#especially about taika's hair!! SO normal! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

limenysnocket · 3 years

Text

Call Me Home

Summary: It's in the bloom of summer and both of you are tired. It's been hopping from film to film for months, set by set, and so it's time to relax. Pick a nice shack out in the quiet and humble native lands for a night or two, and watch the stars and the fireflies flicker around the butt of your cigarette.

Warnings: Really nothing other than swearing and smoking.

Pairing: Taika Waititi x Reader

Words: 1.5k it’s a shorty, I know.

A/N: This is just something I wanted to write. It's blazing outside, and it's right around the time I wish it was night already and down to 70-something degrees. Hope y'all enjoy this random bit of fluff.

This is all based off of a sweet and sappy blues/jazz song so--

@honorarytenenbaum @olyvoyl

•○●•○●•○●•

"I'm so damn tired," Taika moans and plops himself down in a rickety, old rocking chair beside you. You were atop a small glider. It wasn't enough to completely lay down in, but it was enough to kick your feet up and watch the sun start to go down. The grass, wet from a fresh storm, was now engulfed in orange flame. The light licked all the way up the wooden steps of the porch, and to the tips of Taika's work shoes.

Taika slumped in his seat, his long legs extending out and his arms laying lazily over the arms of the chair. His eyes were closed, and he just seemed to be taking in the last of the blazing heat. "I'm glad it's over," you murmured. His head, once angled to look at the horizon, then tilted to face you. He had a goofy, soft grin.

"It's not over quite yet. There's still the editing and putting it all together, then heading right over to Hollywood for the premier and it's just... oh, man," he put his hand on his scruffy cheek and rubbed at it. He had been wearing a smile all day, whether he liked to or not, due to the mass amount of press that was at the studio doors as soon as you both were done shooting. "Yeah. At least that part is done with. Hemsworth was starting to get on my nerves at the end there."

"What? Only at the end?" you guwaffed at him and he rolled his eyes. You knew he had a thing out for Hemsworth since the beginning. The way his muscles would bulge out in his costume turned Taika jealous-- especially when he realized they would have to do editing magic on him to actually make his biceps look normal-- and that's not all. The Aussie, on occasion, would be a flirt with you, and attempt to get your attention while on set. His little advances would briefly be shut down as soon as Taika spotted him.

Ever so slowly, the cicadas crept from their hiding spots, and began to serenade the two of you from trees. It was annoying at first, and you wanted to make a suggestion to go inside, but when you looked at Taika, all you could see was how at peace he was. He had rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and his hand was cradling the side of his face. His eyes were closed again. You were almost totally sure he was asleep.

After being inside of the little shack for some time, you realized why he wanted to come out here.

The place still had tin walls, and the doorknobs were made of copper. The wooden porch was splintered and cracked, and it squealed under even the softest of touches. The rooms still had wallpaper. It was a floral pattern with a white background, but it turned yellow at the tops and bottoms, and the paper curled and wrinkled. It smelled so old. What brought Taika here again?

He was the brand new, fresh out of his own late uprising, blessing to the directing world genius that everyone wanted on set. Hollywood smothered him in love, money, and women. So much so, the paparazzi followed him around like flies to manure. As much as he loved attention, those jackasses were hard to avoid and they got annoying real quick, especially when all he wanted to do was enjoy a party or two. Indulge in a sensory overload and drown in sex for a few hours.

The notoriety had gotten to his head. He changed into someone unrecognizable...

Did he?

You looked at Taika again. His heel was gently rocking his chair back and forth. He looked so happy and content. Happier than you'd seen him in days. His dress shirt was was unbuttoned from the top two buttons, and his belt was missing. His dress shoes were scuffed and his hair was a mess. He still had his tie on, but it hung low and loose on his neck. He looked almost the same as the first day you met him. Tired and hunched over from his latest piece of fine cinema.

“Doing okay?” you break the bug song and make him open his dreary eyes. “Just checking.”

He sat up again, adjusting himself in his seat and grinning wide. “Never better,” he looked back over to you, and the porch slowly grew dim. The crickets added a melody to the tune the locust sang, and little, moving, balls of light started to emerge from the tall grass. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m curious, you know that,” you nearly whispered to him, the new breeze making you want to fall asleep on the dingy little sofa.

“Curious about what?” now he had started to ask questions too, interrupting your doze. It was pay back and concern in a bottle.

“Why did you pick this place?” you approach the topic bluntly, but calmly. “You could be staying in the fanciest hotel there is in New Zealand right now with what Marvel is paying you, but you chose an old shack instead. I want to know why.”

His lips pursed. He’s back to staring at the horizon again. “It’s just something quaint I picked. No story behind it.” He sniffed and wrapped his knuckles against the tin wall of the house. It wasn’t familiar to him.

“Okay, so you don’t know it, but is there something that you like about it?” you asked further questions. The answers you would received would be saved in the back of your mind for later.

“I like the peace,” Taika shrugged and swatted at a little June bug. “It’s nice to get away from the cameras every once in awhile. They bother me when I don’t want them around.”

You laughed to yourself about Taika actually hating attention for once. He had always been a seeker, in your eyes. It was almost weird to see him in such a way. Actually wanting to be away. And, with you, of all people to be with. He probably just needed a little bit of company with him at all times. Just to be safe.

“That all?” you wonder. “Cause this place sure does remind me of where you shot Boy. Little town, full of little people, and one lady who has all the jobs in the whole area, Taik.”

You managed to get him to blow an amused laugh out of his nose with the reference you made to his movie. It felt like he made that thing so long ago. That was back before his hair started to go silver. “I mean, I guess it’s a little like the Boy set, and you know my connections with that place.” His commentary was a bit strained, because he was reaching for the cigarettes he kept in his back pocket. They were probably a little smooshed by now. He settled back into his seat once he was comfortable again, and sighed. “It’s like a little calling, I guess. Something, I don’t know. I like having money and all, and as a kid, nothing about this was comforting. Fuck, all I wanted to do was get out of these shit conditions with teachers that hated me, kids that hated me, and the big fucking imagination I had kept me from seeing things straight. Here, I thought I wouldn’t amount to shit, probably because I was told that, but,” he started to pause his rant, but just to set a cigarette between his lips and nudge out his lighter from his front pocket. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. I always kind of find myself wanting to come back to the bush.”

You didn’t really have to think of anything to say. You knew he didn’t want to hear much at all, but you had one question on your mind.

“How’s Hollywood been treating you, Taika?”

His head whipped around like an unstoppable force of nature. He pulled the freshly lit cigarette from his lips, eyes a little wider than you expected them to be. “You want me to be frank with you?”

“No, dipshit, I want you to be Taika with me- of course, I want you to be frank with me,” you snort, and his lips pull up just the slightest bit.

He took a moment to collect his words, his eyes flickering around like he was watching a little bug-Satan fly around his face for too long. He came to his conclusion after about a minute.

“It’s been treating me like shit, thanks for asking,” he said it in such a dopey manner, you had to smile. “It feels great to be home.”

#taika waititi x reader #Taika Waititi #taika waititi imagine #taika waititi/you #fanfiction #fanfics #Look mom another dirty fanfiction series #Tumblr is a bitch sometimes

47 notes · View notes

filmmakerdreamst · 4 years

Text

Xena: Warrior Princess Review

During Pride Month 2020, I finally got around to watch ‘Xena’. A show that had been in my to-watch list for years, but never got around to start. And when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I expected and it was everything I think my 11 year old self would have loved.

The one thing that surprised me about the show, was the lack of packaging. Even though it was a fantasy, it also played with different kinds of genres too. I’ve talked about this before in my other review - ‘Xena’ was made at a time when TV had very few rules/rarely had a set audience, since there were parts of the show that were clearly for kids and there were other parts that were clearly for adults (therefore had much more flexibility). I admired how they weren’t afraid to break barriers and touch on deep themes such as religion, morality, redemption, spirituality, motherhood, forgiveness etc - even more than shows of today are able. I also loved how they played into the idea of ‘murder’ and how much it can damage a person - not just the person who commits the act, but the many people affected afterwards. I wasn’t expecting it to be that extreme. It made me think that this must of been the inspiration for ‘Game of Thrones’.

I see a lot of comments here and there, saying how ‘cheesy and terrible’ it was but to just accept it because its part of the fun. And while like any show it does suffer from the occasional spell of bad writing (the whole of season 5) but it was also shown to be very aware of that fact and never took itself too seriously - unlike some shows I could mention.

And regarding the ‘cheese’ factor (what 90s show wasn’t) It definitely can be, but I would call it ‘camp’ and ‘experimental’ more than anything else. (Don’t diss the poor use of CGI - I’m personally sympathetic to what was avaliable to them at the time) The style of humour reminded me of Taika Waititi’s filmmaking. If you’ve watched any of his films such as ‘Hunt for The Wilderpeople’ or ‘Jojo Rabbit’, then you know what I’m talking about. I liked how little they cared about being accurate or logical, which added to the ‘bonkers’ element in the show - which you can see in all of Taika Waititi’s films.

In all seriousness, a show centered around two women in their late twenties, who are realistic sizes (not trying to play teenagers). One of whom is a reformed mass murderer, who has lived a life experience, trying to do good in the world for the first time, picking the other one up who has no life experience prior (after they bugged them until they said ‘ok fine’) in their path to redemption. Just two women who become friends travelling the world together, fighting crime, having a laff, learning from one another without any toxicity - when suddenly when the stakes are raised - they realise ‘oh I'm actually falling in love with this person’ I have watched a lot of badly written shows in my childhood enough to know that, that’s not ‘cheesy’. I’ve never seen a story like that in my entire life. I’m not at all surprised that Russel T Davis was inspired by it while writing the Doctor and Rose’s relationship in ‘Doctor Who’ since he’s gay himself.

What’s more amazing about their love story is how they’re both develop as separate people as well. There was this video essay explaining ‘Why you should watch Angel’ the spin off series to Buffy; how ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer ‘was all about growing up and ‘Angel’ was all about being an adult. With Xena: Warrior Princess, you have both of those stories at the same time.

Xena’s character was such a multifaceted experience to watch. And I can’t imagine anyone else who could play her as well as Lucy Lawless. What planet did they get that actress from? She's flawless! The amount of skill she has to put herself into a very physical role is astonishing. I personally had a love/hate relationship with her character all series long. Not in the way that I hated her, just that I couldn’t trust if she was all good or bad, which I know was intentional on the writers part. I haven’t seen a character quite like her before. She felt very much like a fallen angel; almost like the villain of her own story. Some of my favourite episodes come from fleshing out her character and dark past (‘Locked up and Tied Down’ is one of them) which reminds the audience that's she's not the stereotypical hero everyone expects. I loved her transformation from being this incredibly stoic warrior to being content and happy with who she is in season six, all because of a woman she fell in love with along the way.

I’ve always thought of Gabrielle as the real hero and narrator of ‘Xena’. She’s the prime example of ‘a normal person becoming extrodinary’. Gabrielle’s coming of age story starting out as an innocent girl from a poor village dreaming of adventure, and ending as this vicious warrior who realises the ‘adventure’ wasn’t how she made it out to be is honestly the best character arc that I’ve ever seen. I loved how travelling with Xena made her realise her passion for writing (which was never going to happen in her home town, given the ‘sexist’ and ‘heteronormative’ ideas) and that she became a amazon princess like Xena. In regards to her sexuality, which is more up for debate than Xena’s (which I think we can all agree is bisexual) I personally interpret her as gay, just in terms of how she was written. Theres this moment in season 4 where she's being held up her hair, and Xena “symbolically” cuts it off ‘freeing her’. And she never really gets with a man afterwards, unless she’s being ‘possessed. It reminded me of a moment in one of Hayao Miyasaki’s films ‘Laputa, Castle in the Sky’ where the bad guy Moska shoots Sheeta’s ‘princess hair off’ which symbolises her transition from child to adult.

The cinematography was breathtaking. There was some great utilisation of New Zealand as the scenery. So was the soundtrack. You could tell it was made by experienced filmmakers. One of my favourite things about the show was the domestic elements - moments in the show where time seemed to stop - which made the world around the characters seem very real and magical. Even though it was a show that featured a lot of action/adventure, there was also this gentleness to it as well. For example, you could feel the wetness of the rain, the warmth of the sun and the clashing of the waves. This technique is used in Hayao Miayasaki’s work a lot .

The technique is referred to as ‘MA’ 空虚 meaning emptiness in Japanese. ‘Miyasaki describes this as the time between a clap’

“If you just have non stop action, with no breathing space at all, its just busyness. But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension” - Hayao Miyasaki

undefined

youtube

The episode ‘A Day in the Life’ in season two is a really good example of this technique being used.

To my understanding, they used a lot of the local actors in New Zealand, which according to Lucy Lawless, consisted of ‘African immigrants and other different ethnicites’. It was so refreshing to see such a diverse show (despite some slip ups) especially in the 90s. I appreciated the idea that if the actors or extras couldn’t do an ‘american accent’ people could just talk in their natural speech which was also very refreshing.

The LGBT representation was surprisingly amazing. I never expected so many queer characters in one show - especially under the censors. There was this one episode where they had a trans woman - played by an actual trans actress - win a beauty contest. It made me cry. Not to mention the actress was an aids activist. It was actually Lucy Lawless’ idea to kiss her which was incredibly controversial at that time considering how everyone thought you could catch aids just by kissing. I can definitey see how it validated people back in the 90s.

When people told me that Xena: Warrior Princess was one of the greatest love stories, I thought they were exaggerating a little. But no, watching the show in context, I found out that it really is. Despite its obvious restrictions, It made me realise (regarding token gay couples today) how often television writers rely on physicality and drama to convey a ‘love story’ and how much of it is actually pandering the audience. One of the reasons why Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship felt so genuine is because it was built on mutual respect/compassion and they were also best friends. I felt like I was witnessing something very real and private. It didn’t need kissing scenes or drama to make it interesting.

It really helped that most of the writers were queer also. There’s this opening scene in season 4, panning over to Gabrielle giving Xena a massage (metaphor for sex - because they weren’t able to show that on screen) which I consider to be one of the most iconic scenes in media - considering how I wanted to sick up my supper when I watched the 10 minute ‘empty’ explicit sex scene in ‘Blue in the Warmest Colour’. The difference when something is written by a queer women vs a straight man.

Because the creators weren’t allowed to write their love story in the normal way, due to the studio forbidding them to, they found creative ways to showcase that love on screen - which made for a very magical/sensual experience. And I can safely say, if anyone has doubts about watching ‘Xena’, whenever I expected to be queer baited at a few points in the show, I was proved wrong time and time again. It’s the most romantical show I’ve ever seen in my life!

280 notes · View notes

musicofglassandwords · 4 years

Text

The Past: Part One

we are now beginning a series about five hundred years before the time The Vanished Kingdom actually takes place, where the guardians are still the same age they look.

we’re going to go on the journey with them as they discover their powers and learn to work together, because contrary to popular belief, they didn’t always get along :P

Also, these snippets are totally not going to be in chronological order, so please keep that in mind.

For this particular one, the guardians came into being during a time when the skylals were the cause of a war between Valon Taivas and several other countries, which led to a lot of animosity between the skylals and their people.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“A wedding?” Sahrina asked, stepping into Ella’s room, “What was Violet thinking?”

The blond girl looked up from her bureau, quickly knotting the sash around her soft white dress, and picking up a brush.

“I’m not sure,” Ella frowned, her expression a perfect mirror of the annoyance and confusion in Rina’s tone, “Violet said that they asked us to preside there, right? And then Prince says we have to go, because since they’re inviting the whole city and it will encourage support between the skylals and the Sources.”

“Who’s getting married anyway?” Rina jumped as the sound of Valera’s high voice came from the inside of Ella’s closet.

“Two of the skylals, Henna and Taik,” Ella said, picking up the invitation on her desk and handing it to Rina.

“The thing is that we have support, it’s the other skylals who need to face it up,” Valera said stepping out of the closet in nothing but her underclothes.

"We have to leave soon, hurry up, Val,” Ella said, “Are you ready, Sahr?”

The seven of them had been together for about a year and a half now, and Ella had grown far more comfortable with them. She was grateful to Violet to not keeping her away form her family and the ability to live a normal life, but even so. Being a guardian was far more difficult than she had originally thought.

“I am,” Rina spun around, dark green skirts shading down to black at the hem, “Do you need help with your hair?”

“Please,” Ella sat down on her bed, and Rina started to braid half of her blond hair into a crown. “What are you wearing, Val?”

“This, probably,” she held out an elegant amber gown, “Can I borrow your heels, Ell?”

“Go ahead,” she nodded peaceably, as Val slipped the dress on and started to violently brush her hair. “Are the boys almost done?”

“I saw Violet scolding them in the hallway a minute ago,” Rina said, her mouth screwed up as she tried to smooth down Ella’s hair, “So probably?”

“I heard Prince scolding Seth about not bringing weapons,” Valera added, “I have a feeling that he’s not going to listen though.”

“Finished.” Rina gave the braid a little pat, and smoothing her own hair as the girls made their way down the rickety stairs to the living room where Violet was shouting at Seth.

“Someone tell Seth that he can’t bring weapons to the wedding,” she said turning to the girls, tripping and almost knocking the small table in the living room over. Her deep purple outfit had skirts that were slightly too long for her small frame.

“You look very nice, Vi,” Ella said cheerfully, glancing warily at Seth who was glaring at Violet, a dagger in his left hand. Violet sent the other girls to fetch Prince, while trying to snatch the dagger out of Seth’s grip.

“It’s better to be prepared,” he argued, easily dodging her lunges.

“You have your spirit weapon,” she scolded, “that’s plenty.”

Ella shook her head, and grinned at Kyran who was lounging on the sofa across the room, his suit already rumpled, half of the buttons fastened in the wrong holes.

“You look pretty, Ella,” he said simply, sitting up, “Also, when are we supposed to leave, because at the rate things are going, we’re going to be hours late?”

“Soon,” she patted his head, “You look very handsome except you also look like a mess.”

“Hey, I tried,” he said indignantly, “I’ve never had an opportunity to wear these kind of clothes before.”

Ella considered his outfit for a moment, remembering how she had seen her mother help her father suit up when he had to go meet with the merchants.

“Here, stand up,” she said, and when he rose obediently, she started to put his buttons back into heir appropriate holes. After tucking in his collar and straightening his sleeves, she stared at his hair very pointedly.

“Fine, I’ll get a brush,” he said, disappearing in a puff of smoke just as the rest of the guardians came down.

Seth immediately burst into laughter, pointing at Prince, who glared icily back at him. His crisp dark suit was punctured with smoking, ragged holes exposing his white undershirt.

“Why are you laughing?” Rina asked confusedly, while Violet took this opportunity to snatch the knife away.

“He looks ridiculous!” Seth choked, falling back onto the floor, as an amber-haired boy inched his way out from the crowded entry way to stand next to Ella. She grinned up at Nato, who was neat and impeccable as usual. “He looks like thrown into the fire!”

“No,” Valera said in a matter of fact tone, “He accidentally exploded something in his room.”

“Not again!” Violet wailed, rushing to his side, and investigating the ruins of his clothing. “How many times have we talked about this!

“It’s not a big deal,” Prince said, pushing away his sister, and snapping his fingers, restoring his suit in a ripple of pale purple light.

“Are we finally ready to go?” Ella asked, as Kyran reappeared his hair properly brushed.

“Give us another few hours,” Valera rolled her eyes, “We might be almost pulled together by then.”

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The wedding venue was in shades of spring, swathes of fine Duya silk that must have been traded for before the Age of Apathy shimmered in the air. The bride and groom stood in the front of the venue as Violet marched the guardians to their seats.

Marriages in Valon Taivas usually took place on bridges, as a sign of bloodlines joining together by the bond of marriage, and the guests were always seated on both sides. The vows began, and Ella watched, enraptured.

She loved weddings.

A few minutes later out of the corner of her eye, she saw Seth’s head lolling to the side with his eyes closed, and Kyran punching him in the arm. Seth’s jolted awake, his eyes flashing and he sighed loudly as if annoyed that the ceremony wasn’t yet over.

“Do you believe in the hope of a better future for us and our kin?” The bride and groom were currently asking the traditional set of questions that were supposed to be spoken between them before they were officially married.

“Yes,” Henna smiled radiantly, and Rina passed Valera a handkerchief, as the petite red-head was weeping openly.

“Do you–“ Henna was cut off as a Source ran up the bridge, which was considered sacred ground during a wedding. Her eyes were red, but her mouth was tight and drawn, and she was holding a slender sword.

It gleamed in the sun, deadly and intent on its target.

The Source said nothing as she lunged towards the skylals, the metal cutting deep into Taika’s long cape. Henna pulled Taika to her side, her eyes shining with a brilliant light, as she summoned her power, but before anything could happen, the Source cried out, buckling down.

A dagger protruded from the arm of the Source, and a second one followed sinking deep into her leg. Dark crimson carved its way down the Source’s pale arm, and she sobbed out loud, still scrambling towards the skylals, her sword dangling limply in her free hand.

Screaming began, and Rina rose, shaking a little, especially when she saw her parents in the audience. Violet nodded at the slender girl, and Rina took a deep breath, her eyes glowing.

She pressed a finger to her lips, and green light emanated from her, calming the audience slightly, their words quieter and less harsh.

But Seth was undeterred.

“DID YOU SEE THAT?” he hollered, and in the crowd, Ella could see his aunt standing stiffly, while his older cousins buried their faces in their hands from embarrassment. “THAT PEFECT SHOT!”

“SETH!” Violet yanked him down, “How could you do that? I told you not to bring weapons.”

“Well, I didn’t care,” he sneered, pumping his fist, right before Kyran punched him in the lower neck. he dropped to the ground like a stone, his eyes rolling back in his head.

“You are welcome,” Kyran said sitting back down, and smoothing down his hair. “Rina, care to go help them out?”

“I’ll go too,” Ella said, her heart aching for the poor bride and groom. Kyran snagged the edges of both their sleeves and the disappeared and reappeared on the bridge, where the families of both were already gathered, picking u the Source, who alternately snarled, sobbed, and screamed at the skylals.

“Shh,” Rina said gently, pressing a hand to her temple, and the young woman stilled, and Kyran set to work removing Seth’s daggers from her body, as Rina healed the gaping wounds.

“I’m sorry,” Ella turned to the skylals, “You ought to continue with the ceremony. We can take care of this.”

Henna and Taik just looked at her, and nodded, shaking the slightest bit. Kyran disappeared along with Rina with the body, and Ella ushered everyone back to their seats. But there was still one more disturbance to take care of.

Seth’s Aunt Tarla had marched over to them and was shaking him and screaming at him.

Seth was still unconscious.

“How could you do that and make such a scene!” she bellowed at him, yanking at him cruelly, “You are disgracing this House, your parents would be terribly ashamed.”

Seth’s parents had died three years ago, and his aunt had overtaken the legacy of the House of Arenciel instead of Seth himself, deeming him too young to take up the duties as the head. So Seth had run away, relying on his unwieldy powers to help him survive.

“You’re going to give him severe brain damage,” Ella turned gratefully, to find her mother standing there, gently pulling Seth away from his aunt.

“Asta,” Ella said with relief, giving her a quick hug, “Where’s Ba?”

“Trying to keep Sahrina’s parents calm.” She took Taka’s arm, and escorted her back to her seat, after giving Ella a kiss.

“Please continue,” Violet said loudly, glaring around the venue, “Right now!”

A half hours later, the ceremony had concluded, and Prince was sending of streaks of brilliant purple light into the air as the newlyweds kissed and descended down the bridge.

Prince ushered them towards the courtyard where the food and dancing were to begin. The Source had been detained and Violet was currently talking to her, but she’d instructed the guardians to enjoy themselves for the rest for the night.

The sky was darkening to a sunset of gold, rose and blood-red, a gorgeous sky for a gorgeous night.

Slipping between the crowds of silken skirts, Ella searched for the rest of the guardians who had mysteriously disappeared. Stopping by a long table of food to take a glass of star cider, she felt someone yank on the edge of her skirt.

Laughing silently as she looked around to make sure no one was watching, she slipped underneath the table cloth to find the six other guardians grinning mischievously at her. An orb of orange light lit up their faces alone with what looked like an entire table’s worth of food.

“Good wedding,” Seth said approvingly, his mouth full.

“For you maybe,” Kyran said, his head almost completely bowed over as he tried not to hit his head on the table, “How do always keep weapons on you?”

Seth looked at Kyran solemnly and handed him a fruit tart as Nato and Valera bickered over the charka, flaky honey-drizzled pastry.

Rina was already nearly asleep, her head on Prince’s shoulder, her lips stained with the bright red of raspberry pudding. Looking up, Prince caught her eye, his eyes haunting in the light, and his mouth quirked up in half a smile.

It’s going to be a long life, Ella thought to herself, but with the others, perhaps it won’t be as bad as I think.

I already love them all.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Tagging: @lmorasey, @nomadian-novelist, @onthewingsofwords, @feathered-quill, @stories-by-rie @sunlight-and-starskies, @coffeeandcommas @notquitenovelist @whatwasmyprevioususername @writingqueensworld @feathered-inkling @extraisthmus @drowsy-quill @fictional-semantics @dowings @half-explored @writinginrosecoloredglasses @andiwriteunderthemoon @whimsicallytwisted @saxoniowrites @wordsofpaintandsmoke @peggydreadful @a-taleteller @blackcat1400 @cilly-musouka

#the vanished kingdom #writing #my writing #writeblr #violetvineyard #fantasy #the past #ella

21 notes · View notes

madison-nua · 3 years

Text

Christmas task

Write a minimum of 3 research blog posts about aspects of film language. Start to think about your essay and choose your blog post subjects accordingly.

You will produce a critical analysis related to the comparison of two distinct and comparable aspects of film language in two sequences. Present a discussion of this in a 2,000 word essay.

Jojo rabbit

In Taika Waititi’s Jojo rabbit we see a strong focus on shoes. They are one of the most important aspects of the film and they represent many things from childhood to world war two. Jojo rabbit is centred around a young boy, called Jojo, and his experience of the second world war. The film as a whole is a reflection on how a child growing up in Nazi Germany experiences. In order to show this, Waititi uses low camera angles at the height of a child’s eye level. Many of these low angle shots are used when showing Jojo’s mother’s shoes. Shoes are used as a major plot device. At first they represent Jojos mother. The design of the shoes isn’t focused on practicality, and more so on the vibrant design. This shows how the mother is more modern, and eccentric. Eventually this shows how she is part of a Nazi resistance. One of the first times shoes are mentioned is when jojo cannot tie his own shoes, and his mother has to help him. This represents jojos immaturity and the start of his growth as a character. The next time there is an obvious focus on shoes is when his mother is dancing, allowing jojo to see his mothers shoes at his eye level. This also allows the audience to properly remember the mothers shoes, in order for them to be used later on in the film.

One of the pivotal moments in the film is where JoJo finds his mother hung in the town square. We as the viewer do not see her properly, apart from the shoes. The camera is at a lower angle and eye level with JoJo. The uniqueness of his mothers shoes makes them very recognisable to the viewer and to JoJo, as this is how he recognises his mother straight away. This scene comes as a huge shock to both the viewer and jojo. Up to this point, the war and Hitler’s youth has seemed like a game to him, or a fun club. Even when he became scarred from an explosion at the hitlers youth camp, the idea of war wasn’t completely serious to him. So the news of his mothers deah finally wakes him up to the idea that what he thinks isn’t right. His first thought is that it s the fault of elsa, the jewish girl hiding in their house. He then stabs her. Again this comes as a shock to him. After talking about war and violence and killing, only when he stabs her does he realise that everything is much more serious then he thought.

Shoes are a very important representation of the second world war, and all who were victim to the Nazi regime. When the jewish people were taken to concentration camps, they were robbed of all there clothing and possesions. There clothing was burned and all that was left of many were shoes. The photos of piles of shoes represent all who were lost to these camps. And so Taika made the symbol of shoes a large part of the movie. Elsa, the Jewish girl hidden in JoJo’s house, doesn’t wear shoes for the majority of the movie, except for two times. Once when the guistappo visit the house, and she has to pretend to be someone she isn’t, and the other when the war is over and she is freed. The idea that she doesn’t wear shoes throughout most of the movie represent how she cannot go outside, there is no possibility for her to go anywhere but the house. Her clothing is also very dull, maybe a reflection on her own emotions and situation. This also shoes a contrast to jojos mother, who wears very colourful and vibrant clothing.

At the end of the movie when Elsa and JoJo leave the house after the war is over, Jojo ties elsa’s shoes. This shows how far he has come from the start of the movie where his mother ties his shoes. This also draws attention to the fact that elsa is even wearing shoes at all. After they leave the house, elsa and jojo dance, drawing back to the scene where jojos mother dances on the wall.

The cinematographer of the film explained how they wanted lots pf shots of JoJo’s mothers’ shoes, but they. Had to make the shots look as natural as possible, i.e. making his mother dance on a wall that was perfectly in line with JoJo’s eyesight, so the camera could be in the correct position. And not look forced. He talked about how the shots of shoes foreshadowed his mother’s death. He also spoke about how in the scene in which we find out that the Nazis have killed his mother, we do not need to see her in full. There are no uses for that shot unless it is to add more horror to the film. Her shoes are so recognisable that that is all we need to see.

The film has a very bright colour palette from the costumes and to the architecture. Which almost depicts Germany as a very cheery place. This is how JoJo, a child, viewed Germany.

Black panther

The use of camera angles and shots represent deeper meanings black panther, directed by Ryan Coogler. In the seen wear kill monger has taken over the thrown of Wakanda. We see him sitting on the thrown with the rest of the Wakanda council. However, the camera starts off filming from an upside-down view and then slowly comes to a neutral/ normal angle. This represents how the right king is not there and everything is upside down.

One very important topic that is addressed in black panther is the idea of back feminist. In many cultures, most evidently in western ‘Hollywood’ culture, the idea of black femininity has been very structured and strict. There is only a small box that a black woman in Hollywood has to fit in in order to be successful. Traditionally, this has been more petite and most importantly lighter skinned women with westernised hair. However, this stereotype is challenged in black panther. Especially with the dora milaje, a group of warrior women sworn to protect the king and country, they shave their heads as a symbol of the group.

In the casino scene, Okoye, who is the leader of the Dora milaje has to wear a wig in order to fit in, which she does not like. In this scene, she gets into a fight with the bad guys. Coogler made an effort to make everyones fighting styles very different. For Okoye, he one of the first moves she makes is to pull off her wig, and throw it at one of her enemies. This shows how she uses something feminine to her advantage. Her fighting style is also different. She uses a spear and the fluidity and rhythm to her movements almost looks like she is dancing.

Nakia on the other hand has a completely different approach fighting. She is a spy who has been outside Wakanda. Her style is much more about innovation than it is tradition, she uses whatever she can get her hands on. This is excellently shown when she takes off one of her high heels and uses it as a weapon. This is another example of how something feminine can be used as a weapon. The actress that plays Nakia, Lupita Nyongo, also doesn’t pull ‘pretty’ faces when she is fighting. Her emotions show pure aggression, this is another example of the contrast between beauty and aggression, and how they can go hand in hand.

There is also an evident colour story in the casino scene. The main 3 characters are wearing black, green and red, all these colours represent the characters individually, and they also represents the pan African flag. The colours are very important as the American enemies are wearing a lot of blue, in this case blue represents colonisation.

Ryan Coogler said that the film is about contrast, beauty vs aggression, using femininity as a tool, and seeing it as a strength you can use to your advantage, rather than something that should be looked down upon as a disadvantage. He also uses the contrast of tradition vs innovation.

Kingsman

Mathew Vaughn is one of my favourite directors, and that is mostly down to the way he shoots his action sequences, they are very fast paced and fun to watch. Different camera angles that flow into each other make for a very exciting action scene. Vaughn talks about how when he plans a CGI fight scene, he always thinks about how they could do it in real life. This way he makes a much more realistic fight scene that doesn’t get boring or seem to extravagant. His fight scenes also tell a story, many fight scenes nowadays are explosion, punch, then another explosion, and there isn’t much variety. In Vaughns films especially kingsman, he adds a storyline to the fight scenes. To do this he mixes hand to hand combat, and weapons and gadgets unique to the film. The use of these different techniques makes for a very stylised scene. The scenes are fast paced and violent but they still maintain clarity.

1 note · View note

atethewriting · 4 years

Text

A Flower As Red As Her Eyes: Jisung

The Canary kissed his cheek,

Falling deep, deep in love,

He almost saved him, for he was too weak,

The corpse turned to a dove,

And stood by his side.

Chenle sat up and rubbed his eyes as the sun reached through his window. A canary lay resting on his lap, and he felt his being change completely. The bone came back, his mouth mended back together, and his antlers rest dead and dripping with blood on his head. He placed the bird on his shoulder, heading to the closet he filled with special-made clothes for his deer body. He slipped on a white sweater and blue jeans and made his way to the kitchen. Searching through the cabinets, he picked out some bread and vegetables, making a small meal for himself and eating quickly.

“Good morning,” Jisung spoke as he entered through the hallway, buttoning up a denim shirt. Chenle smiled in return, shooing off the bird and going back to his regular look.

“Good morning! How’d you sleep?”

“Horrible. As always.”

“Hmph. You’re so pessimistic. You need to lighten up a bit!”

“I’d rather not, thank you very much. I need to go. I have stuff to do.”

“But what about breakfast?! It’s the most important meal of the day!~ And let me go with you!!!”

“God, you’re annoying. I’m not having breakfast. You can come with me, just don’t be fucking annoying.”

“Yay!!!”

“And don’t act like a fucking moron, either. We’re going to see my friends.”

“You have friends?” Chenle laughed.

“Yes. Now shut it, doll.”

【㊄】【㊄】【㊄】【㊄】【㊄】【㊄】

The time was 8:30 AM and Chenle was being dragged into the woods. Jisung was currently explaining to him the rules that would be in place when they were going to meet up with Jisung’s friends.

“Rule 1, Don’t you dare mention the clothes thing. Rule 2, don’t annoy them. Rule 3, if they start beating you up don’t you dare fight back. And Rule 4, you better not get along with them. Hear me?”

“Got it!” Chenle skipped, seeing a group of kids in dark clothing chilling by a small pond. He pointed them out, bouncing up and down. “Are they your friends?! They’re just your type!!”

“Yes, now hush.” The Fairy began walking over to the group of 7 kids, Chenle skipping right behind him singing a song.

“ ♪ HONEY WHAT YOU WAITIN’ FOR-“

“Shut up, Chenle!”

“No, it’s shut up, Heather!”

Jisung blushed out of embarrassment, nodding along.

“I-I know...”

“Wait...you’ve listened to Heathers?! That’s a human thing!!”

“Yeah. I stole your record of it.”

“THAT WAS YOU?!?!?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” One of Jisung’s friends yelled, glaring at Chenle right after. “And who the hell is that?”

The Fairy sighed, pushing Peppermint into the center of all of it.

“Everyone, this is Chenle. The annoying leech that clings to me like glue. Chenle, meet Chan, Felix, Han, Jaehyun, Xiaojun, Haechan, and Mark.”

“Oh!!!!! I know some of you!!” He smiled, pointing to Haechan, Mark, and Han. Especially Han. “Hi!!! It’s been so long!”

Han nodded in return. Exquisite, sparkly, purple antlers stuck out of his head, along with a pair of deer ears a lot like Chenle’s.

“What happened..to you..?” The Sugarplum Deer pointed to the Peppermint Deer’s eye and mouth.

“He did it!” Chenle pointed to Jisung, spinning in a happy circle. “I almost died!!”

Canaries surrounded the area, catching the attention of Chan, who nudged Felix and pointed it out. In fact, animals of all sorts flocked in. Butterflies surrounded Jaehyun, a single goat nibbled at Xiaojun’s shirt (to which he was totally fine with, he loved animals), Scorpions and Foxes crawled and trotted over to the very annoyed Jisung. It all caught the others off-Gaurd, besides Han and Chenle, who were play fighting with their antlers.

“Haha!! I’m winning!!” Peppermint laughed, Sugarplum falling to the ground and admitting defeat.

“Fine, fine..you win.”

“Heck yeah I did!!!”

Chenle noticed the goat that was nibbling on Xiaojun’s shirt, gasping and running over to it.

“Goat!!!!”

“Could you quiet down?” The Gnome groaned.

Chenle wasn’t listening, he was busy messing with the goat’s long ears and singing.

“Jisung your friend is weird-” Mark pointed out, Haechan quickly shutting him up.

“Shut up, Elf.”

“Y-yessir...”

Chenle looked up at Jaehyun, smiling softly and pacing circles around him, slowly figuring things out. He then glanced over at Jisung, watching as a fox and scorpion stayed close to him. Looking up at the trees, he saw a flock of Cinnamon Canaries, gasping.

“So it wasn’t a dream...” He let a Canary sit on his shoulder, the form of Mother Life taking place. His hair changed from white to black, eyes went from brown to red, mouth threaded shut, and his cheerful antlers became black with decay. With his left hand, he pointed to Jisung.

“You were talking to Auntie Death, weren’t you?”

Everyone went frozen with shock, including Jisung. Chenle then began to explain, the words spilling out of his threaded mouth like a waterfall.

“They picked us to keep an eye on everyone. Jaehyun is surrounded by Butterflies, Auntie Nature’s symbol animal. Xiaojun has a Goat next to him, Auntie Time’s symbol animal. Jisungie has a Scorpion and a Fox by him. I don’t know who the Scorpion belongs to, but Auntie Death’s symbol is a Fox. They picked us. That’s why the King is on our backs all the time.”

Jaehyun nodded, Xiaojun shook his head in disbelief, and Jisung had fear in his eyes.

“I don’t believe the kid, sorry. It’s probably some odd coincidence. Everyone knows the Mother story is just a religion thing. I personally don’t think they exist.” The Gnome glared, his pointy, red hat falling over his eyes.

“No, no. Deer has a point,” Jaehyun smiled, “I’ve seen them before. They look nothing like the pictures. Natalia has a staff made of ice, Taika hates hats, Lara has piercing red eyes, and Darline is the twin of Natalia. I’m surprised Xiaojun hasn’t figured it out...” He took a hand-made cigarette out of his pocket along with a match, lighting the cigarette and putting out the small flame.

“And Mama Life gave me a hug after I yelled at Jisung!!” Chenle laughed.

“Wait,” Haechan growled, startling Mark in the process. “You yelled at Jisung?”

“Heck yeah I did!!! Whatcha gonna do about it?~”

“Just making sure I heard that right. Chan, Felix, Han, Mark...I think we have somewhere to be, don’t we?” The four nodded, running off with Haechan, leaving the others to talk amongst themselves.

“So, what do you think, Jisung?” Xiaojun spoke, fixing his hat.

“The Maiden Dust talks to me all the time. But I don’t know what we’re gonna do with this information. It’s not like it’s gonna do anything. We just know, now.”

“There has to be something about it...Why would they not tell us directly?” Jaehyun puffed out a cloud of smoke, humming.

“I so don’t wanna have to save the world...” Xiaojun picked up the goat and held it, unbothered.

“Me too,” Jisung sighed, Jaehyun and Chenle nodding in agreement.

“Saving the world sounds interesting but I’m inexperienced and I got my ass kicked by someone younger than me so I have no chance in a fight!!” Chenle said confidently, jumping around and scaring away the canary. He returned to normal, spinning in yet another happy circle.

A sudden, loud, cracking noise boomed into their ears followed by a small ‘sorry!’. Chenle gasped and started running towards the noise only to be stopped by Jisung.

“Dangerous. No.”

“But I know her!! You know her, too!!” He whined, wiggling out of the Fairy’s grip and skipping off. He came back not 3 minutes later with a house-sized spider crawling behind him. Jaehyun screeched, jumping into Xiaojun’s arms (who dropped the goat in the process). On the back of the spider was a short girl. She wore a blue pendent around her neck and a tired look on her face, along with a long, black dress.

“Yo.” Messenger spoke.

#writing #fanfiction #chenle #fairyland #fairyland!au #nct #horror #worldbuilding #jisung #jaehyun #xiaojun #mark #han #chan #stray kids #felix #haechan

3 notes · View notes

cromulentbookreview · 5 years

Text

All Snake-Fascinated

“There was one time when we were children, he... he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes. So I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and he was like, "Mblergh, it's me!" And he stabbed me. We were eight....at the time.”

Or: LOKI: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee!

I will have to admit to some difficulty writing an unbiased review of this book. Not that I normally try to be unbiased here – I mean, nobody reads this and I don’t care, I just like talking about books. But, still, with this particular book, the bias is pretty damn strong. OK, so I am a huge fan of Mackenzi Lee. I may have mentioned that here before. Because I am a shameless fangirl who very much enjoys her writing style, I will pretty much read anything Mackenzi Lee writes. And, as someone whose general philosophy towards Marvel Movies is “shut up and take my money,” when I heard Mackenzi Lee was going to be writing a YA novel about Loki…yeah I’m pretty sure I may have broken the sound barrier. It doesn’t help that my favorite Marvel movie of all time is Thor: Ragnarok (honestly, Taika Waititi should have directed all the Marvel movies. All of them). It also doesn’t help that I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of Loki. Also not helping re: my ability to write an objective review of this book is the fact that Tom Hiddleston is extremely attractive.

I may have lost a bit of respect for him as a person re: the Great HiddleSwift PR Stunt, but…damn he’s hot.

He can enter into a PR romance with me any day. I mean, come on:

Right?

So we’ve got the perfect storm of things that I like – an author I enjoy, a fandom in which I’ve been thoroughly entrenched since Iron Man came out in 2008, a gorgeous Englishman portraying a popular, fan-favorite character…Yeah, this is going to be tough. This review really could just be a bunch of nonsense punctuated by Tom Hiddleston gifs.

Wait. Nope. That’s exactly what it is. Damn it.

And I wonder why I’ve failed at being a real writer. Well, that and laziness and a clinically poor attention span. Oh well. That’s what Tumblr is for. I assume. Tumblr! For when you’ve failed at pretty much everything else.

Anyway: LOKI: Where Mischief Lies!

Since this is a young adult novel, we get to deal with adolescent versions of Loki and Thor, which is a pretty long time ago considering that they’re gods and they age very, very slowly. Either way, teen Loki has a best friend/partner in crime named Amora (I see what you did there, Ms. Lee, don’t think I didn’t see what you did just there). Amora is a sorceress in training, and she’s been secretly helping Loki learn magic. Asgardians aren’t big on their princes being sorcerers - they’d rather their princes be golden boy warriors with huge muscles and blonde hair. You know, like Thor. Poor Loki, eternally trapped in Thor’s shadow.

Things get worse when, at the feast of Gullveig, Odin looks into the Godseye Mirror, which is this a supercool mirror that can show the future. The Godseye Mirror just shows general warnings about Asgard’s enemies and Odin then shares what he sees and tells everyone how they will triumph. You know, the things you do with a future-telling mirror. However, at tonight’s feast, what Odin sees in the Godseye Mirror is so terrible he refuses to speak about it publicly. Loki and Thor, eavesdropping on Odin and his council, learn that the prophecy Odin saw had to do with Loki doing something terrible. Gasp! Of course Loki has to know more. So he and Amora sneak into the vault to try and look into the Godseye Mirror themselves.

Except they accidentally break it.

Whoops!

Amora takes the fall for the whole scheme, and, as a result, she’s permanently exiled to Midgard, where she will live the rest of her life without magic. Loki is bereft at the loss of his friend, but Frigga, being the best mom ever, takes over Loki’s magical training, Asgardian prince-standards be damned.

An undetermined amount of time goes by (again, immortal beings, time doesn’t really have much meaning with them) with Loki still, STILL, living stuck in Thor’s shadow. Everybody loves Thor - Thor seems to be able to effortlessly do everything right, while Loki is always having to prove himself. Even when Loki follows all the rules and does everything right, he still manages to fall short of Thor. Plus, there’s still that vague Godseye Mirror prophecy hanging over his head...

When the Norn Stones - the most powerful magic amplifiers in the whole of the Nine Realms - are stolen, Odin tasks Thor with looking for them. It’s a pretty plum assignment, the sort of thing you’d ask a future King to do. Loki, on the other hand, is punted off to Midgard to help some dumb humans. Not a very kingly assignment, but still, Loki has to do it. He arrives in 19th century London to help the SHARP Society investigate a string of murders that appear to have links to Asgardian magic. Unfortunately, the SHARP society isn’t exactly your 19th century version of SHIELD - the whole society consists of Mrs. S, the elderly widow of the society’s founder, Theo, an engineer with a badly damaged leg, and Gem, a cop who has to keep his association with the society secret or else he’ll lose his job.

The indignities Loki must put up with just keep getting worse and worse, but still - if he wants to actually impress Odin, he has to complete this assignment. But humans are just the absolute worst. Only, Theo might not be so bad...

As a Marvel Fangirl, I absolutely loved Loki: Where Mischief Lies because of course I did. I do have a few complaints, though: at times the plot moves a little too slowly, and some of the characters, especially those of the SHARP society, seem a little underdeveloped. I wanted more scenes between Theo and Loki, more time for them to develop a rapport. Honestly, I just wanted more in general. This book could’ve been 800 pages and I would’ve been happy to read it. I mean, it’s Loki gallivanting around 19th Century London solving crimes. If you’re a fan MCU’s Loki, then you’ll love the book. If you’re a very serious book reviewer who doesn’t read books for fun, then, well, you might have a tough time of it.

Still, who knows - the copy I read is an ARC, meaning the text is unfinished. There’s bound to be some changes made to the copy between now and the September release date, so perhaps all my complaining about pacing and underdeveloped characters will be rendered moot. We shall see. In the mean time, 19th Century London + Loki = one very happy fangirl.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Marvel fans, Loki/Tom Hiddleston fans, anyone who enjoys a fun blend of YA Fantasy and Historical Fiction, anyone who can just picture Loki running around 19th century London in a stylish waistcoat...

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: DC Fans, comic purists, people who dislike Thor and Loki for some reason,

RELEASE DATE: September 3, 2019

RATING: 4/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED FANGIRL RATING: 500,000,000,000,000,000,000/5

THOR RATING:

LOKI RATING:

RATING FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN’T GET THE TITLE REFERENCE:

3 notes · View notes

soap-brain · 6 years

Note

Also I do think Fury is dead too, been reading the review and in the post credits he is also murdered ... after AOU I was done with Marvel May I ask why you didn't Marvel ?

oh yeah i forgot him!! literally.... that’s so transparent @ marvel please be less obviously racist

and sure! so here goes, in completely non chronological order, a list of grievances under the cut

they literally swapped rhodey’s actor between im and im2 and were like “oh lol nobody will notice right bc all those black people look the same haha”

inconsistent,,,, fuckign,,,, writing,,,, ESPECIALLY of female characters. is natasha a femme fatale? is she actually just boobs? oh wait she has some skills!! oh no actually she is just a Body. wait she has trauma!! heck maybe that explains - oh no wait her abilities are Wearing High Heels and B00tysame with wanda: “i hate shield for these reasons - but now that my brother is dead (which shield can kinda be blamed for), i’d better join them bc they’re the good guys”gamora: “hello i’m a badass who don’t need no man, but actually i’m a whiny crying girl with a daddy complex, willing to sacrifice everything for my abuser”pepper potts. just.... everything about herjane foster... the swooning scientist who turns into a bitch and her characterization is “i don’t need no man!1!!1 oh wait he has a biceps”

benadryl calcium sulphate being cast

age of ultron. all of it. everything about it

“oh no what movie could we make? oh i know - let’s remake spiderman. again. who do we cast??? oh now i KNOW!! a nondescript white kid BUT!! this time he’ll at least not look 20 years too old”

“wow no i don’t think we could make a black widow movie... i don’t think people are interested in her character” yeah that’s because you didn’t write a character. you wrote a pair of boobs. maybe stop changing her hair style every movie and give her some fucking lines instead of a catsuit

sticking to comics is VERY IMPORTANT - unless it comes to portraying disabilities. so instead of that, we’ll give the character a wife, 2.5 kids and a picket fence

“oh shoot we need a plot! nevermind, i got it: adults not communicating. ever.”

tony stark’s entire character development happens off screen

“okay, tony stark might have ptsd, but the guy who was in a war and then time travelled and lost everyone he ever knew? nah, he’s just an asshole”

thor 2

the stakes are just????? getting so ridiculous. so in im, tony needed to make sure his company didn’t go into bad hands. in cap 1, steve needed to make sure parts of america didn’t get bombed. and suddenly the whole planet is at stake. several times. and THEN it’s half the universe, in a desperate attempt to make people care but??? i just??? can’t care??? half the universe is SO much more than i can ever comprehend but sure i guess it makes for more drama

tony “i was imprisoned once and it sucked” stark says we need to control superheroes, proceeds to imprison one because he personally thinks she’s too dangerous. more at 11

i’m sure all-seeing heimdall could NOT have seen thanos coming or anything because uhhh... magic?

it literally took them ten years to manage to write a female character that didn’t totally suck, and then only because taika waititi did it

shoot, someone put out a casting call for diverse people that are white, thin, normal looking and predominantly male

the part where they desperately needed to hype their new movie, thusly starting the team cap vs team iron man nonsense that i could write a whole fucking novel about bc wow lookie unnecessary drama for no reason other than to increase sales

generally the whole civil war thing was just so??? odd and nonsensical. on the one side you have tony stark, who consistently refused to hand over his super suit or be put in check by the government, suddenly calling for superheroes to be put in check; on the other hand, you have steve rogers who experienced that the us government cannot be trusted in tws suddenly believing that the us government will make things right again or something??? you have tony trying to guilt trip steve into agreeing to those accords by basically holding a gun to bucky’s head; you have tony suddenly trying to murder someone who was so obviously brainwashed and coerced into killing tony’s parents; the movie also tries really hard to go the “uwu generous tony stark” route but really, all i see is him giving to those mit graduates while there are SO many others who would need it more

all the random characters missing things... like.... ant man suddenly showing up in civil war but then never again. clint being here and gone the next moment toothor conveniently always off planet due to uhh bifrost problems?? him not wanting to come??sidekicks showing up in one movie but then not in the next bc they’re suddenly busy or something???

name one female character who hasn’t had some sort of relationship “defining” her

also name one female character that doesn’t wear tight, revealing clothes

so that’s just off the top of my head. also the jokes are getting very... predictable and standard fare. next they’ll have to add a laugh track or something

basically ever after the point if civil war was just this stupid “iron man vs captain america” thing that made everyone nut about it (and still has the team cap vs team iron man dichotomy going on) i just.... got so tired. it’s always like “but MY character has done THIS great thing while YOUR character is just the worst person to ever walk the planet!!1!”

and then the whole n*zi steve thing happened, which further lost marvel my trust, and then they announced infinity war, aka “we cast all these famous people who cost a lot of money, now praise us for our ingenuity”

and alsoooooo the movies are all starting to be... pretty much the same. exchangeable hero with their loyal sidekick are having a good time, but oh no, a Bad appears, the hero is disgraced / fallen for a while, then stands back up because they are a Hero. the message is Be A White Man, the jokes are standard Tough Male Comedy. there is at least one character characterized by either Boobs, Ass or Sex Scene To Introduce Boobs Wearing Character

also i mean there are my personal issues on why tony stark and all his grandeur and grand gestures actually mean shit but that’s kinda personal and i don’t wanna get into that

so there you have my off the top of my head criticism of marvel - racism, sexism, inconsistent and boring writing, inconsistent characterization, no character development, constantly making wild reaches for plot lines

(the only marvel movies i’ll stan forever are, in order of goodness (lowest to highest) tws, ragnarök, black panther)

#negativity #shroom-stories #silfreya #ask #answered

5 notes · View notes

inkblackfingers · 6 years

Text

Thor: Ragnarok in no particular order

I can’t even begin to articulate how much I loved this movie, it was beyond gorgeous and I love everything about this.

Here’re some thoughts I had about it, as always, in no particular order.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It’s a bit long, so I put it under a read more.

I was completely and absolutely expecting a record screech at the beginning. Everything about Thor slowly turning on a chain and literally interrupting a giant flaming being as he slowly, slowly rotates is perfect.

Okay, but the entire theater burst into laughter when Skurge said that he got Dan and Ger from Texas, because ofc. And the shocked horror on those girls faces when they get absolutely coated in dragon slime is hysterical.

That fucking statue I’m still laughing at it. And the play?? Loki, what the actual hell were you thinking? Yeah, I’ll pretend to be Odin, but I won’t act anything like him and I’ll make a giant statue of me and commission a play all about my heroic and tragic “death” and just laze around eating grapes all day and nobody will say anything. How on earth did nobody else realize that it wasn’t Odin??

On that note, Thor instantly realizing that it’s Loki is the actual best and I love that his preferred method of solving problems (a blow with Mjolnir) has now been upgraded to forcing his opponent to choose whether they’d rather get a face full of star metal or lose.

As much as I loved everything about Loki’s “human” outfit in the Avengers, I really really love the all-black ensemble, especially next to Thor’s actually normal clothing.

Also, Tony is totally still keeping an eye on the internet, and there’s going to be a random picture of Thor on a random corner in NYC with two girls and he’s going to be so confused.

Stephen Strange you absolute dick I love you to death. I would watch an entire movie of Stephen just being a complete dick to other superheroes with his magical powers.

Thor calling for Mjolnir and both of them just listening to the sounds of breaking glass and his little smirk when he apologizes? Payback’s a bitch, Stephen :D

“I have been falling for THIRTY MINUTES”

Strange, who just spent the last ten minutes generally fucking with Thor, taking one look at Loki being furious and going, fuck this, get out.

Everything about Odin saying “my sons” (i’m not crying you’re crying) And him praising Loki for the spell that he used against him?? I mean, he’s still a shitty dad, but at least Loki has at least one (1) memory of him being a good dad.

Hela: long black hair, black cape, black and green clothing, obv v dramatic.... Are we sure that *Loki* is the adopted child?

I immediately remember I’m so gay when faced with Tessa Thompson as a drunk hot mess.

So the god of *thunder* is taken down by....electricity?? @marvel, does not compute

Everything about the little amusement-park ride of the history of Grandmaster is pure gold, especially with Thor just screaming at the end.

Listen..... Loki totally got a sugar daddy. That is all.

15/10 Best Stan Lee cameo ever

Oh my god Hulk I love you bb and I’m so glad that you finally found a planet that totally accepts you. (Now if you could work on that being a planet that doesn’t require you to be angry all the time or uses you as a form of entertainment, that’d be great, thx)

Thor finally using his GODDAMN powers, perfect.

Everything about Hulk is perfect. Especially him sparring with Valkyrie, and everything about his conversation with Thor that totally doesn’t have me crying a little inside, but also how he’s basically a giant toddler

Hulk butt. Somebody had to animate Hulk butt. Is it based off of the butt of @markruffalo? People (me) need to know.

Also, I’m really reminded of that one post?? It’s basically etched into my mind at this point, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

That fucking bounce off the window and Thor just picking himself up and going straight through the window and sliding down literally all the buildings.

Pointbreak is the password I’m dying of laughter (@marvel, I need to know all of the avengers’ sign-ins ASAP. Is Steve’s Capiscle or Captain Handsome? Is Clint Hawkass or Legolas? Is Nat Itsy-Bitsy Spider? Also, what’s Tony’s sign-in? You know who I am? The Mechanic? Please, my crops are dying)

Also, once Tony finds out about everything that just happened, Thor’s sign-in is definitely changing to Sparkles.

Why are Tony’s clothes on the quin-jet? (Actual question: why haven’t I already seen fics/art about why Tony’s clothes are on the quin-jet?)

Bruce’s password being Strongest Avenger, and Thor’s look of betrayal in the background is beyond hilarious. (Also can we talk about Tony’s nicknames for literally everyone??)

Okay, but drunk Valkyrie and Bruce trying to figure out how they know each other is the actual cutest.

Thor just chucking something at Loki to check if he’s actually there is beyond perfect. Yes you did good my space labrathor, you have finally learned.

Everything about Thor’s childhood story. (Also, can we just appreciate Frigga for a moment? An eldest daughter that got banished by her husband, and two sons, who basically hate each other. One of them likes picking up snakes and the other likes stabbing his brother. You deserve all the awards for parenting. All of them.)

Idris Elba is beyond the best and if Asgard was a democracy, he would totally have been running the Nine Realms. (Like he basically was already)

Everything about Asgard being the people, not the place is going to make me cry.

Thor sitting on the throne, literally calling Hela to him from across Asgard is something that he totally came up with after asking himself What Would Loki Do? (Answer: be as over the top extra as possible, always)

Well, now Thor can inherit the kingly eyepatch

GODDAMN it Thor, go pikachu already, you did it before and you don’t need to talk to your father while you’re literally dying

Thor descending on the horde of zombies in slow motion, lightning sparking around him as he lays waste to them with the Immigrant Song playing #aesthetic

I know that Fenris is basically a giant zombie wolf, but there’s a part of my brain (the largest part. like 85% of it) that’s going PUPPER!!! WHO’S A GOOD DOGGO???

Okay, I know I already said stuff about Valkyrie, but that stride down the rainbow bridge with explosions in the background and her just absolutely destroying those zombies?? #aesthetic

Also, I thought I had reached peak gay after watching Wonder Woman, but then Tessa Thompson happened.

Loki doing his knife flip and Valkyrie swinging her sword #reasonsi’mpan

I love circular prophecies so much, but also: 1) what happens to the rest of the stuff in the vault? like the tesseract or the casket of ancient winters? the tesseract’s an infinity stone, so it’s not going to be destroyed by the explosion right? 2) I’m not entirely sure if this is comics or mcu, but isn’t Asgard necessary to the stabilty of the other realms? what’s going to happen to the other ones now that Asgard is literally dust??

Other things I love in this movie: Thor finally learning to not always blindly trust Loki, every single rock paper scissors pun, Hulk being a giant cranky adorable toddler.

Things I dislike about this movie: why on earth did you cut the bisexual Valkyrie scene???, @marvel give us the goddamn hug that we’ve been waiting for since the first Thor!!!!

Is that a skrull ship? Or Thanos’ ship? Or the Guardians/someone related to them??? Uggggghhhh, I need the official Infinity War trailer already (like I haven’t watched the leaked version like a dozen times)

Also, Taika Waititi directed one of my *other* favorite movies, What We Do in the Shadows, so that’s another reason why I like Ragnarok so much. (Also that it’s super colorful, has no bullshit romance, has an interesting plot and characters that aren’t ooc...)

#in no particular order #thor ragnarok #marvel #ink spatters

4 notes · View notes

doomonfilm · 4 years

Text

Winners : 92nd Annual Academy Awards Ceremony (2020)

NOTE - The following categories will be omitted from my predictions : ANIMATED FEATURE ANIMATED SHORT BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM ORIGINAL SONG

________________________________________

NOMINATIONS

BEST PICTURE

Ford v Ferrari (dir. James Mangold) The Irishman (dir. Martin Scorsese) Jojo Rabbit (dir. Taika Waititi) Joker (dir. Todd Phillips) Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig) Marriage Story (dir. Noah Baumbach) 1917 (dir. Sam Mendes) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (dir. Quentin Tarantino) Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

prediction : Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho) winner : Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

thoughts : It was my favorite film of 2019, and my second favorite film of the decade. I am extremely happy to see this juggernaut of a film have such an impressive night.

________________________________________

LEAD ACTOR

Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Adam Driver (Marriage Story) Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes)

prediction : Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) winner : Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

thoughts : Phoenix is rapidly becoming the defining actor of our generation, and his take on the Joker character is pitch-perfect considering the long-running success of the comic-based film. A compelling experiment that has resulted in proper success for the man at the center of the beautiful storm.

________________________________________

LEAD ACTRESS

Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story) Saoirse Ronan (Little Women) Charlize Theron (Bombshell) Renee Zellweger (Judy)

prediction : Saoirse Ronan (Little Women) winner : Renee Zellweger (Judy)

thoughts : This one shouldn’t have been a surprise, honestly, as Zellweger already pulled off a win at the Golden Globes, so props to her. Sad that my girl Saoise didn’t win though, but I imagine she has years of powerful performances ahead of her.

________________________________________

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes) Al Pacino (The Irishman) Joe Pesci (The Irishman) Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

prediction : Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) winner : Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

thoughts : This was a well-deserved win for Brad Pitt, as he brought some of the most natural charisma and on-screen chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio to the table. He also fit right in with the Spahn Ranch cast, as well as the top-tier production design.

________________________________________

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell) Laura Dern (Marriage Story) Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit) Florence Pugh (Little Women) Margot Robbie (Bombshell)

prediction : Laura Dern (Marriage Story) winner : Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

thoughts : In Netflix’s tour-de-force of acting, Dern was by far the most engaging and natural performance. She’s an actress with an infinite amount of chops, and most importantly, she looks like she’s having fun nearly every time you see her on-screen these days.

________________________________________

DIRECTOR

Martin Scorsese (The Irishman) Todd Phillips (Joker) Sam Mendes (1917) Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

prediction : Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) winner : Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

thoughts : Another wonderful win for Bong Joon-ho, and a sweep of the major three awards that I thought he’d win. This film really hit me in a major way, and I am happy to see it get all of the recognition that I feel it deserves.

________________________________________

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Steven Zaillian (The Irishman) Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (Joker) Greta Gerwig (Little Women) Anthony McCarten (The Two Popes)

prediction : Greta Gerwig (Little Women) winner : Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)

thoughts : Sadly, I’ve been dragging my feet on seeing Jojo Rabbit, but the trailers had me hooked. Waititi is also a master of making absurd premises ridiculously entertaining, so I am not surprised by this win one bit.

________________________________________

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Rian Johnson (Knives Out) Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917) Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Bong Joon-ho and Jin Won Han (Parasite)

prediction : Bong Joon-ho and Jin Won Han (Parasite) winner : Bong Joon-ho and Jin Won Han (Parasite)

thoughts : I expect Bong Joon-ho to be the bell of the ball, and this (other than Best International Film) seemed like a slam dunk choice.

________________________________________

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Rodrigo Prieto (The Irishman) Lawrence Sher (Joker) Jarin Blaschke (The Lighthouse) Roger Deakins (1917) Robert Richardson (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

prediction : Roger Deakins (1917) winner : Roger Deakins (1917)

thoughts : Deakins is a legend, and he pulled off one heck of a magic trick with 1917. Another trophy for a master craftsman.

________________________________________

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi) Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov (Honeyland) Ladj Ly (Les Miserables) Pedro Almodovar (Pain and Glory) Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

prediction : Bong Joon-hoo (Parasite) winner : Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

thoughts : No disrespect to anyone on this list, but this was always going to be Bong Joon-ho’s award to lose.

________________________________________

FILM EDITING

Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland (Ford v Ferrari) Thelma Schoonmaker (The Irishman) Tom Eagles (Jojo Rabbit) Jeff Groth (Joker) Jinmo Yang (Parasite)

prediction : Jeff Groth (Joker) winner : Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland (Ford v Ferrari)

thoughts : Here’s another film that’s been on my ‘to see’ list for too long. With the technical awards it’s winning, however, I’ll be changing that sooner than later.

________________________________________

SOUND EDITING

Don Sylvester (Ford v Ferrari) Alan Robert Murray (Joker) Oliver Tarney and Rachel Tate (1917) Wylie Stateman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Matthew Wood and David Acord (Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker)

prediction : Oliver Tarney and Rachel Tate (1917) winner : Don Sylvester (Ford v Ferrari)

thoughts : See the previous statement about the winner.

________________________________________

SOUND MIXING

Ad Astra Ford v Ferrari Joker 1917 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

prediction : 1917 winner : 1917

thoughts : This one feels like padding the stats just a little bit, especially with the wonderful radio/TV mixing for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I’m not surprised that 1917 is winning technical awards.

________________________________________

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bob Shaw and Regina Graves (The Irishman) Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova (Jojo Rabbit) Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales (1917) Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee(Parasite)

prediction : Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) winner : Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

thoughts : With this film being such an immersive experience, I am not surprised that it won a Production Design award. Well-deserved.

________________________________________

ORIGINAL SCORE

Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker) Alexandre Desplat (Little Women) Randy Newman (Marriage Story) Thomas Newman (1917) John Williams (Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker) Nicholas Britell (The King)

prediction : Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker) winner : Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker)

thoughts : Of all the films nominated (that I saw), this one seemed like a lock for score, as that was one of several elements that pulled you into the engaging darkness of the film.

________________________________________

MAKEUP AND HAIR

Bombshell Joker Judy Maleficent : Mistress of Evil 1917

prediction : Joker winner : Bombshell

thoughts : This win makes plenty of sense to me, as the very recognizable actresses throughout the film were properly turned into their real-life counterparts enough to suspend disbelief. The Roger Ailes make-up was pretty spot-on as well.

________________________________________

COSTUME DESIGN

Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson (The Irishman) Mayes C. Rubeo (Jojo Rabbit) Mark Bridges (Joker) Jacqueline Durran (Little Women) Arianne Phillips (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

prediction : Jacqueline Durran (Little Women) winner : Jacqueline Durran (Little Women)

thoughts : I wanted Greta Gerwig to get a couple of additional awards this year for Little Women, but if there was one award they were a lock for, I assumed that it would be costuming.

________________________________________

VISUAL EFFECTS

Avengers : Endgame The Irishman 1917 The Lion King Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker

prediction : Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker winner : 1917

thoughts : In all honesty, this was surprising. No disrespect to 1917, but I figured it’d be the last one to win for Visual Effects simply because most everything was done real-world and captured in camera.

________________________________________

After a disappointing set of results for my Golden Globes guessing, I’m surprised how well I did with the Academy Awards, as I normally stand opposed to their choices. I don’t know if my taste is shifting, or if Hollywood is shifting, but either way, 2019 was a wonderful year for film, and these results are a satisfying close to it.

0 notes

pendulum-sonata · 7 years

Note

Appleshipping and T~

Okies

T.- An obscure AU.

Words: 807

“Rin, I thought we talked about this?”

They had,yesterday at dinner, at night, before going to bed, this morning at breakfasther mother had handed her the money needed and then some more ‘For a nice haircut.’ she said before reminded her one more time.

And she had gone tothe esthetic right after school… idling in front of it for hours - or atleast that’s how it felt - before going back.

“I… promise I’ll go tomorrow.” she said stilllooking down, gripping on her skirt tightly.

“Never mind.” Her mother said after a heavy sigh.

And Rin lifted her eyes feeling beyond relieved,did her mother finally understood her? Why she couldn’t do this?

“Yes, I hadfeeling something like this would happen…” she started and Rin tried tosquash down the smile with little success. “Which is why I made anappointment for the weekend and I’ll be going with you, then I can help youchoose the right brand and color.” Her mother finished while she held a strandof her blond hair, “I mean you still have such a nice hair, soft, and…shiny, it would be such a shame to ruinit, don’t you agree dear?”

‘Oh…of course’ She shouldn’t have let her hopes up she thought as she nodded.

Yugo was restless, he always was.

But as of late that energy that his friends,teachers and the like knew him for has gone up and never stopped, that’s why hewent to the gym every day, that was why he had gotten a part-time job at thecar shop down the street, and how the owner had hired him.

That’s how he learned how to make a new bike fromthe old engine of a destroyed Harley and managed to make it look as good asnew.

Better than new, the owner had said while hewhistled in appreciation after the paint job had been done.

“For a guy who eats nothing but fruits andvegetables you sure have some stamina” Crow had said one day. “Maybe youneed to find a purpose… are you looking for something?”

He didn’t knew why but he almost choked on an applewhen he heard that.

She was eating lunch, alone, again.

“That’s the girl I was telling you about?”

She had long since given up on hiding, people wouldalways find her no matter what, and then start pointing at her and hushedcomments about her.

“No way! I thought you were kidding!”

It was fine,she was used to it, and she just wished they would stop staring at her likesome sort of… circus freak. After all, everything else about her was normal, it was just her hair thatwas…unusual.

“I don’t know who she thinks she’s fooling… lookat those faded roots!”

Rin gripped her chopsticks a little tighter, sheknew what followed after those comments.

“I know right? They almost look green, and Iused to think that blonde hair was pretty…”

Green, herhair was not green, it was greenish but not green - Chartreuse, one of her aunts had kindly supplied one time - it wasn’t her fault that her hair was so unlike herparents, or her uncles and aunts, or her grandparents…

‘It will be over soon… we’re are coming,’

She whipped her head to the side… Who? It must beher imagination she thought she had heard someone next to her.

“Why do I have to cut my hair?!”

“Because your bangs are going to be the cause of atraffic accident one of these days.” said Crow as he dragged him down the road.

“Is this a sham? Are you gonna tell me to dye myhair too? Huh?” he accused him trying one more time to tug at his arm to noavail.

“Please your hair is arguably the least strikingfeature about you, stop being so whiny.” He said finally stopping in front ofsome ridiculously over the top esthetic that had a bunch of colorfulannouncements of discounts and offers on the window.

“I knew it! You are just taking advantage of me!”He yelled when he saw the 2x1 haircut sign.

“Well you can’t blame a man for trying to save- uh?Yugo are you ok?”

Yugo barely heard Crow as he watched a sullen-facedgirl next to some old woman, she was blond like him too, although she lookedfar better than him with it - in his opinion anyway

They both stared at the other in wonder, she touches her hair then maybe noticing his bangs of golden hair on th front, and somehow Yugo knows that she knows - and vicerversa… probably, hopefully - that it’s not fake, and as thewind picked up.

“It’s you… I found you…my queen.”

OK kids did you manage to guess it? No? Well I don’t blame it’s called “obscure AU” for a reason the one I choose is a 2k12 anime based on some light novels that I’m totally not salty that were never finished by Fuyumi Ono:

Twelve Kingdoms.

basically both Rin and Yugo are Taikas, very especial taikas might I add, Rin is the newly chosen queen and Yugo is her Kirin… If you wonder why I made Rin “blonde” … well you need to know how the whole Taikas bussiness work to understand, but basically Rin real hair is green, and when trveling to their ...um homeworld? the kingdoms? It recovers it’s actual hue, but in Japan it needed to be more “natural” but it didn’t quite work so well right? Yugo is a vegetarian because anything related to blood (aka. Meat) makes Kirins sick because they are such pure and pacifists creatures… yeah I know, the irony :P

#arc v #yugioh arc v #appleshipping #yugo arc v #rin arc v #sorry this isn't so shippy #because the AU I chose #is not very romantic n.n #my fics #letter prompt requests #cipi127

14 notes · View notes