty of it even here in 2023.
You want to learn about the Hays Code? Well, let's talk about how early films were shown on projectors on vaudeville stages, so vaudeville censorship went on to influence American film censorship. Let's talk about how we still use slang to this day that originated on vaudeville, such as "skit" or "one night stand" or "ad lib" or "the big time." Vaudeville is still in the bones of the modern American entertainment industry and pop culture, and you can't really escape that influence.
People in modern day use Marvel movies as proof that big studio films are singlehandedly responsible for the decline of art, and there is nothing to learn from them or see in them at all, ever. But to me, "Marvel movies are bad" is such a flat, uninteresting observation, because when it comes to media analysis, it doesn't really matter if Marvel films are good or entertaining. If you want to actually dig into the problems with big-budget summer Hollywood blockbusters, and the way they're impacting the industry as a whole, you have to go deeper than "pop culture is all stupid stuff for stupid people, unlike me, who isn't like other girls actually has good taste in media!"
There are so many more factors at play than "mass entertainment = bad art." Let's look at the ways capitalism screws over small creators and forces them to seek funding from the very same studios that fuck them over. Let's talk about how the actual workers in the industry are fighting tooth and fucking nail against the exact same things all the Marvel haters harp on about. Let's talk about studios that accept funding from the United States Government to turn superhero comics into propaganda films, and then threaten the actual workers with never having a career again if they complain or quit. Let's talk about how the actors are regularly abused and treated to hostile work environments.
Let's talk about the people who made the films, because the films were not made by a CEO pressing the "make movie" button. The workers made those films. The workers were exploited by those studios. Let's try giving a shit about them, instead of taking the "haha, Marvel fans are stupid and cringe" route.
There is so much more fucking nuance and detail and conversation about mass media as a topic, and boiling it down to, "art made for a wide audience is inherently shitty and has nothing to say."
You're not a better, more intelligent, more educated person just because you don't like Marvel movies. Making posts about how much better you are than Marvel fans does nothing to either explain or tackle the issues in the entertainment industry.
It just makes you look like a dickhead.
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Ok so we all know hp is bad and hp fans are genuinely sus and Not Good people..But are fans of other things such as twilight, mcu, certain horror movies with awful directors, or even things such as rock singers in the 80s who made amazing music but they were Awful. Can people enjoy these things and still be a good person? I've wondered this for a bit and your hp reply was great!
The questions you have to ask yourself are “is [bad person] benefitting from me engaging with this media in some way” and “is [bad person] actively using their success in media as a way to fight for legislature that oppresses a marginalized group”. You also have to analyze if the media itself reflects whatever makes the creator bad.
JKR is a unique case because she uses profits from Harry Potter to fund hate groups and push anti-trans legislation into law. She uses her platform specifically as a means to harm other human beings actively, and her works are rife with racism, antisemitism, sexism, fatphobia, ableism, etc. etc.
It isn’t just a matter of JKR having a bad opinion, she weaponizes her media to groom her fans into TERFs and is directly placing trans people in danger, especially in the UK.
Fans of movies made by Harvey Weinstein or whoever are generally not being groomed to be sexually abusive because he wasn’t using his media as a weapon, he was using his money as a weapon for harm. Do I think people are inherently bad for liking Pulp Fiction or whatever just because the executive producer is a sexual abuser? Not really, because for one thing he’s in prison and can no longer benefit from any profit that movie could make and for another he was just the executive producer for most of the movies you’ve actually heard of, not a writer or director. Death of the author works a whole lot easier if the author is actually dead or otherwise off the table, and how tainted the media is by their involvement is proportional to how involved they actually were with the media.
So something like Mindless Self Indulgence is hard to justify still engaging with even though Jimmy was arrested because he was the direct artistic influence for his music and had more or less full creative freedom with it. I wouldn’t personally say it reflects great on a person to enjoy art made by a known child molester, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate Spy Kids or whatever just because someone on a very large team of people involved who didn’t really have creative control on the project was a bad person.
It’s case by case with a lot of reliance on using best judgment.
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I'm going to say this and I'm going to say this loudly, the reason Kiriko's character is bad is specifically how she's treated in game with her voice lines along with how they have written her bio, hero bio's also mainly being a game thing. The big reason why is because we see more of her character's complexity and how she truly feels about things in "Yokai" and "Where Honor Lives", but that's bad because the casual gamer won't be reading those because they are short stories. The only people who really read them are people who play and interact with Kiriko specifically because of the lore, even then fans will likely only read and analyze the stories that have characters they're invested in. So if your not already a fan of Kiriko or Hanzo your not likely be invested or want to read either of those stories.
Which leads to the major problem of the fact that a majority of Kiriko's voice lines in game aren't used to further characterize her or explore her lore, they are instead used to make her say quips and attempt to make her the "relatable" character that D.Va was. They're basically used to show off "hey, we can right dialogue like the MCU", and in the worst way possible.
Again she has equal/more one-on-one voice lines with Lucio, a character she has no canon connection with, the Genji or Hanzo. Hell the only one-one-one interaction she has with Genji is about them having bowl-cuts, it's basically nothing. The only interactions that, to me, feel fully in character for her are her interactions with Hanzo, Sombra and Pharah. Along with that, if Kiriko is mad at Hanzo for running away, she should also be mad at Genji for doing that same! Hell, I would honestly like to see her be more upset with Genji because if he was with Overwatch he could have helped her and her family. At least Hanzo has come back, at least he's trying to help now!
(I feel like I need to state that this isn't what I actually feel towards Genji, this is more how I feel Kiriko should feel towards Genji)
There's also the fact she should be more hostile towards ex-Blackwatch members in general. Like, why is she joking with Reaper when interacting with him would be a good opportunity to show how she feels towards what Blackwatch did? Why doesn't she have any interactions with Cassidy despite the fact he's admitting to regretting what happened in Hanamura? Why does she only have one one-on-one interaction with Genji despite the two of them being closer then Kiriko and Hanzo? Also why is the interaction about Asa, Kiriko's mother, being someone Dommfists knows with Genji? Why is that interaction not with Kiriko?
Why don't we get more interactions like she has with Hanzo, that show the weight of the sacrifices she's had to make? That show the bitterness she feels about the whole Shimada situations? Interactions like with Sombra where we see she's willing to take anything that will help her fight against the Hashimoto, that she doesn't play games when it comes to her peoples safety? Interactions like the ones with Pharah that both show a competitive side to her and gives us a good look on her moral code?
Why do I need to micromanage what dialogue and interactions I take from her to get a good grasp on her character and what she's like?
The reason I ask all this is because Kiriko is a character I genuinely enjoy and even relate to. Her relationship with her mother reminds me of mine with my own mum. I find the theming of consequence, honor and sacrifice found in her characters story interesting. I see her dynamic with Hanzo, how it parallels Genji and Cassidy, how Hanzo reacts to her in general, and find it compelling.
I'll do a full analysis on Kiriko's character in a different post because someone needs to do her character justice, since whoever is directing and writing the in game dialogue is refusing to.
#overwatch#overwatch 2#overwatch lore#overwatch headcanons#analysis#kiriko ow#kiriko kamori#kiriko yamagami#kiriko
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You have had character analysis for the show versions of Marc, Jake and Steven, will you ever analyze the comic versions?
Hey there Anon!
Well… I sort of already have! But not formatted like I did with the MCU, or in as much straightforward detail.
I recommend that you check out THIS, which covers creating the characters as broken down by Moench himself and I get a bit into it there.
It’s hard to break down the characters individually in these comics because each writer is going to treat them differently and build on what they took away from the original source or intent. Moench himself spent his OG run developing and taking them in different directions.
I’ve tried to break down each character as they appear in that comic, but that’s a lot of info and it really does vary issue to issue to writer to writer.
For instance, in Moench, Marc is beyond self hating, angry, violent, quick to seek out revenge, and disliked by just about everyone in the comics. In the 90s, the writers are quick to ditch Steven and Jake and focus on Marc.
The 90s were all about ACTION and COOL GUYS. And Who was cooler than a Mercenary with a gun and an attitude? Marc Spector became the action man with a dark past and guilty conscious.
Then they killed Marc (Twice) and Jake took over. Because Jake was cool and hip. He was the dirty cab driver who got things done and knew the way to get information. He also got a little gritty in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Steven got left behind for a long….long time.
It was around this time that Khonshu also took up a life of his own. Khonshu became an actual character. I’ll be doing a piece on that eventually so look forward to that one!
Marc came back and things get….complicated…. The characterization starts to swing WILDLY as everyone took a shot at trying to make sense of where Moon Knight and the characters needed to be to be brought into the current modern era and still make him have that connection that originally made him popular.
It was a wild ride. And we don’t see things settle until Lemire picked things up, dusted them off, and said “This is who these characters are.”
And with two exceptions (BEMIS. AARON), MacKay has not stepped in and attempted to fix things again and provide a place to build on for Jake and Steven to come home again.
But one thing is for sure…. Marc has ALWAYS been broody, self destructive, self hating, and quick to overt violence that makes him regret things later.
Steven often bounces between vain and prissy to weak and wimpy to cold and standoffish.
Jake …Oh boy Jake… My poor boy. From loving kind cabbie to violent unhinged psycho to uncaring cool guy to loving uncle Jake again.
If we really want to get to the heart of who these guys are… You almost have to read between the comics.
Even with Moench. You don’t properly see Marc Spector until you get the little after comic shorts “Adventures with Marc Spector” and so on. When you see him being goofy, having terrible luck, and making the most of his bad situations.
With Jake, you see him asking Gena how the kids are every time he sees her. He buys Crawley a new hat and does his best to support Gena in her hard times. He’s friends with the homeless and druggies. He buys a guy a cup of coffee and chews the fat with people in the streets.
Steven is charming with Marlene. He takes care of the body with the other two only beat it up. He puts all his wealth into charity events and things that he feels make a difference.
They all care about their friends and take it personally when their friends are hurt. Or when their friends hurt them. Gena talks about leaving and you see Jake feel like he failed her. Marc’s oldest friend from his time working CIA is killed and he goes on a serious bender of revenge. Even Steven, someone threatens his home and he pays extensively to make sure it is fortified and can keep everyone in it safe. No one hurts his Butler or maid or threatens Marlene.
It’s the things they can all agree on and these things that I think helps bring them together.
Where at first none of them can understand Marc and want him gone. But the more you see them coming together to protect what they care about the most, the more you start to see them agree on things and start to work as a unit.
At the end of the OG run, you see Steven accept Marc and his past after his father’s death.
It’s these things that I look for in the comics. The moments when you can see who they originally were and what keeps them together.
Marc’s need for stability and people he can trust. Steven’s need to feel useful and keep his people safe. Jake’s need to be around people that love him and his ability to keep them close and safe.
While I am NOT going to review every single comics like I did the Moench run... I am going to find time to re-read all of the 90s comics that came right after and might do a few breakdowns of those. ...But they are often a chore to get through. Just saying. They go hard on Marc and I miss my boys. I miss seeing the love that was so obvious in the original comics and the theme of friendship that held them all together.
#moon knight#Ask away#Talk to me about Moon Knight#Does this even make sense?#Don't know if I answered your ask
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Hi! Love your fandom ask: #16?
Oooooh such a good question! From this ask meme
16: What is a tiny detail you wish more people paid attention to?
In general, I wish there was more "in show" fics that examine the repercussions of Canon events or really took the time to dig into all the missing bits of character development (the way the MCU seems incapable of 🥴)
The sambucky fandom is so good at analyzing each moment that we have 😭
I do really want to know what (other than bad writing) happened for Sam and Bucky to go from heart eyes-ing at each other at the end of Endgame to being vitriolic-ly angry at each other at the beginning of TFATWS. idk if that counts as a small moment.
And also Sarah's greeting for Sam "Uncle Sam! You're back early!" I need to know how often he stays and if that was what he did before CATWS and if she ever worries that he won't come back on time or he'll get swept up in the whole hero thing again. Was she apprehensive about him being back and leaving again. What was their relationship pre WS and does it affect them now. What was their conversation when he came back. Everything about the Wilson siblings that led to that line.
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18 / 11 / 2023
HERCULES PLAYED BY MICHAEL B. JORDAN? 🤨 WHAT I THINK ABOUT IT 🧐
Hey dear readers! 😁
So... You probably read it somewhere else, or not, but it seems the gorgeous American actor Michael B. Jordan will probably plays the role of Prince Hercules in the future live-action movie adapted from the amazing Disney animated movie HERCULES (1997).
I wanted to tell you my top list of my favorite on-screen Hercules and ask you who is yours, but since i can't makes two games in one post, I want to ask you first what you thinks of Michael B. Jordan chosen by Disney as Prince Hercules for the live-action.
I love Hercules from Disney, to me he is really well written : physically he is handsome and hot, but he is more than that, he is also kind, funny, shy which makes him relatable. Even though he becomes stronger than everyone, he just wants to know what he is good for, where is his place, what he should do in life to be useful to others and happy for himself. That's things most people (especially young, but not only) can relate to. And the movie in itself helped going through bad things, whether for its message and good vibes, and also thanks to the humor, the songs, the characters (Megara is an amazing heroine, Hades is one of my favorite Disney vilain)!
If you want to know what i like about Michael B. Jordan, don't hesitate to read this article.
Apparently the executive producers have to chose between him and the handsome British actor Taron Egerton. Even though i like Taron Egerton as an actor, i don't think he is muscled or tall enough to plays Hercules. However, he would be better as playing Hercules as skinny and as muscled, because the protagonist is supposed to become stronger (unless they do what has been done for Steve Rogers before being Captain America, which is taking a skinny actor to play the role). He isn't that skinny too, so if he do exercise he could play him.
Michael B. Jordan is absolutely gorgeous, so of course I'm happy that he'll play in a Disney live-action, and we live in a time where this news isn't surprising.
In the MCU, it isn't the first time a Black person plays a White character (Nick Fury, Heimdall, Valkyrie, and now Namor played by a Latino actor and soon Sentry by an Asian man). I doesn't complain about race swapping in the MCU because it's adaptation and fictional characters. As for Michael B. Jordan, he already played a white character : Johnny Storm / Human Torch in the FANTASTIC 4 movie.
If you want to read a story about Michael B. Jordan as a dominant gay man and an interracial love story where, for once, the white man isn't a weak submissive, read this :
The thing is that Disney is more famous and probably more loved than Marvel so a single change in the characters will be analyzed. Hercules is not only a great Disney character, he is first a Hero in the Greek mythology (known as Herakles), and the God of Strength in the Roman mythology. And i know History and Mythology so believe me when i tell you there wasn't so many Black people in Grece at that time. That doesn't mean we can't include Black actors in movies. For example, in the (horrible) Netflix series TROY - FALL OF A CITY, Achilles, Patroklus, Eneus and even Zeus has been played by Black actors for the first time ever!
We are far from Brad Pitt who played Achilles in the movie TROY.
But, believe me, Greek people - and maybe Italian too - will complain again when they'll see a Black man playing one of their most known character.
Disney already did race-swapping with Ariel and her sisters in the live-action THE LITTLE MERMAID, so I'm not surprised anymore. We have to ask ourselves if Disney hire Michael B. Jordan for his (obvious) talent, his (incredible) celebrity, his (stunning) strength, his (beautiful) body, or juste because he is a Black man and Disney want to change mentalities? Does Black men would even feel more represented by seeing a Black actor chosen to play a white character instead of creating a new Black hero with his own story?
Or they could also make live action about Black characters instead of doing race swap because that will create more racism, to my opinion, or more division between races : some white persons wants him to play Hercules and some Black people thinks a white man should plays a white man. So, who is right? Who should be listened? 🤔 Maybe what's racist is to give to Black actors white characters to plays as if Black men weren't inspiring enough. It's only my opinion.
Here is a list of actors who could play Hercules
Even if there is many Black actors who would be awesome in this role, at least Michael B. Jordan would be great as Prince Naveen of Maldonia from Princess and the Frog (2009) if Disney decided to make a live action of it. He is handsome, cocky, kind and funny so it wouldn't be difficult to imagine. Right? 🤨
If there is Black character who would be amazing if he was played by Michael B. Jordan, it's undoubtedly Val-Zod from DC. Mostly known as the "Black Superman", I considers him worthy of being in cinema. Apparently there was a project of this movie and i even wanted to write a story about him.
That would be incredible to see a new black superhero, and these fanarts are inpiring! If you have any plot idea about Val-Zod, tell me! I've thought of an interracial gay love story since he is supposed to love Supergirl, but maybe Val-Zod could love a male Lois Lane!
What's disturbing with the choice of Michael B. Jordan as Prince Hercules (again, if that happen) is that white men seems to be voluntary erased by Disney to show Black men as betters. Think about it : if a white man is cast as Hades (despite being Hercules's uncle) and a black man as Zeus, that would clearly mean that white men are the devil and black men are our saviors! It was already my problem with the THE LITTLE MERMAID live action (Ursula, King Triton and his daughters being almost all non-white persons), which isn't realistic. And tell me that you can do everything you want with fiction, you have to stay at least logical.
The reason why i am not sure that I'm against Michael B. Jordan hired to play Hercules is that I'm a brainwashed snowbunny whiteboy interracial addict who clearly worship Black men so i am so confused and don't know if it's treason or stupidity to like this choice, or if it being acceptive and liking Black men. I honestly don't know what to think until I'll see Michael B. Jordan as Hercules.
That's why i makes you plays this game.
So, to me, a Black actor shouldn't be prevented to play a white hero, but when this one is very famous for having a particular body (and for once a white hero could be a strong alpha male), i don't find this choice clever. However, Michael B. Jordan have the good personality like Hercules and his life has been almost the same : from nothing and a skinny underestimated boy, he became a hot famous actor (he already have his star on the Walk of Fame : read my Man Of The Day article if you want to know more about it), thirsted on by almost everyone! He is Hercules! But should he be the Disney Hercules? I don't know. I still wait to know it.
Here is another game with Michael B. Jordan
And another one
The Disney movie inspired me this story
Part 1
Part 2
And here is a story about Hercules in Marvel
@michaelbjordan @michaelbjordans @michaelbjordan-news @michaelbjordanrps @leftprogrammingroadtripdean @tidodore2 @blacksuperiororer @ir-4-life @ir-beauty @blacksupremacyforever @blackmenrule @whiteboyscantfuck @innerpiratefun @gayhopefullove @lovefanfiction01 @whiteboylovesblack @blackmenrevenge @snowbunnysfantasies @blackmasculinitywhitefemininity
#Michael B Jordan#Michael B. Jordan#Black Panther#Panthère Noire#MCU#Disney#Hercules#Prince#King#Roi#Dieu#God#Mythology#Acteur#Actor#Homme noir#Black man#florian munteanu#Interracial#Gay#Game#Jeu#Article#Post personnel#Personal post#Movie#Cinema
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The greatest use of CGI in movie history (I am being unironic) (SPOILERS FOR SPEED RACER)
It’s the final five minutes of 2008’s Speed Racer. Of course the greatest CGI sequence was in a movie directed by the Wachowski sisters, that makes perfect sense.
For years, films with obscene budgets have been racing to try and reach the point with CGI where it can perfectly mimic reality, where practical effects and props are entirely done away with and replaced by some underpaid VFX artists working obscene hours. Any Disney project of the last decade is perhaps the finest example. With budgets to match a small nation’s GDP, they have repeatedly tried and failed to make the finest examples of bland hyper-realism. The trailer for the new Ahsoka series, where the titular Ahsoka fights with white lightsabers in a mostly grey environment, is just the newest case of this. In the drab, depressing Lion King remake, the last few MCU movies I bothered to watch, and seemingly every new Star Wars project, Disney has used a titanic budget to make a shoddy simulacrum of what 70’s movie prop artists could do with a box of scraps.
The real reason for this is that, at the time of writing, VFX artists lack the same union backing as those who work in practical effects. It is cheaper to make people slave away in front of a computer for months on end to render Chris Evans in his newest low-contrast, boring American flag outfit. The fault lies with the executives, who decided that this was the best way to both spend money and treat their fellow human beings, and that this is the direction high-budget cinema should go in. So many high-profile films are just messes of shitty CGI that seems to get worse every year. And I don't want this to be some annoying "RETURN TO TRADITION" post, this is specifically calling out the really big-budget stuff. I've gotten really into low-budget indie horror movies again, and the last few years have been an incredible time for those.
Now, back to that scene in Speed Racer. What does it do right? First of all, I think it justifies itself. The idea of making something so vivid and fluid with mostly practical effects just doesn’t seem feasible. This is a bizarre, cartoony neon-coloured nightmare of a racetrack that refuses to make sense. Bright colours pour out of every single place they feasibly could, and then a few others. It’s absolutely sensory overload, but it’s beautiful sensory overload. Every scene in the movie is high-contrast and visually appealing, even the dark and gritty moments.
On another level, I think it also knows how to hide the weaknesses of CGI. You mostly view objects from a distance and behind a layer of effects, and that makes it hard to see how bad some things might look in a clear close-up. Even when it really zooms in on a car, it’s in a moment where it feels so weighty and is still moving around too much to pick out flaws. Even managing to get across the vibe that these are heavy machines with momentum behind them is impressive, and more than I can say for a lot of CGI-heavy scenes. Nothing feels like it moves in an unnatural way, and the real humans inside of these color-vomit deathtraps don’t look out of place.
I think the thing it does best, though, is context. This movie is many things. Goofy, shockingly earnest, and stylish. The final scene is the culmination of all of that. The cars are doing frankly absurd things. The Mach 6 is doing some kind of car judo flip in the end of the grand prix scene. The flashbacks that come up help set the mood and take your mind off of analyzing the visuals of the scene to the point of finding flaws. I cannot emphasize this enough, this movie is about someone who loves his family and drives cars so well that he ends up halting an attempted corporate monopoly and reveals an insider trading scandal, and the film is all-in on this. They want you to be genuinely invested in this plot, and I still am on every viewing even as an adult. The visuals, the music, the culmination of the plot, it all gives this scene what it needs to work and stand out as perhaps the greatest application of CGI ever. I am being unironic.
Again, if you wish to give pointers or kill me with hammers, please do so and/or kill me with hammers. I finished this at 3am while listening to nu-metal and installing bootleg Starsector mods.
#speed racer#movies#cgi#animation#the matrix#disney#stars war#please tell me how to do tags well#essay
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I fear that a large part of my personality may be based on performative outrage on topics I don't really care about. What's it called, virtue signaling? I see other people getting up in arms about something I didn't particularly enjoy, and for some reason I jump aboard the bandwagon and pile on the insults, "hey look at me, I hate this thing too! It's the worst!" No, it's not the worst. It means nothing to me. Why am I calling it the worst? Why am I expending effort to make fun of something that I honestly couldn't care less about?
Marvel movies, Star Wars movies, big budget franchise sequels, I don't care about them. I've stopped watching them, so why isn't that enough? I don't plan on watching Rings of Power, not because I hate amazon (which I do), not because it looks bad (I haven't seen any clips, I've only heard other people's opinions), not even because I want it to fail (it's success or failure is irrelevant), but because I'm not even a fan of Lord of the Rings! I've seen Fellowship twice in my life, Two Towers and Return of the King once, and the first Hobbit movie. The only books I've read was the Hobbit, and I didn't really like it. Why am I pretending to be a huge fan who is outraged? If it sucks, it doesn't concern me.
Star Wars. I'm a big fan of Episodes 4 and 5, and most of 6, and that's about it. I've seen episode 1 a few times, and didn't like it. I attended a sleepover where they had a movie marathon of all the prequels on in the background all evening, so I've seen parts of episodes 2 and 3, didn't much care for them. Never seen Clone Wars. But for years I pretended that I hated the prequels because that's what was popular to say. I don't hate them because I've never seen them. I like watching other people bash them online because they look ridiculous, but ultimately I don't care one way or the other. When episode 7 came out, I was HYPED AS FUCK, legitimately hyped, not a performance; I was excited to see my first Star Wars movie in theaters with friends who loved analyzing the originals just as much as I did. I bought and read the now non-canon Thrawn trilogy, bought and didn't read a bunch of the other legends books, and I REALLY enjoyed episode 7. It did exactly what it needed to do, and I left the theater with a smile on my face. I went into episode 8 with ao much enthusiasm, and I didn't like it at all. That was also legitimate. It's popular to bash episode 8, but my dislike didn't extend that far, I just thought it was a major dip in quality from 7. Rogue One, I was excited about the premise, didn't like the execution. Solo, didn't like it, thought it was more like walking through a Han Solo museum with a tour guide pointing out "remember when he said this line in episode 5? Here's where it came from? And that line in episode 4? That one's to your left." Episode 9 was the first one I actively hated, like passionately hated, real non-performative hatred. I love 2½, I'm indifferent about 5½, and I hate 1, so I have no real skin in this game. Star Wars excites me more as a concept than as a franchise. The idea of it excites me, but 9 times out of 10 I pass on the content. The Mandalorian and Boba Fett and Obi Wan and Andor just aren't my thing. I've never seen them, don't plan to, so what do I care if anyone else does?
Marvel movies. I have watched exactly 8 of the 29 movies that have been released as of my writing this. I loved the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy as a kid, but other superheroes didn't really do it for me; I'd never neard of Iron Man when I was 11, or Thor, though I did know about the Hulk, I still didn't care enough to ask my parents to take me to see it. The first MCU movie I saw was Avengers 1 when I was 15, because my older sister decided out of nowhere to invite me to the movies with her friends (she'd never done that before), and Hunger Games was no longer playing at out hometown theater. I LOVED Avengers 1. I thought it was hilarious! I thought it was a perfect movie, nowhere near as bloated as people said it would be online. Next one I saw in theaters was Avengers 2, didn't really care for it. I saw Captain America 2 on DVD at a friend's house, I actually really liked it. I saw Cap 3 because of Spider-Man, and I liked it too, and I got really excited for a standalone Spider-Man movie, so Homecoming was everything I was hoping for. Not as good as Sam Raimi, better than Amazing. Next I saw Black Panther with my mom because she REALLY wanted to see it; it wasn't bad, didn't really do anything for me, but whatever. This is when I got off the marvel wagon because Avengers 3 was way too bloated for my tastes; I didn't want to watch it until I caught up on everything I missed, so i never saw it. I saw Far From Home on a date, liked parts of it, didn't really like Peter becoming Iron Man Jr. No Way Home got my bloos flowing because they brought back all the old characters from Raimi and Amazing, but the story itself didn't do it for me, and Tom Holland Peter is way to annoying for my tastes, so I've sworn off any future disney marvel movies. I don't care about the franchise anymore. I don't enjoy it anymore. I have nothing to gain from watching them, and I can vicariously make fun of the ones that suck by watching youtube reviews. Sony's Spider-Verse was great, loved it, can't wait for the sequel. I hope they make a Raimi 4, and hell, I'd even be okay with an Amazing 3 (I never saw Amazing 2, but I like Andrew Garfield). It'll never happen, but I can dream.
DC movies. I saw the original Batmen; 89 was good, Returns scratched an itch I didn't know I had (though my family hates it), Forever is a legitimate guilty pleasure of mine, and &Robin is objectively terrible but fun to watch in a MST3K kinda way. Never saw Batman Begins. I saw the Dark Knight once when I was a kid, didn't care for it (though I'd probably like it more now). Never saw Dark Knight Rises, would probably enjoy it, it looks good. Never saw ANY Superman movies. I saw Dawn of Justice because it was supposed to be DC's answer to the Avengers, which I still liked at the time, but I actively hated it and wanted Superman to stay dead. Never saw Justice League. Suicide Squad was terrible, another instance of active hatred. And that's it! Never seen any of the others. No Wonder Women, no Snyder Cut, no THE Suicide Squad, no John Cena show, nothing! I just don't care! This franchise means nothing to me! I don't have the energy to make fun of it on purpose, it just exists entirely outside of my wheelhouse.
Avatar. I saw it in 2009. Everyone in America saw it. It broke box office records. Everyone in America forgot it. It never captured the cultural zeitgeist like other big bidget sci-fi films; until disney made the theme park, the fandom was so niche that it never cropped up in pop culture. Novody referenced it except to say it was the highest grossing movie ever and jokingly call it Dances With Blue Cats. I thought it was pretty and inoffensive, but not worth a 3 hour investment to ever watch it again. I own it on DVD, which I opened and started watching once, but never finished, and the only reason I still have it is because the producer Jon Landau has a vacation home down here and visited my freshman video productions class in 2010 or 2011, and I had him sign it.
I don't actually care that they're making Avatar 2. I think it's a soulless cash grab, but so is every studio movie these days. It doesn't interest me, so I'm not gonna watch it. I don't hate it, it's just boring. I'm sure it'll look pretty, it'll make a ton of money and win a ton of awards, but I don't care enough to make fun of it just because the plot doesn't sound interesting to me.
Video games. I'm not a gamer! I've never owned a current gen console; my parents bought me a Gameboy Advance SP when I was a kid, and a DS Lite later, but the only actual console I ever owned was an N64 I bought on ebay in high school (I didn't even Buy It Now, I won it in an auction; I was super excited). I have Minecraft on my laptop, which I play once or twice a year for a week or two at a time before getting bored and stopping until a new update comes, and that's it! I don't care about console wars! I don't care about graphics! I don't care about triple-A developers making samey games, because I don't play any! First person shooters and open world sandbox survival craft-em-ups and liberating districts and this that or the other, I just don't care! I don't care if the games are good, I don't care if they're bad, I don't care if critics love them or hate them, I just like hearing Yahtzee Croshaw make fun of them on Zero Punctuation! I don't have a steam account, I've never played a valve game, but I enjoyed watching Portal 2 walkthroughs and reading the entire TF2 wiki lore (I love the comics; will never pick up the game), never played undertale, or papers please, or the last of us, or breath of the wild, of gtav, or anything. I watched roosterteeth/achievement hunter/letsplay on youtube from like 2011 to 2016 or 17, but I fell off that wagon due to lack of interest.
I am apathetic above anything else, and I need to stop acting like every new installment to such and such franchise I'm not involved with is important to me when it's not. I need to stop hopping on the bandwagon. I don't gain anything out of letting people know how much I love/hate a movie/game I've never watched/played. Maybe I get some notes on tumblr? Whoop dee doo. Number go up! Who cares? I don't.
I'm sorry for being a jerk. The media I do or do not consume should not influence my personality. It's dumb to act like it's important to me when it's not. If I really like something, I can be excited! When I really hate something, I can say so and move on. When I'm indifferent, I can just ignore it. Why do I let myself get up in arms like this?
#long post#media#franchises#marvel#star wars#disney#dc#mcu#dceu#rings of power#books#movies#virtue signaling#who cares#apathy#apathetic#i don't care#performative outrage#performative
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Hi there.
We've never spoken before, but as you can see from my username, we have at least two common interests.
Anyway, I'd like to talk to you about Wanda Maximoff. I've made it no secret that I am an avid defender of hers, despite the many, many bad things she has done.
I suppose my first question is, do you think MCU Wanda is still redeemable after everything she has done, especially recently? Personally I really want to believe that she is.
My second question is a lot more heavy: since you seem to be a fan of Elizabeth Olsen and her Wanda, you have doubtlessly heard people say that she is whitewashed. I've seen numerous people say that, and these are just a few examples:
There's also this one YouTube video that I've been trying to get help analyzing, but apparently video links aren't allowed in asks. Sad.
At any rate, what do you think? Do these accusations hold water? Is MCU Wanda whitewashed? Is Elizabeth Olsen a racist? Is it wrong to be a fan of the character like these people seem to think?
To be absolutely clear, I don't want to believe any of the questions I just asked, but the cynic in me is forced to consider all the arguments.
Hey there, fellow Wanda apologist, pleased to meet you.
Is she redeemable? That’s gonna be a your mileage may vary thing. Everyone has different thresholds of what they’re willing to forgive, and it depends on the writing. To me, the telling thing is Professor X, and them very blatantly stealing his line from Days of Future Past. “Just because someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.” That line is very telling that they’re at least leaving open the possibility of a redemption arc. To me, personally, yes, she is. The comics redeemed her after similarly catastrophic events, or they at least tried to. Some people bought it, some people didn’t, and that’s what I see with MCU Wanda’s future.
I will say that MoM majorly fucked over Wanda’s character development. Apparently the original pitch for the movie was the bits we see in the trailer: her teaming up with Strange to make up for Westview, and not having her bad turn until later. Then 2020 happened, stuff got delayed, Wandavision blew up, and, according to the commentary track on the flick, the creatives on that movie decided that they wanted to be the ones who got to shoot all the fun, scary, Wanda goes evil stuff, so they reworked the script. And while I get that theoretically, on a selfish level, I get the impulse….you idiots went and broke all her character development from Wandavision.
The whole point of Wandavision was that she messed up, she did the bad thing, then she undid the bad thing. It doesn’t undo the trauma she caused, but at least she was—supposedly—aware that this path she was on wasn’t sustainable. The thing would’ve made so much more sense if Wanda starts MoM on a path of helping Strange and America Chavez, then sees all these different universes where she’s happy with her kids, and that sets her backward. Because who wouldn’t see that and want that happiness? She’s still recovering from like…her entire damn life, it would make sense for her to backslide there. But having her start out the movie in evil mode just kinda…undid Wandavision’s whole finale, thanks guys.
But anyway.
They wrote themselves into a corner there. Do I think they’re gonna try to write themselves out of it and give her a redemption arc at some point? Yeah, I think we’ll get it down the line, and it’ll be too little too late for some people no matter what happens, and that’s fine. I will personally still love the character, while acknowledging that she did some absolutely terrible thing. Or, in the words of a friend who says stuff much more concisely than me: "If we can forgive Tony 'sold WMDS for funsies for years' Stark we can forgive Wanda "The darkhold took over my mind along with grief" Maximoff"
And now, the hornet’s nest.
Is she whitewashed? Yes, absolutely. Does that mean that you, or anyone else who likes the character is trash? No. You are allowed to acknowledge that something is flawed/has issues, and still enjoy it. Tumblr will tell you otherwise, but you are never going to find the perfect, Unproblematic Thing, that was written by the perfect, unproblematic person, and has no questionable aspects to it, or the people behind it. It isn’t happening, sorry guys.
As to Elizabeth Olsen being a racist: She didn't know who she was cast as until she'd signed a contract, so even if she wanted to back out that's a no-go. You sign on these things for multiple movies, for millions of dollars. But I’m sure everyone who’s yelling at her for daring to work on these films is an expert in contract law.
The slurs: to my knowledge: Reportedly she's said gypsy twice, once in 2015 in an interview and once very recently in interview. Gypsy instead of Romani. The comics have been calling her gypsy for years, and we know Olsen’s read some of the comics, at least. Bad word choice all around. My personal feeling is that people slip up. I don’t know the woman, she might be an evil racist sociopath. Outside looking in? I think she’s used inappropriate terms before, without the intent to do harm, but she fucked up. I think the powers that be at Marvel—comics and movies—say gypsy in reference to her, so Olsen does the same thing at times.
Again, every human being has problematic aspects. Celebrities are included in that. It’s your business to decide what’s forgivable and what’s not to you personally. All I know for sure is that every single person who shames strangers on the Internet has said or done something cancel-worthy, and every single one of us would look like terrible people if the Internet was able to put a microscope to everything we’ve ever done or said.
So anyway. It’s okay to like Wanda and want good things for her, while acknowledging that she’s done awful things. It’s okay to engage with the MCU’s take, while acknowledging that whitewashing absolutely happened. Tumblr will tell you otherwise, but you asked my opinion, this is my opinion. It’s okay to like the character and not the actress. It’s okay to still like the actress and acknowledge that she’s done problematic things. It’s. Okay.
You aren’t poisoning the world by engaging with what you like in a way that you like, and anyone telling you otherwise isn’t saving it either.
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that excerpt was great and tbf when is layla's life ever easy lol
(this is random rambling but) the christmas mention once again makes me wonder about steven and jake's relationship with their judaism though (apparently there's a mezuzah in steven's apartment in episode 2) and i wouldn't be surprised if jake has a complicated relationship with his faith the same way marc does
anyway have fun writing and fingers crossed we'll get to see it soon (in the meantime will probably just reread the first fic lol)
Honestly? Shocked Steven knows he's Jewish klajsdf.
Marc's relationship with Judaism is similar to his relationship with the military and I think highly indicative of the show as an MCU/Disney+ show. I know that seems random, but - I was really, really hopeful the entire show that they'd acknowledge Marc's Jewishness. Please go look up the number of Jewish characters in the MCU, Marvel Universe at all, and probably Disney+. And they totally did acknowledge it! It was there!
Did the show have a relationship with Marc's Jewishness? That's kind of weirder. imho one of the most powerful shots in the series is Marc throwing his kippah on the ground and smashing it - before clutching it to his chest, asking for forgiveness. There is so much there. I could pick those few seconds apart and analyze it. His religious identity as a connection with his mother, father, God, his self-identity. Just a few super powerful seconds.
Like, a few. Seconds. Implied, mostly. There and visible, but we get like one thing that could be overlooked no matter how important it actually is.
It is the exact same thing with Marc's military experience. I spelled it out in the fic, I think - Marc has a sad story that many people have. Runs away from abusive home to join the military, probably just after he graduated high school but maybe even before. No college education. Spends his adult life in the military, which severely exacerbates his mental health issues. Gets discharged from military for having the mental health issues that it exacerbated. Is tossed out with no job skills, no support system, and no safety net. Can't hold down even a crappy job due to mental health issues. No VA support or disability benefits from the military. Has absolutely no skills but what the military gave him. irl the guy is homeless, in comic book land he joins a mercenary group. Mental health gets worse, he does bad shit, obviously he becomes Moon Knight, etc. Like a lot of Moon Knight it's a depressingly realistic background that many people have, and that highlights how badly the military fucks up vulnerable people. People like Marc are homeless. It's hard to remember and understand, but Marc genuinely never had a chance. Khonshu is a metaphor for the military industrial complex -
You can draw all of that from a SENTENCE. One scene of Marc running way, one brief explanation from Marc. It was very obvious to me because I know this crap, but it's only a sentence.
Because the MCU is rabidly pro-military, it will never criticize the military, half of it is military propaganda, it's funded by the military. Disney+ just as bad. Disney would never, ever criticize the military. So Marc gets a sentence - a sentence that explains his whole life, but you really have to stop and think about it. It's bonkers that it's such an effective and grounded criticism, but...is it...??...?? Schrodinger's criticism? Do I want to be generous and say they were censored? Do I want to be harsher and say that they're pulling a Bisexual Loki again? Do I want to go into my final verdict of the show as doing a really wonderful job showing and not telling, but ultimately kind of wishing that they were able to tell too and that I blame Disney for that?
This isn't what you asked at all I'm so sorry :(. Why do I never actually answer the question :(. fwiw Jake is a very philosophical guy who probably reads a lot of meforshim and has knock down drag out theological arguments with Matt for hours that both of them pretend not to enjoy, Marc has an extraordinarily complex relationship with God that I don't feel comfortable dissecting because I know I would make it way too Catholic; he stopped actually practicing or doing any celebrations when he ran away from home, and, I am shocked Steven even knows,,,
#my writing#i have a mental illness its called being raised conservatively catholic in many ways#and I'm worried that I won't be able to leave that at the door due to my upbringing#im already worried that I do! so I try to step back from that#but god I would REALLY love to like that would be SO cool to dig into that#I'm just not the right person#besides that into my digression#it's hard to remember that Marc just had no chance.#like the only thing he had going for him is that he seemed to be middle class#but that doesn't matter much when you're completely cut off#I think Jake and Steven knew that they had no chance but Marc doesn't#his final posistion is comic book the mummy adventurer superhero#but the show does a very good job of pointing out that#in reality this guy had no chance and realistically he would have never had a chance#the inherent tension between the superficial the mummy and superhero#vs the more inner depressingly realistic life of a guy like marc#cool show!
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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Monday, August 29 - Tuesday, August 30
XANDER: (swallows) People?
BUFFY: Xander, you ate the burger?!
XANDER: Well, first you say it's cat, then you come in and hand me a burger, blah blah blah, five minutes later 'oh and by the way, it happens to be hot delicious human flesh'!
BUFFY: I needed that burger to analyze it. Now I'm gonna have to get another one.
XANDER: *That's* your problem with this scenario? You getting seconds?
~~Buffy Season 6 Episode #112: "DoubleMeat Palace"~~
[Drabbles & Short Fiction]
Redirected (Buffy, T, SGA xover) by 3am_moonlight
Demonology 101 (Buffy, T, MCU xover) by glitterangelem
Fashion Show & Tell (Dawn, T, LotR xover) by jerseyfabulous
Are These Goons Yours, Mine or Ours? (Buffy, T, SG1 xover) by beri_fanfic
Escape Plan (Joyce, T, Multiple xovers) by acswatwst
Flowers of Life: Valerian (Buffy, T, MCU xover) by mmooch
A Cascade of Echoes: Leaving the Blue Marble (Buffy, T, SG1 xover) by 3am_moonlight
Flying True (Faith, T, Firefly xover) by jedibuttercup
Something Wicked (Buffy, Willow, T, Wandavision xover) by glitterangelem
Mrs. Bruce Wayne (Ensemble, T, DCU xover) by beri_fanfic
The Runaround (Xander, T, Dresden Files xover) by madimpossibledreamer
If it Purrs Like a Kitten (Angel/Spike, M) by Gabriel_Is_My_Guardian_Angel89
An Eye for an Eye Leaves the Whole World Blind (Buffy, Spike, Drusilla, T) by LadyLustful
Season of Rituals (Buffy, unrated, LotR xover) by Liloldme
Buffy Summers and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Cable Bill (Buffy/Spike, T) by ifonlyiwaswittier
Wildfires (Buffy/Spike, E) by cawthraven
Untitled (Buffy, Willow, G) by purrpickle
Untitled (Buffy/Spike, Dawn, unrated) by
Cheese (Buffy/Spike, T) by myrabeth
[Chaptered Fiction]
A Night Without Day - Chapter 10: It’s Got to Be More Than Flesh and Bone (Buffy/Spike, E) by orea_domina
Body Language Chapter 6: Castle (part 1) (Buffy/Faith, E) by explosionshark
Bound Chapter 14 Out For A Walk (Buffy/Spike, M) by spnae
Who Watches the Watchers, Chapter 17-18 (Buffy/Spike, E) by blue_sweater_spike
Willing Slave, Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Sigyn
A Night Without Day, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, E) by HappyWhenItRains
If Only, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, E) by MixSaysRawr
Why Are There 26 Letters?, Chapter 21 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Indi_Shaw
Marriage, Sunnydale-Style, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, M) by scratchmeout
Talkative Minds, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, E) by Jws1993
Her Vampire, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, E) by AmyAndrews20
Living is Easy…Being Happy is Hard CH. 20 (Buffy, T, Mercy Thompson xover) by Luna
[Images, Audio & Video]
Manip:Drusilla and Giles () by emmatheslayer
Artwork:Buffy tattoo () by Anya Gladun
Manip:Drusilla and Giles () by emmatheslayer
Artwork:Buffy & Spike () by boopsterliv
Artwork:Spike () by threewordsorless
Artwork:BTVS “Every Outfit” “Angel S1E8 I Will Remember You” Xx () by whatshisfaceblogs
Artwork:Buffy & Faith () by xxacidcloudxx
Artwork:Buffy & Faith (NSFW) by vanitasmorgue
Manip:Cover Art for MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT by Dusty () by l0veisntbrains
[Reviews & Recaps]
We’re Like Sisters, With Really Different Hair (Homecoming) by herinsectreflection
Buffy Rewatch 2k22 3.2 Living Conditions by handsofabitterman
Buffy Rewatch 2k22 4.1 The Freshman by handsofabitterman
[Fandom Discussions]
The insane thing about Buffy confronting Spike as the Buffybot by babygirlgiles
Surprise/Innocence by herinsectreflection
some folks act like tara can do no wrong by buffyandwillow
by
I don’t agree with the idea of The Gift being the last episode by disco-tea
i know crush is supposed to be anti spuffy by smellingwormholes
Top 10 Spuffy fics I’ve read (Aug 2022) by mcgnagallsarmy
a big reason behind my dislike of buffy only saying “i love you” right as spike is sacrificing himself: by silvermars
just thinking about buffy in 2022 by biggestthighestgeminiest
God season 5 is so good by wikiangela
when the monks made Dawn human by simplyaiden-blog
one of the funny similarities between Spike and Dawn by disco-tea
Discussion of 4.21 "Primeval" by TomatoLover97
Fred or Illyria? by Multiple Authors
I’m rewatching Buffy, and I just got back around to What’s My Line. by no-lo-lo
Discussion of The Vampire Slayer #5 - Released 8/31/22 (Boom! Studios) by Buffy Summers
Cliche Arguments by Miss Muffet
Are the comics canon for you? by Joshua
BOOM! The Vampire Slayer # 5 Preview Pages.(spoilers) by BAF
Fic recommendation - In Retrograde by wroth_and-ruin by bespangeled
Angel Season 5 rewatch - #11 Damage continued by Stoney and Nina
Comparing scenes from the unaired pilot with the original Willow (Riff Reagan) against Alyson Hannigan by InfiniteMehdiLove
Why are there only Vampires in sunnydale?(SPOILERS) by Formal_Fix_5190
Upgraded my Buffy model (from Slayerverse animation) - still working out some kinks by tmcarlee
As weak as the initiative plot is, this is one of my favourite moments in the show by tommygun1945
The Pack & Herbert the Pig by nicollexo
Enemies by mushabo0om
I never realized until this moment that Oz's name isn't Oz by Mysterious-Try-4723
"Listening to Fear" is one of the creepiest episodes of the series by jdpm1991
New slayer born as result of previous becoming a slaypire? by Ezekiel_Says_Grace
The Master by chemeli888
Charisma Carpenter! by Formal_Fix_5190
the frat house from “fear itself" by LieTo_me
Theory: Dawn was created by some unknown being as a weapon to destroy all dimensions and existence by iceswordsman
Trying to remember a scene in the later seasons by murdochi
Thoughts On Season 5? by Defvac2
Where can I read or preview the comics? Mainly Season 8 by ginime_
Let's talk about The Master by Mr_McGigglepants
How do you feel about the Angel and Cordy ship? by Almighty_Push91
Soul Searching… by Channon-Yarrow
If they made another Buffy video game by ThatKoffeeBurns
Unpopular opinion: Riley would have been good for Buffy by PecanSama
What would you think about the other male/female friendships if they had become romantic by LightBlueSky55
Commander Buffy and the boycott by icanneverthinkofone1
oldschool fansites? by deadxair
Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!
Join the editor team :)
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Ramadhan's over with my rants of Moon Knight!
...yeah i could make the title a bit more sense but I just want to release my thoughts so I could move on to something in peace.
.
Okay, where do I start? Oh yeah, I genuinely don't know a damn thing about this series. I watched a little clip last year when it was aired on my television—that bathroom scene—and instantly pinned to my brain for 'need to watch' list. But shamefully, either I forgot or didn't have much time to do so.
I dunno I am a bit tired to watch mcu related shows after endgame. No, scratch that, spiderman: FFH(because TASM casts were back). I usually watched TV shows in jumbled episodes and then I moved on. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it, but most of them didn't get my interest (I'm a fan of Hawkeye but didn't managed to finished it) and the last two years was a bit hectic for my college.
Gladly, this year I have more free time during Eid's Holiday so I finally take my time to watch and ... oh boy i didn't regret a single of it.
It almost felt like a nostalgic trip to the first Iron-man. Fresh from any cameos within mcu in which I surprisingly late to notice this after the show. Saving the budget for their own show is more important than forcing to add any related mcu cameos into the series. It is brave and clever decision imo.
Also I love this kind of show, showcasing multiple alter-egos of the person is one my fav theme. One of my fav shows were 'Split' and 'Do No Harm'. There's also the Iconic story of 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. I also watched the documentary with one of them is 'The Monster Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan' from netflix.
The way media portraying DID in my view usually divided into 2 ver:
- Either Battling each alters in which who owns the body till the end.
- Or chattering each other like people with schizophrenia.
In which I don't know if it's well portrayed enough but most analysis video from phycologist expert youtubers usually hate the way media showed it...until moon knight, like for example this and that.
I myself once suffered as an autism with schizophrenia that almost having the same experience like Steven did the whole time. It was so bad that my mother actually invited me to the phycologist and did ruqyah method(a soul cleansing method by muslim community). So I kinda have a basic knowledge with that disorder.
ehem.
Huge kudos to Oscar Isaac playing his characters so flawlessly. And again I regret knowing him later after I watched the credits on the last episode because of my stereotype of him with his beard lmaoo XD
Goddamn his acting is superb! The way he differentiates his eye movements and body languages between Marc, Steven, even with Khonsu for a little time was really fascinating to watch. Look him in the eye at the moment and he could show you which alter he's doing without speak.
Like for real, I genuinely don't know about his alters let alone the third one at the mid-scene credits. My first initial thoughts was: "Huh... a new actor I guess...?"
....
*check goggle
*check tumblr
...
"HOLY SHIT THAT'S OSCAR TOO???!!!" O.o
Ugh I couldn't remember how many times I rewind in each scene, frame by frame. Always interesting to analyze what makes them distinguished between each other and learn something new every day. :D
Interestingly, May Calamawy should get the same praise tho. Their chemistry as a power couple developed beautifully well throughout the series. Being able to represent well that there will be a person who actually understand and help unstable person in need is fairly rare these days. Therefor, when she actually got her power, it's felt so rewarded. Also can we talk how good she acted that specific scene in ep 6?? :3
Ethan Hawke performance as a cult leader is also perfect. If Oscar's strongest suit was his face language, Hawke's strongest suit will be his speaking technique. You can almost indulged by his voice into his cult and It's scary lol.
somehow reminds me of Ralph Fiennes' perfomance of 'The Menu'
The visual effects...hm...might be not the best tbf. And I think this is one the series who has less vfx's scene. I can see they trying to maximizing their budget and focusing on what they need to add, and I think it's fair. I always love Oscar's summoned the suit moment(oh the details with the eyes...) and the gods really nice to look at.
Oh I forgot, kudos to Mohammed Diab showcasing a proper panoramic scenes of Egypt. Yes, finally! Less miserable yellow sand place but more of a beautiful dessert country for once. In fact it mostly built city within Cairo for the movie purpose speak a whole story. The crew knew exactly with their job and I loved every single of it(a bit sad they didn't get the permission to shoot in that country but I understand why).
Of course, not all of episodes are perfect, ep 3 and 6 are arguably the least one(whichever you might prefer the most). For me I choose the third one. Even though ep 6 is the shortest, that episode served it goal from the start. Where as ep 3, ...I dunno I kinda has love and hate relationship with it(?). It has my personal fav credits music, one of Marc & Steven's memorable moments. But...somehow the overall story and pacing are... not good. This is more like a filler episode...
I guess they wanted to use Gaspard Ulliel for future, but an unexpected sudden shift impacted the whole thing. I cannot blame them anyway so I'm genuinely fine with those minuses(RIP to the man btw. I love his acting in that episode)
But that's just me. I'm no expert, just a girl with opinions :/
The fight scenes were good though. Not much but when they did, they did right.
In back of my mind they will add those for the 2nd season. Clearly and brutally(like c'mon, the amount of blood from ep 1 yet slowly decreased until ep 6...surely they must be doing it on purpose, don't they?)
But nonetheless I can wait. As long as they confirmed with the tag 'season finale' and phase 5 road map.
Yeah I can wait :D
.
.
PS : I just don't get people thought Marc letting Harrow free is lazy writing or another usual hero antics 'that's the hero thing to do with mcu villain'.
Like I get it, at first I was surprised at that moment. But the second after he said, "Do it yourself" it just make sense. First and foremost, Marc's goal from the start of the series is to be free. Period.
He just didn't want to do that under Khonsu. Being just another slaver. Not only because Layla's reassurance imo.
Well I got satisfied in the end. Marc's vengeance was already been done by Jake and he's the perfect person to do that.
So it's still a win-win.
#moon knight#non smap / sonic things i want to rant about#huh... it's already 13th day of syawal and i post this now#I'm not that active on tumblr so bare with me#I don't want to speculate#I'm just a casual enthusiast who watched for some refreshment.#but i hope I want to see Jake's fight scene#or maybe Steven's brilliant negotiating skill i guess 😅
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Just out of curiosity, what are the main things you would change about the Loki series to make it the best it could be? And is there anything you would keep?
Ok this is an awesome question!
I’d really have to sit for a long time and analyze the show and I haven’t done that yet because every time I glance at it—after discovering that apparently almost everyone who worked on it aside from the actors and the director, hated it and wanted to be doing something entirely different—I get angry all over again.
BUT—
Things I’d change:
The comedy. I hate this shitty fourteen year old ADHD tween boy/GOTG humor that everyone seems to be so fond of? It doesn’t fit and it’s just UGLEE in Marvel.
Sylvie’s role. She’s the unofficial main character of this series. Everything was driven by her. Literally nothing happened unless Sylvie moved.
Loki’s personality. Loki is not an ingratiating, groveling, nervous, giddy, infantile, nitwit without a braincell to his name.
The TVA’s 1970s fugly aesthetic. People who like 1970s aesthetic have no taste in aesthetic I’m sorry.
The “Sylvie is so awesome” shit 🙄. This is LOKI’S SHOW Sylvie shouldn’t be so amazing.
Mobius being a weird clash between a handler and a faux friend (he needs to be a Bad Guy/side character). More menacing. He really should’ve been akin to The Other 2.0.
Everyone needs to be side characters the show needs to follow Loki’s POV, no one else’s. Following Sylvie and Mobius and Ravonna and everyone else was a Waste of Time. So much so that the only time the plot would advance was in the final 15 minutes of each episode.
Scratch the bisexuality—I AM BISEXUAL but we don’t need to label him. The MCU doesn’t have to copy the comics. He should’ve remained sexually ambiguous. I preferred that.
Loki falling in love with (((and kissing 🤮🤮🤮))) Sylvie. NO. Sylvie should’ve been a SIDE CHARACTER or nonexistent.
Things I’d keep:
Kang
Classic Loki
Kid Loki
Croki
President Loki
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I’m always so irked by that old “MCU is military propaganda” take because you don’t even have to watch very closely to see how untrue it is
Multiple characters leave the military/quit doing business with them at great personal cost because it doesn’t allow them to actually help anyone, the military getting its hands on certain technology is just about always framed as a bad thing, and the entire US Department of Defense is never portrayed as anything but an obstacle to doing actual good. This precedent was set IN THE FIRST MOVIE, and has continued through to the present. Like, just... Isaiah Bradley, guys. Isaiah Bradley.
I think many of these people are just annoyed that there are multiple good characters who were, at one point, soldiers. And that’s not even necessarily on the MCU; the comics are mostly responsible for that. It’s an easy way to explain why a character has combat experience/speaks a different language/has traveled a lot, plus the Golden Age spanned two large-scale US military conflicts so military service was a relatable thing for a lot of readers when several classic characters were created.
As for Tony’s vision of a “suit of armor around the world that might impact people’s freedoms”, it’s a huge leap to call that military apologetics or whatever. The context is pretty different, the idea is shown to be full of holes, and his attempt to enact it created ULTRON, of all things, which caused the destruction of a foreign city that the movies often hearken back to as a senseless tragedy. So I wouldn’t say that’s a great endorsement of US “peacekeeping” efforts, either. And no, Thanos does not mean Tony was supposed to be right all along, as it’s plainly obvious no earthly defense system could have stopped him. Tony is speaking out of fear and frustration when he brings the idea up again in Endgame; there’s nothing to suggest it would have helped in the slightest and that’s kind of the entire point of that bit of dialogue.
Nobody has any media literacy anymore.
I blame the overabundance of video essays, partially. Like, hey guys, guess what, there’s a good chance that early 20-something with an undergraduate finance degree who one day on a whim started making Youtube “deep dives” about 90s cartoons probably doesn’t actually have the skill set to be analyzing things critically with any real depth. It really doesn’t matter if their heart’s in the right place; good intentions aimed the wrong way are useless and just give ammunition to people with bad intentions. And just, idk, not everything is a conspiracy, guys. Oversight is far more common than outright malicious intent. Writing movies is hard. Go focus your efforts on real problems.
As far as the MCU goes, it actually needs:
- More prominent female characters (the goofy-but-well-intentioned “She’s got help” bit in Endgame required a few too many side characters)
- More queer representation
- More non-white representation
- Less emphasis on America (though it’s not necessarily wrong to center your franchise on a particular region of the world)
- Etc
And it’s actually getting better at this stuff! Slowly. Far too slowly. But it’s happening and it’s always so exciting when those boundaries expand just a little more. Like, Moon Knight is a Jewish Latino dude and Ms. Marvel stars a Pakistani-American Muslim girl. Even if it was really, really on the nose, that kid asking Scarlet Scarab “are you an Egyptian superhero?” in the last episode of Moon Knight made me smile. And these are series, not just 2.5-ish hour movies! And the movies are getting batter at this, too! It’s all very encouraging.
But military recruitment/apologetics? Not supported by the text. Like, what the fuck?
#i tend to approach literary/film criticism from very odd angles myself and seize on very specific things most people don't care about#but most of my college education was devoted to this stuff and i recognize when it is done poorly#and people are really really bad at analyzing the MCU
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Writer Spotlight: Alexis Nedd
It's New Release Tuesday! We caught up with Alexis Nedd (@alexisthenedd) to talk about her debut novel, Don’t Hate The Player, which is out today. Alexis is a Brooklyn-based pop culture “fanthropologist” who has only ever loved things in a big, obsessive way. As the Senior Entertainment Reporter at Mashable.com, she covers television, movies, and video games, focusing on sci-fi and fantasy universes like Game of Thrones and the MCU. When she’s not writing for money, Alexis is writing for no money on her socials, where her feeds consist of deep dives on weird history and analyzing pop culture as an artifact of society.
Don’t Hate The Player is a YA romance novel that follows two competitive eSports players as they navigate school, parents, and other IRL stuff, while preparing for their biggest (and only) tournament yet. As real life and online life collide, both find the boundaries between online and IRL slipping into each other.
Can you start by telling us a little bit about Don’t Hate The Player?
In one corner, we have Emilia Romero, a popular, high-achieving Puerto Rican girl who secretly plays Guardians League Online with the elite Team Fury. No one in her real life knows she games, and everything hinges on it staying that way. In the other corner is Jake Hooper, a quiet, detrimentally empathetic nerd who’s had a crush on Emilia for years. He plays GLO with Team Unity and thinks he’s otherwise invisible.
When Guardians League Online announces a huge tournament in their city, Jake is shocked to see Emilia competing. Jake is now the only person who knows her secret, and they have to work together to keep it...all while the tournament brings their teams closer and closer to an ultimate Fury vs. Unity showdown.
Outwardly, Jake is an awkward, suffering bundle of anxiety, quite successfully hiding his integrity and wit. What was enjoyable/difficult about writing a neurodivergent romantic lead?
I started working on DHTP around the same time I learned I had ADHD. Getting that diagnosis as an adult ushered in a really strange and painful period of reevaluating my childhood, knowing that I was neurodivergent and didn’t get the help I needed. I gave a lot of the traits I used to think made me “wrong” or “bad”—the anxiety, the spinning thoughts, the self-deprecating coping mechanisms—to Jake because writing them into a lovable character felt like correcting the narrative I had grown up writing about myself.
It was difficult to excavate all of that because that level of self-evaluation totally sucks and takes forever, but by the end, I could look at Jake and think, “if I can’t hate him for feeling this way, I have no business hating myself for having felt that way.”
DHTP comes alive in its use of online gaming maps and chatrooms. How did you approach getting those virtual places right?
I made my first internet friends when cameras on phones or laptops were still rare, so I got to know a lot of people through chatrooms and forums. People’s personalities, real or constructed, come off so strongly in those rapid-fire conversations. That solved one of the problems I knew I’d have coming into this book—how do I introduce the reader to a group of characters who aren’t going to show up until the end and make them seem like part of the story the whole time? Answer: Spy on their group chat.
It was so fun to play all five roles in those chapters and determine who uses acronyms or memes, who always punctuates, what their in-jokes say about them, and so on. Truly some of my favorite parts of DHTP are in those chats.
How important do you think it is to meaningfully include online culture in YA literature?
After the year we just had, when most social interaction moved from the analog space to the digital, I consider the transformation of “online culture” into just “culture, full stop,” complete. I say this knowing I am a fully discourse-poisoned individual, and other people or writers may have the freedom to think less about that all of the time. A significant chunk of life takes place on screens these days, so if I’m writing about life... I’m going to write about the screens.
One of the big themes of DHTP is that what happens online is real whether you like it or not. So what looks from the outside like a mummy and a snake beating a guy up outside a space church can actually be the beginning of an IRL love story. Just because it’s silly doesn’t mean it’s not important.
What makes a good beginning to a story?
I don’t have any definitive advice on this, but with DHTP and the second novel I’m currently working on, I think my favorite method is putting your main characters in a situation designed to make them act the most themselves. For DHTP, we meet Jake at a party he was invited to out of politeness, so his discomfort and anxiety are front and center. Until he meets Emilia, who is only at the party because it’s in an arcade where she can indulge her gaming obsession without her parents watching. There, now we know some important things about both characters, and from here, it’s a 75k+ word journey to get them to kiss.
What’s the first book you remember loving?
This is the hardest question anyone has ever asked me. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a nice explanation of string theory instead? I’m sure I had others, but one of my formative obsessions was A Series of Unfortunate Events because as a child, I was so often frustrated with adults who didn’t believe a single word I said just because a child was saying it. Those books capture that frustration and, more importantly, do not resolve it, which I think was kinder than telling young people that everything would be OK if we read a lot of books and placed value on facts.
As a writer, how do you practice self-care when juggling work commitments and the creative processes of writing and editing?
I simply do not. After two years of working full-time and writing this book (most of it during a global pandemic), I have mastered none of the skills required to unplug and take care of myself beyond remaining alive and upright. I do not want to project the image of someone who has the self-care matrix figured out.
You don’t have to have it figured out to make something you’re proud of. You can be exhausted and smelly and know you should probably work on that soon and still create. I don’t recommend it, but it’s possible. Ask for help when you can.
What would Emilia or Jake’s blog look like if they were on Tumblr? What kind of content would they (re)blog?
Emilia’s blog would be a secret Guardians League Online stan account. She’d reblog fanart and write incredible deep dives on strategy and lore. No one would know it was her blog, but talkswithknox.tumblr.com would be required reading for people who want to know the deep magic of the game.
Jake is mostly here to read good takes on his dashboard and learn something he didn’t know when he logged in. He has never written an original post, and that’s fine.
Thanks so much for taking the time, Alexis! Don't Hate The Player is on shelves from today (and it's really, really good).
#writer spotlight#alexis nedd#don't hate the player#neurodiversity#writeblr#bookblr#books#writers on tumblr#authors on tumblr#gaming#mmorpg#writing advice#long post#worth it#ya literature
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