Why didn’t you tell me? You know I’ve been trying to communicate with him - to understand. Kong didn’t want you to know. He was afraid. Now, everyone knows.

GODZILLA VS. KONG dir. Adam Wingard

natalia dyer, cis female + she/her | you know andromeda de-larouche, right? they’re twenty-three, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, their whole life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to go tomorrow by the newton brothers like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole messy stacks of sheet music, observant glances, and the inevitable fading of all beautiful things thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is october 29th, so they’re a scorpio, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

‘tis i, again, coming to you live with a second character! as always, feel free to message me to plot or chat here or on discord (swamp rabbit#1745)!

name: andromeda nicolette de-larouche nicknames: drom, dromeda age, birth date: 23; october 29 hometown: irving, north carolina occupation: musician in various jobs sexuality: bisexual

act i

andromeda nicolette de-larouche was born the middle triplet to a financially comfortable couple right here in irving, north carolina. while the children weren’t being taught three languages and horseback riding by tutors and nannies as toddlers, you could say they were considerably well-off.

mom was a workaholic whose idea of showing affection consisted of a half-hearted head or shoulder pat, lacking in stereotypically motherly instincts. dad was more present and seemed to fill in those emotional gaps, providing genuine love and care to the family. all was well—or as well as any young, young child could tell—until they divorced. the triplets were three and their mother, without so much as a fight, gave up her parental rights over them.

drom took her mom’s departure hard once she was old enough to understand it, though most would be made to believe she was unaffected, the girl possessing a cool and blasé attitude when asked about it. in a way, she unintentionally adopted some of the woman’s traits by way of self-preservation—most notably, a lack of outwardly expressed love and attachment (save for towards her siblings). the signs of a deep and lingering pain were and are there, though, for those observant and caring enough for her to notice them.

eventually dad remarried, bringing a step-mother and her five children into the family. despite this generally happy situation, andromeda’s relationship with her step-mother wasn’t picture-perfect. despite being perfectly kind, drom was partially closed off towards her. that being said, even as a girl she noticed how kind and loving she was towards each and every one of her children—even the more difficult ones, i.e. andromeda.

that is, until one entirely average, unnoteworthy evening when a young dromeda briefly expressed an interest in learning piano at the dinner table. it was her step-mother who immediately signed her up for in-home classes. her step-mother who gifted her the instrument. the large and unexpected gesture brought them closer.

the same support was ever-present throughout the years as drom picked up more and more instruments (violin, cello, organ, guitar...), got into composing, and became involved in the local music scene and those in neighboring cities.

yes, she was a band kid. all throughout middle and high school. and if anyone gave her shit for it, she’d verbally cut them down before she could physically do so with her cello bow <3

act ii

for a while things were good—really good. home life is great, despite dad often being gone at work, a CEO and sole financial provider for the family. drom is a budding musical genius, impressing instructor after instructor. then, at the age of fifteen, things take a sudden turn.

TW: ALCOHOLISM/REHAB. dad was gone more than usual, step-mom seemed particularly stressed. while something had taken a downward turn, neither of them were initially open about it. that is, until dad was placed in rehab. this came as a shock, considering he didn’t drink often at home, instead choosing to do so at the office. andromeda didn’t take this well. it wasn’t like he was especially present before, but the thought of losing another parent, in a sense—of them having picked something else over her and the family—affected her deeply.

despite being surrounded by love, she became fiercely independent and unreliant on others. of course, she loves and is very protective of her family, but she’s also guarded and weary of maintaining any attachments. in a way, especially with her step-mother (another parental figure she couldn’t bear being disappointed by) and her father, once he returned (“ah, the prodigal father makes his triumphant return”). the only relationship she strongly maintained was hers with atty. it’s a triplet thing.

it’s not that drom was rude to her parents (aside from the occasional teenager-like remark), but she definitely wasn’t your typical loving, prime-time-movie-picket-fence daughter, either. she became... cordial. polite, but not affectionate. closed off, once again, but to a new level.

her junior year of high school she began giving music lessons to people of all ages (fellow students, their younger siblings, etc.) for extra spending cash. it wasn’t like she needed it, but she was stubborn and didn’t want to ask mom + dad.

act iii

despite a handful of university scholarship opportunities, a resume of awards, and impressive involvement in a couple short musical tours, once atty decided to stay in irving for college, so did she. from eighteen to twenty-two she attended irving university with a major in musical performance and composition.

at one point she did a study abroad program for a semester, (which i’m leaving super vague, because connection opportunity??) but otherwise her studies were based in her hometown.

post-graduation she’s managed to do a few high-profile projects (composing a track for an animated feature film, writing music for a few east coast indie films) as well as take on a couple jobs—one playing in a neighboring city’s orchestra and one being an accompanist for local theatres and dance studios. catch her in the pit at local productions. don’t bring her flowers, she’ll get embarrassed (or do, please do).

personality + fun facts

look, she isn’t a recluse, she just avoids getting too close with people. she’ll make friends, but she won’t put a ton of stock into the relationship. that way, if you’re gone tomorrow, she isn’t hurt by it.

dry sense of humor. doesn’t care to handle anyone with kid gloves. this sometimes works out in her favor, though. since she isn’t out here looking for her soul mate or found family, she’s never trying to put on a more “presentable” or likable version of herself. so if you’re still wanting to hang out, it’s probably because you genuinely like her

has a mini tattoo of the dies irae (aka classic death motif) notes on her left side ribcage

does instagram lives while composing and practicing music in her room, the little maestro just doing her insane thing

of all her siblings, she’s the closest with atticus. she won’t say it often, but she considered them a rock throughout the turbulence brought on by their bio parents. that’s one of the two relationships she will actively fight to protect and maintain. the other being atty’s daughter, gracelynn, who drom has an uncommon soft spot for. she jokes (or is she?) about making her a musical protégé all of the time.

connection ideas

i have a handful of inspo posts > here < and am starting to add more as i come by them, but i’m open to all of the angst, drama, emotions, heartbreak interesting dynamics!

           hi  kids  !  wow  ,  we’re  already  at  opening  and  that’s  so  crazy  !  i’m  kofi  ,  your  co - admin  ,  and  i’m  so  excited  that  you  guys  are  here  !  i’m  23  ,  from  the  est  tz  ,  prefer  she / they  pronouns  and  i  graduate  from  college  in  a  little  more  than  seven  months  ...  yikes  .  that  being  said  ,  i’m  ready  to  introduce  you  guys  to  my  latest  muse  ,  who  may  have  huge  development  changes  as  we  go  on  because  of  him  being  brand  new  ,  mr  .  saint  moon  !  he’s  um  ...  something  of  a  mess  and  idk  if  i  love  or  hate  him  yet  ,  but  i’m  happy  to  plot  with  ya’ll  on  my  d.iscord  @  𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲.#4090  !

            (  lee  juyeon ,  22  ,  cis  male  ,  he / him  )  *  fun  fact  about  me  ?  okay  ,  let’s  see  .  .  .   an  injury  stopped  my  promising  olympic  career  .  crazy  ,  right  ?  i’m  saint  moon  ,  i  live  in  the  contemporary  new  build  with  a  three  thousand  square  foot  outdoor  patio  on  ocean  lane  in  key  biscayne  , &  not  to  brag  ,  but  my  family’s  worth  around  $740  million  .  pretty  decent  for  real  estate  and  construction  developers  ,  huh  ?  we’ve  been  around  for  some  time  ,  but  in  town  ,  everyone’s  always  associated  me  with  the  gatsbys  ;  but  it’s  not  like  that’s  my  whole  identity  ,  or  anything  .  while  filming  for  key  biscayne  ,  it  was  surprising  when  i’d  get  dragged  on  twitter  for  being  “  errant  ,  impetuous  ,  &  rancorous  ,   ”  but  the  cameras  don’t  see  everything  ,  &  my  real  fans  know  that  i’m  nothing  but  coolheaded  ,  venturesome  ,  &  enamoring  .  i’m  not  too  bothered  by  it  though  ,  because  since  the  series  ended  ,  i’ve  opened  a  highly  successful  café  in  south  korea  and  planning  to  expand  to  the  states  .  follow  me  on  instagram  @SNT.MN  to  keep  up  . 

name  :  saint  moon  .

nickname(s)  :  none  .

age  +  date  of  birth  :  22  +  july  19th  ,  1998  .

astrological  sign  :  cancer  .

myers - briggs  personality  type  :  infj  .

enneagram  type  :  the  individualist  .

moral  alignment  :  chaotic  neutral  .

gender  +  pronouns  :  cis  man  +  he / him / his  .

place  of  birth  :  gangnam  ,  south  korea  .

place  of  residence  :  key  biscayne  ,  florida  .

sexual  orientation  :  bisexual  .

romantic  orientation  :  biromantic  .

occupation  :  former  reality  star  /  instagram  influencer  /  café  owner  .

nationality  :  korean  .

ethnicity  :  korean  .

language(s)  spoken  :  korean  ,  english  ,  japanese  ,  and  learning  mandarin  .

social  media  handle  :  @SNT.MN

THE  BACKSTORY  .

      ��     saint’s  story  starts  when  his  parents  ,  moon  ji - ho  and  park  soo - ah  went  on  their  first  date  .  in  truth  ,  it  had  been  a  rare  instance  of  love  at  first  sight  when  they  bumped  into  each  other  at  ji - ho’s  office  in  seoul  ,  and  the  date  was  only  used  to  solidify  their  feelings  .  you  see  ,  ji - ho  and  soo - ah  were  fairly  well  known  with  ji - ho  being  the  second  heir  to  moon  industries  alongside  his  sister  ,  moon  eun -  ha  .  moon  industries  was  founded  in  the  1940s  ,  and  is  known  primarily  for  their  real  estate  and  construction  business  .  the  company  was  founded  in  seoul  ,  and  originally  started  out  by  purchasing  and  renovating  beautiful  homes  and  condominiums  within  the  city  .  after  thirty  years  in  the  business  ,  ji - ho  and  eun - ha’s  father  was  one  of  the  first  in  south  korea  to  reach  the  status  of  billionaire  .

            ji - ho  and  soo -ah  were  looking  to  forge  their  own  path  ,  though  .  although  they  were  lucky  enough  to  have  wealthy  parents  ,  both  of  them  have  always  liked  the  idea  of  working  for  themselves  and  getting  their  hands  dirty  .  so  ,  they  refused  ji - ho’s  father’s  investment  and  decided  to  start  their  own  real  estate  firm  .  they  went  through  the  process  of  obtaining  their  real  estate  license  in  both  south  korea  and  the  united  states  ,  specifically in  florida  .  after  studying  hard  ,  they  were  able  to  open  moon  real  estate  ,  and  it  was  a  hassle  for  them  .  they  initially  ‘ struggled ’  seeing  as  though  they  were  their  only  employees  ,  and  soon  ,  soo - ah  discovered  that  she  was  pregnant  with  their  son  .

            for  four  years  ,  they  worked  hard  with  their  bumbling  baby  boy  ,  saint  ,  crawling  at  their  feet  and  curiously  looking  at  home  or  building  buyers  .  for  a  long  time  ,  they  considered  saint  to  be  their  closer  as  he  was  the  selling  point  and  allowed  people  to  hold  him  while  looking  at  the  home  .  usually  ,  soo - ah  would  use  saint  as  a  marketing  ploy  whenever  they  were  trying  to  sell  to  young  couples  ,  and  it  always  worked  .  the  moons  became  known  for  saint  syndrome  ,  where  those  same  young  couples  would  typically  call  to  say  that  they  were  expecting  within  a  year  of  buying  their  home  .  it  only  took  a  few  years  ,  but  the  moons  were  soon  raking  in  their  own  money  without  the  help  of  ji - ho’s  father  .  

            when  saint  was  six  ,  his  family  relocated  to  key  biscayne  ,  florida  .  life  was  easy  living  on  the  water  ,  and  his  parents  continued  to  sell  gorgeous  homes  both  in  seoul  and  in  the  wealthy  neighborhoods  of  florida  .  with  such  a  lifestyle  ,  it  wasn’t  unheard  of  for  saint  to  excel  at  his  private  school  ,  where  he  was  known  for  his  academic  prowess  as  well  as  his  ability  to  play  both  the  piano  and  the  cello  .  saint  was  a  fairly  popular  student  while  growing  up  ,  and  it  showed  when  the  moons  would  host  their  annual  christmas  party  .

            he  was  fourteen  when  he  finally  started  to  understand  the  rivalry  between  thoroughbreds  and  gatsbys  .  originally  ,  he  put  off  like  he  didn’t  care  ,  but  in  reality  he  was  trying  to  figure  it  out  .  the  moons  were  a  special  case  ,  considering  that  ji - ho  was  clearly  an  heir  to  a  billion  dollar  fortune  ,  but  also  had  become  wealthy  in  his  own  right  thanks  to  his  business  with  his  wife  .  saint  never  understood  that  jabs  and  jeers  that  he  would  receive  from  thoroughbreds  ,  because  to  him  ,  they  were  all  rich  so  what  the  hell  did  it  matter  ?  he  eventually  began  to  side  more  with  the  gatsbys  ,  never  understanding  why  the  thoroughbreds  felt  as  though  they  needed  to  stick  their  noses  up  in  the  air  at  them  .

            within  two  years  ,  though  ,  saint  seems  to  have  changed  for  the  worse  .  while  his  grades  may  be  good  ,  he  begins  to  spend  more  time  with  new  friends  in  miami  .  while  there  ,  he  surrounds  himself  with  fast  cars  and  short  nights  ,  but  he  thinks  it’s  his  parents’  fault  for  buying  him  a  488  spider  for  his  sixteenth  birthday  .  saint  began  to  get  into  trouble  ,  often  pulled  over  for  speeding  and  reckless  driving  to  impress  his  friends  .  like  always  ,  a  star  is  meant  to  fall  ,  and  it  all  came  crashing  down  for  saint  when  he  thought  that  drag  racing  on  u.s.  route  1  was  a  good  idea  .  he  assumed  that  he  could  lose  the  cops  ,  but  he  was  stupid  for  ever  thinking  so  --  he  totaled  the  $1.3m  dollar  car  ,  and  after  being  treated  for  minor  injuries  ,  he  was  booked  in  the  county  jail  .

            having  rich  parents  seems  to  be  all  fun  and  games  considering  they  were  barely  able  to  get  him  out  with  a  slap  on  the  wrist  ,  but  that  very  same  night  they  sent  him  away  on  a  business  plane  to  live  with  his  no - nonsense  grandparents  .  for  the  first  year  ,  saint  pouted  and  argued  ,  screamed  and  kicked  over  being  trapped  in  seoul  .  he  tried  to  escape  the  fortress  of  a  house  in  pyeongchang  ,  attempted  to  ditch  his  security  guards  when  he  went  out  in  public  ,  but  he  eventually  realized  that  there  was  no  getting  out  of  this  .  so  ,  he  made  the  most  out  of  it  :  he  finished  school  ,  and  during  his  senior  year  with  the  help  of  his  grandparents  ,  saint  opened  goodnight  moon  ,  a  late  night  café  that  appealed  to  college  students  and  late  workers  in  need  of  a  coffee  and  pastry  pick  me  up  .  the  café  went  viral  ,  and  so  did  the  handsome  owner  .

            he  returned  home  when  he  was  twenty  ,  and  discovered  that  key  biscayne  was  filming  .  as  the  resident  who  suddenly  disappeared  ,  saint  was  sought  after  by  the  producers  and  was  introduced  mid - way  through  the  second  season  .  

THE  SHOW  .

saint  and  his  family  were  not  introduced  on  key  biscayne  until  midway  through  season  two  .  he  was  introduced  as  most  table  shakers  would  be  ,  with  a  flurry  of  local  headlines  ranging  from  KEY  BISCAYNE  TEEN  ARRESTED  FOR  DRAG  RACING  and  HOW  MONEY  GETS  YOU  OUT  OF  A  JAIL  SENTENCE  .  his  parents  didn’t  like  the  idea  of  being  on  a  reality  series  ,  so  they  weren’t  featured  although  there  were  a  few  scenes  with  them  .

he  was  the  reality  show  villain  and  you  can’t  tell  me  otherwise  !  showed  up  with  an  air  of  what  the  fUCk  ever  and  despite  the  air  around  him  since  he  was  arrested  and  shipped  back  to  south  korea  ,  he  never  let  that  stop  him  ?  like  ofc  he’s  a  rich  boy  who  got  away  with  something  bc  he’s  rich  ,  but  it’s  not  that  he  doesn’t  acknowledge  it  ,  he  just  chooses  not  to  talk  about  it  .

was  definitely  the  subject  of  show  cliffhangers  ,  probably  nearly  got  kicked  off  the  show  because  of  his  short  temperament  and  despite  all  that  would  still  be  invited  to  the  reunions  because  he  would  always  start  some  shit  .  he  was  very  vocal  about  who  he  didn’t  like  on  the  show  ,  and  probably  had  good  chemistry  with  a  cast  mate  and  fans  of  the  show  always  pushed  for  them  to  become  a  thing  (  a  wc  ...  mayhaps  👀 )  but  they  were  never  anything  more  than  friends  .

by  the  end  of  the  show  ,  saint  was  that  cast  member  that  fans  love  to  hate  .  he  was  employee  of  the  month  ,  and  that’s  on  period  !  gave  what  he  was  supposed  to  gave  and  was  highkey  problematic  (  not  in  a  bad  way  ,  but  in  a  way  where  he  was  always  the  one  in  the  middle  of  some  shit  )  and  when  people  would  question  him  about  it  ofc  he  didn’t  care  KFNDSJBFS  .

THE  PERSONALITY  .

a  little  shit  .  that’s  it  .  that’s  all  you  need  to  know  .  although  he’s  standoffish  ,  still  has  his  insecurities  because  he’s  not  the  ‘  perfect  ’  son  that  his  parents  pushed  for  him  to  be  .  very  much  so  the  black  sheep  of  the  family  ,  and  is  deemed  as  a  lost  cause  by  his  thespian  of  a  mother  ,  so  he  figures  that  he  might  as  well  live  up  to  that  name  .  comes  across  as  someone  who  genuinely  doesn’t  care  ,  and  he  doesn’t  KFDBJSFSD  .  sometimes  only  looks  out  for  himself  which  adds  more  sand  into  the  asshole  bin  ,  and  he  hates  being  asked  ‘  dumb  ’  questions  .  it’s  a  pet  peeve  that  his  mom  thinks  he  picked  up  from  his  father  .

THE  HEADCANONS  .

he  does  not  want  to  be  your  friend  KFNDSFUS  .  he  can  be  very  standoffish  just  to  get  that  point  across  ,  and  he  doesn’t  interact  with  people  outside  of  a  chosen  few  .  

can  be  wildly  off  putting  and  while  someone  else  may  be  afraid  of  confrontation  ,  he  isn’t  !  might  be  the  subject  of  bar  brawls  and  minor  scraps  because  he  genuinely  does  not  know  how  to  shut  the  hell  up  .

hates  walnuts  ;  idk  why  that’s  important  but  it  is  .  serve  him  something  with  walnuts  in  it  and  he’ll  never  talk  to  you  again  .

romantically  and  emotionally  stunted  ,  therefore  he  bides  his  time  with  casual  sex  and  noncommittal  acts  of  romance  .  can  be  found  slipping  out  of  beds  in  the  middle  of  the  night  ,  never  returns  texts  ,  and  at  times  will  pretend  that  he  doesn’t  know  who  the  other  person  is  (  ew  !  )  .

a  chaotic  boy  with  a  heart  of  gold  ,  he  just  doesn’t  show  it  and  has  mastered  the  art  of  being  fake  .  

despite  his  repulsion  of  romance  and  relationships  ,  he’ll  flirt  with  anyone  that  has  a  pair  of  legs  ,  and  he  quite  honestly  might  call  someone  daddy  just  for  the  hell  of  it  KNFDH  . 

probably  posts  those  outfit  thirst  traps  on  instagram  reels  or  tik  tok  bc  he’s  annoying  .

THE  CONNECTIONS  .

an  angsty  ex  boyf  👀 if  i  have  to  BEG  for  it  i  will  !  and  i  promise  to  make  you  cry  xD

a  best  friend  pls  !  someone  who  has  been  friends  with  him  since  before  he  was  shipped  back  to  korea  for  a  few  years  so  when  he  came  back  and  was  on  the  show  ,  they  were  THE  dynamic  duo  .

i’ve  been  really  into  his  plot  but  someone  he  works  out  with  ?  maybe  they  don’t  work  out  together  per  say  ,  but  they’re  somehow  always  at  the  community  gym  at  the  same  time  .

something  soft  ?  something  so  sweet  that  it  would  make  my  teeth  rot  ?  could  either  be  a  boyfriend  or  girlfriend  thing  or  tbh  i  don’t  know  but  i’m  literally  looking  for  something  that’s  all  fluff  and  all  marshmallows  and  if  i  don’t  get  it  then  i’ll  cry  .

a  plot  where  they  full  on  hate  each  other  .  none  of  that  cute  shit  KNFDNFHSD  .  no  lingering  feelings  ,  no  moments  of  hate lapse  --  they  hate  each  other  and  it’s  a  spicy  hate  ship  that  literally  gets  your  blood  pumping  .  

SKINNY  LOVE  ARE  YOU  THERE  ?

his  hoodrat  friends  NFDJNHFBD  i’m  kidding  but  i’m  thinking  like ...  a  billionaire  boys  club  type  of  thing  ?  perhaps  the  five  of  them  get  together  and  ppl  try  to  penetrate  the  group  or  they  have  these  instances   where  ppl  straight  up  hate  them  for  no  reason  ?  they  were  probably  the  TALK  of  the  show  bc  thought  they  were  assholes  KNFDJBFBD  idk  either  way  ,  my  hand  is  out  .  (  1  of  4  spots  filled  )

a  one  night  stand  with  some  substance  ?  like  yeah  ,  they  fuck  around  and  they  have  their  fun  together  but  they  don’t  pretend  to  not  know  each  other  in  public  (  unless  this  person  is  a  thoroughbred  and  i  oop  ,  chile  )  so  they  probs  tend  to  be  a  little  like  confidants  at  times  but  also  have  a  tendency  of  shutting  each  other  up  with  sex  .

Hello! I wanted to ask if you have any tips on how best to take notes when it comes to films? I usually get assigned literature to read but now I'm taking a class on TV series analyses and I'm not sure how to go about taking notes most efficiently whilst watching (and afterwards). I would be most grateful for any help! Hope you have a great day and thank you!!:)

Hello! Thank you so much for this ask, I’ll try to answer it as clearly as possible but if there is anything in here you can’t understand please feel free to point it out and/or ask about it. English is not my native language and sometimes I struggle to make myself understood.

I’d strongly recommend for you to watch your study object more than once if you can! It really helps because the first time you watch something you are usually too busy trying to understand the story. The second time, you get a chance to understand the movie/episode better by noticing the visuals, sounds & everything that composes it. 

Whilst watching, I’d recommend for you to annotate everything that jumps out. It may be a scene you liked, a dialogue that made you feel something, a music you felt familiar with, a shot or a camera movement you thought was cool, etc. so you can get back to them later. There’s no need to understand the whole thing at first. Focus in understanding the plot and the general idea, and annotate your doubts (e.g. I don’t quite understand why this happened, or this feels odd or feels like it was made for a special purpose…).

Afterwards, if you have the chance to watch the movie/episode again, I’d recommend to go back on these parts you took interest in and pay attention at the scene by breaking it down:

First, sound. What is being said? If nothing, why not? Is there music? The music is diegetic (1) or non-diegetic (2)? How this makes me feel and how this makes the character feel (the sound builds tension, laughter…)? How it adds to the character journey?

Second, visuals. How is the camera acting? Is it still or moving? What is it focusing in? Is the shot really close to the character or really far? How does it make me feel (empathetic, disgusted, happy…)? How does it make me feel towards the character (familiar, distant…)? What are the colors here? What is the character wearing, how the space he is in feel like (joyful, sad…)?

Third, editing. Is the scene too fast or too slow? Is there a lot of different shots in this scene or not? The shots are too long? How does it make me feel? Maybe dizzy? Maybe sad? Maybe anxious?

You can notice that everything sums up about feeling. Movies/tv shows are always trying to convey an emotion to the audience and get a message across. Once you put it all together, you can understand it better and more fully. And it is also good to remember there’s no right answers to this, because it’s how you feel about the artwork and how you understand it. That’s what a film analysis is about. There are tools to make this job easier, of course, like decoupage and some conventional signs (e.g. close shots mean intimacy and open shots mean alienation), but you can figure this out while you watch more and more movies. And also, films – and art in general – like to subvert those signs very often, so the best response is: just use your perception and feelings, and try to understand your study object past the narrative!

If you don’t have the chance to watch your study object again, just have all this in mind while you are watching/taking notes. Notice as much as you can, don’t forget about the sounds other than the dialogue, don’t forget to notice how the camera behaves and don’t forget to notice how everything affects the character(s), the narrative and you.

Of course, this is one way to approach movies/tv shows, you can just keep trying methods until you find the best way that works out for you! I really hope this was helpful and that I made myself understood haha If not, please don’t hesitate to ask me again and I’ll try to answer in some other way. I wish you the best of luck!

Oh, and if you have any other questions that I didn’t cover in here, feel free to ask!

(1) Diegetic music/sound is music/sound in a drama that is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters.

(2) Non-diegetic music/sound is music/sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action.

To start off 2019 with some positivity, I'm going to make a list of things that I absolutely love and make me happy in my favourite shows, movies, books, games etc. Small things, big things, no particular rhyme or reason. It was surprisingly therapeutic. Feel free to reblog and add your own!

Link being left-handed now let him use sign language Nintendo please

The entire Sector 6 Market section in Final Fantasy VII and the Honeybee Inn in particular

Zuko's character arc

The Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack

Final Fantasy X's worldbuilding

Everything about Disney's Mary Poppins it put me in a good mood for three days straight

How Percy absolutely adores his mum and is supportive of her relationship with Paul (after a while)

Edward Elric

(Yes. Just Edward Elric as a character, person, concept, actions...)

Major character design kink: boys with long (ish) blonde hair (see Edward, Link, Zidane, Howl)

Final Fantasy IX's soundtrack

Aerith and Tifa being close friends despite both being in love with Cloud

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence's worldbuilding

The fact that one of the characters in Zootopia speaks with my city's accent in the Italian dub (you never see it in any movie)

Final Fantasy IV's world being just vague enough that it tickles my creative bone to expand on it

Kingdom Hearts I using original storylines for the Disney Worlds

How Yato's eyes are very a very clear indication that he's a supernatural being in Noragami, being unnaturally light and bright

That one panel in the Kingdom Hearts II manga where an almost-naked Pete carries Maleficent bridal style out of the collapsing tower

Sleeping Beauty's art style and instrumental soundtrack

The fact that two super popular shonen manga/anime have leads who are super smart instead of being dumb muscle or the stock happy-go-lucky-not-very-bright protagonist (Fullmetal Alchemist and My Hero Academia)

How some of the Olympians like Hermes and Poseidon are so casual when interacting with mortals

The scene where the Spaceport is revealed in Treasure Planet and the look of the film in general

The first few chapters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga before card games took over the plot

People in the Gentleman Bastard Sequence being emotionally honest despite being literal con artists

The theatre motif in The Republic of Thieves

Cloud, Aerith and Tifa threatening Don Corneo, but especially Aerith saying that "she'll rip it off" if he doesn't cooperate

Locke and Jean becoming pirates in Red Seas Under Red Skies

The Hunger Games movies being the most accurate film adaptations I have seen in my life

The Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, especially the vocal tracks, Dearly Beloved and The Other Promise

Final Fantasy VI shoving you in what usually is the backstory of a videogame and literally destroying the world

Edward defending Mustang when he had his sight taken from him despite them having spent 90% of their screentime together bickering

Tony Stark and Peter Parker's relationship in the MCU

Sophie throwing a tantrum after she realises she's in love with Howl and creating deadly weedkiller to express those feelings

Darcy being a goddamn social Disaster in every incarnation of Pride and Prejudice

The relationship between Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye

The Once Upon a December sequence from Anastasia

The mere existence of Zamira Drakasha and Ezri Delmastro and everything they represent

Sokka's role as both the strategist and the goofball in the Gaang

Peter Parker sharing a hot dog with Loki when he could have asked for anything because Loki owed him a favour

How the plot of Kingdom Hearts is so ridiculous we don't even question it anymore

Enormous muscly men I can still categorise as "super adorable and sweet" (Major Armstrong, All Might)

Howl being the biggest drama queen in the book

My Hero Academia's fantasy AU ending

Spider-Man (PS4) nailing the Friendly Neighbourhood Spidey aspect of the character and letting him interact with civilians

That moment when I was sure Bakugou was going to join the League of Villains but then he didn't and I've never been happier about being wrong my entire life

Zuko practising before asking the Gaang to join them

SNAP SNAP SPARK SPARK

Harry's wonder at every new thing in the Wizarding World

The fact that Spider-Man's backstory could just as easily be that of a villain but instead he's a hero and he has the biggest heart

Jake and Amy being in an Adult and Communicative relationship while still being themselves and each other's best friend

Winry being just as much of a prodigy as Ed and Al and building Ed's automail at 11 years old

Percy Jackson starting out as a standard straight white kids' series and Riordan adding ALL THE DIVERSITY as soon as it got popular enough that Disney couldn't say no

Charlie Weasley just outright trespassing into Hogwarts to smuggle an illegal dragon out

The soul and essence of Pride and Prejudice being passive-aggressiveness and sarcasm

Apollo's haikus in Trials of Apollo

Every scene using Deep Canvas in Tarzan

Winry and Edward's diametrically opposed reactions to the realisation they're in love ("Oh I guess I've fallen for him alright moving on" vs "Fuckfuckfuckfuck oh shit no why oh god aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh")

Lilo & Stitch's watercolour backgrounds

The fact that Roy Mustang's womanising persona is a facade to hide the fact that he's a) a huge nerd, b) going to overthrow the government and c) in love with his lieutenant

The "makings of greatness" speech in Treasure Planet

Spider-Man (PS4)'s swelling score as you start web swinging

The Battle of 1000 Heartless in Kingdom Hearts II

Sophie proudly describing Howl to Abdullah, him assuming she was listing flaws and her getting angry about it

Edward and Alphonse being atheists despite having literally met their version of God

The fact that Amajiki is one of the top three hero students despite his crippling anxiety

Rubicante recognising Edge as a warrior and apologising for Lugae's horribleness

Edge unlocking new powers out of sheer rage

Sora throwing a tea party at the end of Dream Drop Distance while his best friend was still asleep

The backstory in Skyward Sword about Hylia and the first Link

The "immoral manga" omake in Fullmetal Alchemist

The School Festival arc in My Hero Academia, Eri finally smiling and Deku and Mirio being the best big brothers I've ever seen

Kingdom Hearts III finally coming out this month

McGonagall's cat form resembling her human form

Edward finally breaking down at the end of Fullmetal Alchemist god I love this boy so much he has such a big heart

The Enlarged Suit Scene from Howl's Moving Castle

Most of Howl’s Moving Castle is a delight to be honest

Kairi's reaction at the news that she would be training with Axel in A Fragmentary Passage

The bonfire scene in Cosmo Canyon from Final Fantasy VII

Uraraka deciding not to focus on her crush on Deku in order to grow as a hero

Rydia summoning Titan and raising a mountain at the ripe age of seven in Final Fantasy IV

The friendship between Percy, Annabeth and Grover

Kairi and Lea looking like they're going to be a team in Kingdom Hearts III

Greed (at least the second one) claiming that his goal in life is to have everything when in fact he only ever really wanted friends

The Main Theme of Final Fantasy playing during the scene where the characters not in the final battle pray for the party in Final Fantasy IV

The Overture from Phantom of the Opera

Locke Lamora from the Gentleman Bastard Sequence being named after Locke Cole from Final Fantasy VI

Luna Lovegood never having to change who she is and remaining weird and happy

Terra Branford becoming more human by feeling not romantic love but maternal love for a bunch of orphaned children

The "You're not alone" scene from Final Fantasy IX

Darcy respecting Elizabeth's refusal of his first proposal and working to become a better person after she points out his many flaws

Neku learning to open up to people in The World Ends With You and literally saving Shibuya through character development

Bakugou's slow development into a better person

The sketchy animation during Disney's Dark Age

The official character artwork for Skyward Sword

Harry and Sirius's relationship

Spider-Man being a street-level hero and being super humble even though he can literally lift Thor's hammer

That little high-five between Sora and Remy in the 30 seconds trailer for Kingdom Hearts III

Rosa and Rydia immediately ignoring the boys' order to not come to the Moon and stowing away on the Lunar Whale

Plus Edge's adorable "Y-you're here too!?" in the DS remake

Cloud not being allergic to smiling and joking around in the original Final Fantasy VII ("Let's mosey!")

Thor and Loki starting to mend their relationship in Ragnarok

Into The Spider Verse has a scene where Miles uses Spider-Man comic books to figure out how to use his powers and it's the best and I love it

You know what, Into The Spider Verse as a whole because I saw it a while back and I'm still gushing

I Don’t Dance To Dubstep Part 4 (A Deadpool Fic)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

A/N: I don’t even know what the hell inspired this chapter tbh! I just love the banter between all the characters and the reader. Also, Dopinder is a killer cinnamon roll. I will say this: the next chapter contains TIMETRAVEL SHENANIGANS!!

Remember: Reader’s alter ego (nickname) is DJ

Words: 2621

Warnings: Mature Language, Mention of Sexual Kinks,Stan Lee what are you doing here?

(gif isn’t mine)

The taxi was parked in the lot of a clothing and specialists store tastefully named 'Dom N' A's Tricks.'

You had never rolled your eyes so far back into your head you thought they'd roll like bowling balls until you read that tacky sign.

When everyone was arguing amongst themselves as to who should do the shopping, Wade had suggested a sing-off and the loser would have to buy the supplies. As soon as Cable heard 'sing-off' he practically threw himself out of the car and hurled himself into the store.

Wade and Dopinder were singing along to Sonny and Cher's: I Got You Babe playing on CD in an overly enthusiastic performance to pass the time.

You and Domino sat in the back seat of the taxi with your mouths agape and a bug-eyed expression painted on both your faces.

"They say we're young and we don't know, we won't find out until we grow," Wade sang Cher's part in a high pitch, of course.

"Well I don't know if all that's true, 'Cause you got me, and baby I got you," Dopinder was smiling euphorically as he sang along in a pleasant voice.

Dopinder and Wade turned their heads towards each other at the same time like it had been choreographed.

"I got you babe," they sang together, Deadpool theatrically gracing Dopinder’s cheek as though they were filming some romance musical.

Dopinder, feeling not at all uncomfortable with Wade's lack of acknowledging other people’s personal space, played along and swayed his head from side to side.

"I got you babe," they continued singing along.

"Kill me now," Domino said in an exasperated huff.

You were speechless as you watched the act Dopinder and Wade were putting on.

"It's like I'm watching a re-run of all the nightmares I didn't know I had repressed play through in high definition..." You said to no one in particular.

Feeling in no particular mood to listen to the duet between the two weirdos in the front, you used your ability to generate a white noise hum to drown out all other noises. What you were doing was basically generating an ability induced set of earplugs.

Unbeknownst to you as the calming thrum of the white noise lulled you to the brink of sleep, a panicked Cable came sprinting to the car while red lights blared from inside the store and a skinny tatted woman shot off her shotgun in the direction of the car.

There was a busted window behind the woman that had the jagged but noticeable outline of a large man. It looked like a cartoon outline. Deadpool flailed about in his seat as a splatter of his blood missed Domino's face by an impossible inch, no doubt a shotgun pellet had managed to hit him.

You opened your eyes when you noticed Dopinder panic and put the car in reverse, bumping into a light post jerking you from your seat.

You stopped producing the white noise and suddenly you were bombarded with too much information for a sane person to process all at once.

"Drive!" Cable shouted as he threw the box of clearly shoplifted goods in between you and Domino.

Dopinder put the car in drive and his tyres screeched as he burned rubber behind him. The lady with the shotgun let off another shot and shattered the rear window. All three of you in the back ducked on instinct.

"What the fuck did you do, Cable?" Wade chastised in the same high pitch he used to sing Cher's lines.

"I don't carry cash on me and I figured we were in a hurry!" Cable bit back.

"Who doesn't bring money with them when they go shopping?" Wade asked idiotically.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a half-human cyborg from the FUTURE?" Domino shouted over the two of them.

"Then why did he volunteer to buy all the sexy roleplay stuff?" Wade asked.

"Maybe because you threatened to make him sing a duet with you when he was clearly uncomfortable, Mr Pool," Dopinder enlightened him.

"Can everyone stop referring to me in the third person, please? I'm right here!" Cable exclaimed.

"Well if you're from the future an argument could be made for the fact that you are actually existing in two places simultaneously..." You chipped in.

Cable grumbled at you and Deadpool looked in the distance and said, "And that is called a continuity plot-hole ladies and gentlemen!"

"A WHAT HOLE?" You, Cable and Domino asked in unison, completely confused by Wade's comical shtick.

Wade noticed a street sign up ahead that read Parker Ave and pointed to it hastily, "Quick, Dopinder, take the next left and go down the street Uncle Ben will undoubtedly not be killed in during the current MCU reboot!"

Dopinder followed Wade's instructions and drove down Parker Ave and used the back roads to drive to your destination while avoiding the freeway and the mass of cops that were probably out searching for the five assailants that robbed Dom N' A's Tricks store.

***

"I look utterly ridiculous!" You pouted as you looked at your distorted reflection through a store window.

True to the singer persona Wade had given you earlier at the Chinese Restaurant, you wore a platinum blonde wig, a leather corset and fishnets, coupled with six-inch heels that could kill someone just by tripping over a cobblestone walkway.

"Here's the finishing touch," Wade held out a pair of fake teeth with a gap in the middle.

You looked at Cable in astonishment, "Did you buy a set of faux teeth?"

"I take no credit. That was all him," Cable said as he stared at you with intense eyes.

"I'm not putting on a set of fake teeth, Wade!" You warned as you focused the sound waves generated by the whooshing cars driving passed to shatter the plastic teeth into a million pieces.

"You have no respect for the art of role-playing," Wade said.

"I think you mean Cosplay?" Domino corrected him.

"I meant what I said!" Wade shouted as he reached into the backseat to grab another outfit from the box of stolen goods. "Alright sweet cheeks, your turn," He handed the clothes to Domino.

Domino gave the outfit one glance then looked at her own attired and gave Wade a condescending look, "Uh, no thanks. I'm already in costume."

Wade was about to protest against Domino's refusal to change into a new costume when you interjected, "Look I can do the whole infiltrating and catching the target off guard routine on my own. Domino you're on crowd suppression duty, Cable just cover my six from a vantage point, Dopinder keep the meter running and Wade…"

"Yeah?" He questioned cautiously.

"Put on the wig and heels. You're my dance partner, sweet cheeks!" You retorted with a sinister smile.

Domino and Cable laughed, enjoying your little power trip and the fact Wade had to wear a wig and a pair of heels... again!

Feeling a bit flustered, Wade dropped the box on the taxi's boot and placed both his hands on his hips, "Well, jokes on you! I've actually been looking for an excuse to wear heels again. They make my calf muscles pop!"

"Sure thing Queer Eye. Go get changed." You shooed him into the cab.

***

When Wade was fully in costume -above his regular costume, naturally- he quickly made his way up a three-story window that was the entrance into the Burlesque clubs dressing room with ease. You'd die before admitting this, but Wade's agility was something you envied.

You looked up at the window and then down at your heels wondering how on this God's green Earth would you manage to get up there without busting an ankle. Maybe if you focused the sound waves from a considerable sound generating source you could levitate on a cushion of sound waves, but there was nothing loud enough to draw from in your vicinity.

Domino noticed the crease of your brow and smacked Cable's chest before nodding her head in your direction to let him know his assistance was needed.

Cable stood up from the hood of the car, the temporary indent straightening out when his weight was removed. He walked over to you and looked between you and the window, before making a brace with his fingers and getting low on one knee.

"Need a boost?"

You looked down at him, took off your heels and placed your foot on the brace he made, "Since you're offering."

"Hey, don't get any ideas. He's mine!" Wade shouted from the window as he sat on the sill and stretched his arm out for you to grab.

Cable hoisted you up, his metal arm grabbing your ass for the briefest moment. You tried to act like the contact of hard metal on your ass wasn't invigorating and pleasantly different. Fuck! Now you had a new kink to add to your ever expanding list: Metal Arm Ass Groping. Quite the mouthful, you'd have to think up some catchy abbreviation for it later.

With his mechanised strength, he flung you high up into the air and you managed to grab Wade’s hand and he pulled you into the club. Domino and Cable made scarce and disappeared to get with the plan.

You put your heels back on.

"Naughty, naughty," Wade tut-tutted as he noticed your flushed cheeks and devious grin.

"Please, like you haven't thought about it!" You retorted as you marched out of the dressing room and down to the private parlour’s dancer entrance, more than ready to kidnap this Madam Mayflower and pay your rent to your sleazy landlord.

Behind you, Wade gasped in exaggeration as he followed suit walking like a model with poise and grace.

***

The upbeat tempo of the music you were dancing to filled the private lounge where Madam Mayflower sat with a glass of champagne in one hand and a cigar in another. She was guarded by four bodyguards who seemed to be having a hard time appearing stoic and immovable since they were constantly stealing glances of your seductive dance number.

Mayflower eyed you with desire clearly advertised on her face as she licked her lips and eyed you up and down.

"I count two guards on the second floor," Domino's voice rippled out to you through Wade's earpiece as he sat waiting patiently for you to give the signal to make the move on Mayflower.

"I count six others circling the perimeter." Cable's voice rippled out too.

"Something tells me there isn't a stealthy way to handle this," Wade whispered.

"Tell me I didn't dress up like a dominatrix for nothing, Wade!" You said in annoyance, your hands rubbing at your sore temples as you blinked rapidly. You dance routine thrown out the proverbial window.

Madam Mayflower looked at you in confusion, "I'm sorry is this part of the act? I don't remember role play being a part of the package… not that I'm complaining." She said with a heavy lilt as she proceeded to suckle on her lower lip suggestively.

You didn't have time to deal with her horny attitude right now so you raised a finger at her and said plainly, "Just hold on a minute," You curved your back a little and leaned back so that you could peak through the curtain Wade was hiding behind, "Wade just come out here and do your thing, toss me the earpiece."

"What the hell is going on here?" Mayflower demanded from you. Her bodyguards circling in around her, creating a human barrier.

Wade emerged from behind the curtain full of energy and pizzazz, a leather whip in one hand and a pair of handcuffs in the other.

"You do know Burlesque and BDSM aren't the same thing right?" you asked him.

"Don't ruin this for me," Wade shushed you as he tossed the earpiece your way. He cracked the whip against the open space and made a neighing sound, "Come on boys!" He teased the bodyguards.

"Just keep it quiet, Wade," You reminded him.

Mayflower made a motion to jump out of her chair but you thrust her back into it using a controlled burst of waves.

The sound of Wade fighting off the bodyguards with his whip was thankfully drowned out by the loud music that played in the room.

"Cable, when I say when, I need you and Domino to generate a loud noise right above the window I'm waving to you from." You said through the earpiece.

Cable searched for your waving figure through the scope of his gun. When he spotted you, he saw Deadpool engaging in a fight with four other guards still wearing his heels and wielding a bullwhip.

"What the?" Cable whispered through the earpiece.

"Remember, when I give the signal, generate big boom!" You said in a baby voice as you thrust Mayflower back into her seat for the umpteenth time again.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Domino asked.

"Get lucky I guess," you joked.

When you turned to see if all the guards were knocked unconscious you looked over at Deadpool who was wiping non-existent sweat from his masked face. During all the excitement you noticed someone had snatched his wig off.

"Hey, Indiana Jones, throw Mayflower through the window," you told him as you opened the large window.

"Wh-What?" Mayflower shouted in shock, her eyes wide with fear.

"What? No, I'm not gonna throw my paycheck out the wind-"

You cleared your throat and clicked your heels, "You mean our paycheck?"

"That's what I said!" Deadpool said all too defensively.

"Just do it, Catwoman!"

"Okay geez, enough with the outdated references already," he groaned as he flung a very scared Mayflower out the window.

"The woman currently hurtling to her death, is that the signal?" Cable asked an instant later.

"Yes!" You shouted as you jumped after Mayflower too.

“WHAT THE FUCK DJ?” Deadpool shouted after you as you began to free fall with Mayflower down several stories.

“Oh, not good,” you heard Domino scurry about anxiously over the earpiece.

Mayflower was screaming like one of the Bond girls.

Please, don't let me die swan diving after a Madame, you secretly prayed to whatever cosmic entity watched over your universe.

Suddenly, a large explosion of fireworks went off in a dumpster near the taxi and the sound of the exploding gunpowder and the vigorous force the projectiles produced when they hit the metal lids generated strong enough sound waves for you to generate a cushion of waves to catch you and Mayflower before you turned to street pizza.

Your prayers have been answered my child, A smiling Stan Lee whispered in your inner ear. Where the fuck did that come from, you wondered.

You landed gracefully on both feet while Mayflower landed in a puddle on her face next to you.

"Okay, we can go now!" You shouted up to Wade who decided the quickest way down was the same way you made your exit. He was lucky the fireworks were still producing enough sound that you were able to catch him and lower him mid-air onto the ground.

Domino appeared out of nowhere as a small explosion went off behind her and Cable grappled down the side of the building he had set up his sniper position by using his metal arm to dig into the brick and slow his momentum.

All four of you (plus a muddied Mayflower locked in the trunk) got into the cab and headed for Al's apartment before any of the bodyguards could fully realise what had just transpired.

MASTERPOST | For Tumblr App

As Always: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don’t be afraid to be added to the tag list and... Metal Arms right?!

Tags: @demonhunter1616  @msstarsword @originalwinchestervamp 

Permanent Tags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet

As I said, I wanted my review to be full and for your eyes only. But... Okey. Never mind. Since The Devil skates on thin ice is officially over, I think I’m ready to write my little review. Not so little tbh. 🤣 (1)

First of all, I wanna say that your style of writing is really stands out of all fic writers because of alikeness with literature. I mean it’s really classy and reminds me of all books that I’ve read not only in English but in my mother language. Full of this beautiful descriptions, metaphors and other stylistic things. (2)

Every time I read stories written by you I found something new to me.Like new words or phrases.And at the same time I can find so many common grounds.I can’t stop wondering,my mother language and English are so alike.It’s like I finally can believe that all languages were one language back then.“Anyway,prepare yourself;this is going to get long, and it’s strewn with angst.”-I think this phrase could be used as description for the whole story. U almost made me cry by the end. (3)

The plot isn’t so unique. I mean, lots of authors write stories from lovers to enemies and back. But I love your choice of AU. Everybody usually choose basketball for Yoongi. And I enjoyed that u somehow choose my cup of tea. I’m in love with ice. I’m not rly into winter but ice is definitely my thing. (4)

[I cut out a few parts here just because this was going to be too long! But the story about you and your friend was really sweet; I’m glad you had someone like them by your side during that time!]

Min Yoongi. To be honest if I saw this guy in flesh, I mean your Yoongi, I would definitely fall for him completely. He has almost everything that I like in man. Confident, strong, with right thoughts, loyal, able to wait till right moment, passionate, man of an action first of all. I see real life Yoongi this kind of man as well but... He isn’t suitable for an ice hockey. Too thin and short. It isn’t stop me from likening him anyway. (8)

Lead fem. It’s definitely me. Like almost 100%. I use phrase “keyword ....” like a lot. It’s one of my favorite. And another thing that makes us so alike - our love for ice and figure skating. I was and I’m still madly in love with this sport. And we both came through trauma. But I can’t fully recover from it emotionally. I’m still afraid of doing some tricks. Specially Lutz and Axel. (9)

She is stronger than me. And I can say that jumps are one of the hardest things in figure skating besides spins. You need to put a lot of effort to make it beautiful and right. Like u have to be fast and jump really high to make it correctly. Other characters. They support and show us other sides of main characters like the extras should do. Specially I love that u put members of other kpop bands into your story. Like Yugyeom and others. (10)

My favorite scenes. First one on skating rink. It was at the very beginning of the story. When they were arguing. God it was cool. But I’m too Dory to remember all the things that I like in this one. Another one is scene at Yoongis room when he was thinking about the night when ice starts to melt a little. And I’ll add a scene on the roof to this one as well. (11)

Third one is a memory of the past with hair scrunchie. Whole scene made me so soft. G O D. It’s too romantic for my lonely ass. And ultimate fav the scene before an accident. It’s so adorable and once again reminds me of me and my friend a little cause we were found of skating catch game. Like who is fast enough to run away from another and last longer. (12)

One of the things that really bothered me was Olympic team. To be exact if I’m not mistaken usually Olympic team includes only best members of every single team. I mean every single athlete who suits the team by the level of experience and abilities. The whole team which won some championship or something can’t become an Olympic team. But maybe this rule works only in my country. 🤷🏼‍♀️ (13)

Another thing is little lack of experience or knowledge about both kinds of sports. I’m really into ice hockey and figure skating and some things weren’t exactly right. Specially about hockey. The game is really fast and if u ever had seen it’s live you understand that even a defenseman is able to score. Btw the game could be dirty like members of both teams are always fighting and got ejected. But most people doesn’t even know simple terminology of the game. So I just deal with it. (14)

I’m not trying to criticize you at all and I mean no disrespect to you when Im saying this but... Some things are a little far from reality but it’s a fiction so it’s okey. One more thing is you need to shovel the snow to skate on the lake. And it was never mentioned. (16)

I know it from my experience because I had to shovel the snow away to skate on the river. And it was really hard. But it was also unforgettable to skate on rivers ice surrounded by trees covered in pure white snow. It was like I was in The Snow Queens winter land from Hans Christian Andersen tale. (17)

Anyway you did your job so well. I really enjoyed this story. You are such a good teller and I love it so much. Also you made me wanted to go to the skating rink. It’s a good sign cause my acting teacher said that the art should make such impact on human beings to do something. I haven’t been on a skating rink like for year and a half. But I will go there this Sunday for sure. (18)

I can definitely say that I’m so thankful to this plagiarism thing cause it lead me to such a good authors and people. You all inspire me to write. Like I already was a ficwriter, but since I found all of you I wanted to try to write something in English as well. And I did but I’m scared to death to show it. I’m pretty sure in my abilities in my language but English is a whole different story. (19)

I’m waiting for the “We were made out of stars” series, cause it’s reminds me of Hancock movie with Will Smith. I rly love this film and your short story was so alike with its plot but without any superpowers and stuff. Another thing that it’s reminds me of is a novel by Hilary Duff-Elixir. It also was about remembering past lives and all this things. So I’m looking forward to this to come out. Thank you for breaking my heart.Now I need to buy a plaster for it.Hope your week started well. ❤️ 20

P.S. And JT. He was the love of my life as well as Usher and Chris Brown when I was in my early teens. After that I fell head over heels for Alex Turner. But not for so long. I found Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd in 2011 when I was something about 16 and things changed. P.P.S I’m pretty sure that I made a lot of mistakes in my review, so I’m sorry for that. Have a nice day. 🌸💜🌸 (21) End

Woah, what a long and in-depth review!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write and send all of these—I was sure I had done something bad when I checked Tumblr for the first time today to discover 20+ messages in my inbox sdfghs. But I’m so happy to see that you enjoyed and related to the characters—that’s all I can really ask for!! 🌸💝💐

As for your criticisms, that’s fair. I’ve actually never seen snow in my entire life and I’ve only been ice-skating once or twice on an artificial rink, so my personal experience is highly lacking. I tried to do as much research as I could without spending hours pouring over information and watching videos that were only going to be attributed into less than a paragraph, though that clearly wasn’t enough. But, as you said, this is just fan fiction and it’s only something that I’m doing for fun and to build my writing skills, so certain details and facts are going to be glossed over—whether it be intentionally or unintentionally!!

Thank you again for taking the time to send this and for reading. I’m delighted to hear that you loved the story, despite its few slip-ups in providing factual information!! (And I’m glad that you’re looking forward to WWMOOS hehe) 😌💗✨

Strict Forms

This is a thread from last month that I've been thinking about ever since, but never got around to posting here. It starts with a series of tweets from Guillermo del Toro:

Tweets on why I am interviewing Michael Mann and George Miller (2 weeks each) about their films this Sabbatical year.

I sometimes feel that great films are made / shown at a pace that does not allow them to "land" in their proper weight or formal / artisitic importance...

As a result, often, these films get discussed in "all aspects" at once. But mostly, plot and character- anecdote and flow, become the point of discussion. Formal appreciation and technique become secondary and the specifics of narrative technique only passingly address[ed]

I would love to commemorate their technical choices and their audiovisual tools. I would love to dissect the narrative importance and impact of color, light, movement, wardrobe and set design. As Mann once put it: "Everything tells you something"

I think we owe it to these (and a handful of filmmakers) to have their formal choices commemorated, the way one can appreciatethe voigour and thickness and precision of a brushtroke when you stand in front of an original painting.

Aaron Stewart-Ahn responds, in particular to the final paragraph above:

Our media literacy about movies tends to prioritize text over subtext, emotion, and sound vision & time, and it has sadly sunk into audiences' minds. I'd say some movies are even worth a handful of shots / sounds they build up to.

To which I added:

Our education system prioritizes text. Deviation from text is discouraged.

“To use the language well, says the voice of literacy, cherish its classic form. Do not choose the offbeat at the cost of clarity.”

“Clarity is a means of subjection, a quality both of official, taught language and of correct writing, two old mates of power; together they flow, together they flower, vertically, to impose an order.”

That comes from “Commitment from the Mirror-Writing Box,” by Trinh T. Minh-Ha in Woman, Native, Other (via):

Nothing could be more normative, more logical, and more authoritarian than, for example, the (politically) revolutionary poetry or prose that speaks of revolution in the form of commands or in the well-behaved, steeped-in-convention-language of “clarity.” (”A wholesome, clear, and direct language” is said to be “the fulcrum to move the mass or to sanctify it.”) Clear expression, often equated with correct expression, has long been the criterion set forth in treatises on rhetoric, whose aim was to order discourse so as to persuade. The language of Taoism and Zen, for example, which is perfectly accessible but rife with paradox does not qualify as “clear” (paradox is “illogical” and “nonsensical” to many Westerners), for its intent lies outside the realm of persuasion. The same holds true for vernacular speech, which is not acquired through institutions — schools, churches, professions, etc. — and therefore not repressed by either grammatical rules, technical terms, or key words. Clarity as a purely rhetorical attribute serves the purpose of a classical feature in language, namely, its instrumentality. To write is to communicate, express, witness, impose, instruct, redeem, or save — at any rate to mean and to send out an unambiguous message. Writing thus reduced to a mere vehicle of thought may be used to orient toward a goal or to sustain an act, but it does not constitute an act in itself. This is how the division between the writer/the intellectual and the activists/the masses becomes possible. To use the language well, says the voice of literacy, cherish its classic form. Do not choose the offbeat at the cost of clarity. Obscurity is an imposition on the reader. True, but beware when you cross railroad tracks for one train may hide another train. Clarity is a means of subjection, a quality both of official, taught language and of correct writing, two old mates of power; together they flow, together they flower, vertically, to impose an order. Let us not forget that writers who advocate the instrumentality of language are often those who cannot or choose not to see the suchness of things — a language as language — and therefore, continue to preach conformity to the norms of well-behaved writing: principles of composition, style, genre, correction, and improvement. To write “clearly,” one must incessantly prune, eliminate, forbid, purge, purify; in other words, practice what may be called an “ablution of language” (Roland Barthes).

See also Keguro Macharia on strict academic forms (and various other posts on linearity and academia):

Proposals for radical ideas in strict academic forms. Radical thinking requires radical forms. It’s an elementary lesson. Perhaps more academically inclined people should co-edit with poets. Figure out why form matters. I am most blocked when I resist the forms ideas need to emerge.

Update [7 January 2018]: To go with the above, I think it makes sense to add this passage from Ryan Brown’s “Fred Moten: A look at Duke's preeminent poet”:

As for how he thinks of his own writing, Moten explained to the literary journal Callaloo that he doesn’t see poems as neatly wrapped ideas or images. Instead, he believes that “poetry is what happens… on the outskirts of sense.” What do you think?

This unorthodox approach to writing extends beyond Moten’s own projects, spilling over into his teaching philosophy. In a Fred Moten English class, a standard essay on a piece of literature might be replaced by a sound collage or a piece of creative writing reacting to the reading. It’s an attempt, he said, to get his students to write like they actually want to write—not the way they think they need to for a class. What do you think?

“School makes it so that you write to show evidence of having done some work, so that you can be properly evaluated and tracked,” he said. “To me that degrades writing, so I’m trying to figure out how to detach the importance of writing from these structures of evaluation.” What do you think?

Second year English Ph.D student Damien Adia-Marassa said this means that Moten’s classes are never the same. Last Spring, Marassa worked as a “teaching apprentice” in one of Moten’s undergraduate courses, “Experimental Black Poetry,” for which he said there was never a fixed syllabus. What do you think?

“He just told us the texts he wanted to study and invited us all to participate in thinking about how we might study them,” Marassa said. What do you think?

But is Professor Moten ever worried that students will take advantage of his flexibility with structure and content? What do you think?

Actually, he said, he doesn’t care if students take his courses because they think they will be easy. What do you think?

“I think it’s good to find things in your life that are easy for you,” he said. “If someone signs up for my class because they think it will come naturally to them and it won’t be something they have to agonize over, those are all good things in my book.” What do you think?

In the Spring, Moten will switch gears as a professor, teaching his first creative writing course since arriving at Duke—Introduction to Writing Poetry. But whatever the course title may imply, he won’t be trying to teach his students how to write, he said. Instead, he hops they’ll come away from his class better at noticing the world around them. What do you think?

And he hopes to teach them to that, in order to write, you first have to fiercely love to read. That’s a skill he learned a long time ago, out in the flat Nevada desert, when he first picked up a book of poems and started to read, not knowing where it would take him.

Update [23 February 2018]: Here come several more passages that fit with this theme of breaking forms.

First, Fanta Sylla on “Metrograph Celebrates the Inventive Truth-Telling of St. Clair Bourne”:

Let the Church is so free of form and spirit that, presented without context, it could easily be seen as a fictional piece. It is not clear how much the scenes are staged, or, indeed, whether they are staged at all. Right from the first interaction, in which what seems to be a religious teacher laboriously explains the purpose of a sermon, there is a distance with the people filmed (broken on occasion by extreme zooming and direct address), as well as a writtenness and theatricality in the dialogue that can be delightfully confusing. What one learns while watching Bourne is that there are many ways to enter a subject, and one mustn’t refrain from exploring them, especially not in the name of nonfiction convention.

And now “Hilton Als on Writing,” in an interview with T. Cole Rachel:

T. Cole Rachel: Your essays frequently defy traditional genre. You play around with the notions of what an essay can be, what criticism can be, or how we are supposed to think and write about our own lives.

Hilton Als: You don’t have to do it any one way. You can just invent a way. Also, who’s to tell you how to write anything? It’s like that wonderful thing Virginia Woolf said. She was just writing one day and she said, “I can write anything.” And you really can. It’s such a remarkable thing to remind yourself of. If you’re listening to any other voice than your own, then you’re doing it wrong. And don’t.

The way that I write is because of the way my brain works. I couldn’t fit it into fiction; I couldn’t fit it into non-fiction. I just had to kind of mix up the genres because of who I was. I myself was a mixture of things, too. Right? I just never had those partitions in my brain, and I think I would’ve been a much more fiscally successful person if could do it that way. But I don’t know how to do it any other way, so I’m not a fiscally successful person. [laughs]

[…]

I believe that one reason I began writing essays—a form without a form, until you make it—was this: you didn’t have to borrow from an emotionally and visually upsetting past, as one did in fiction, apparently, to write your story. In an essay, your story could include your actual story and even more stories; you could collapse time and chronology and introduce other voices. In short, the essay is not about the empirical “I” but about the collective—all the voices that made your “I.”

From a profile of Lorna Simpson, by Dodie Kazanjian:

Lorna graduated early from SVA and was doing graphic-design work for a travel company when she met Carrie Mae Weems, a graduate art student at the University of California, San Diego. Weems suggested she come out to graduate school in California. “It was a rainy, icy New York evening, and that sounded really good to me,” Simpson says. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into.” She knew she’d had enough of documentary street photography. Conceptual art ruled at UCSD, and in her two years there, from 1983 to 1985, Lorna found her signature voice, combining photographs and text to address issues that confront African American women. “I loved writing poetry and stories, but at school, that was a separate activity from photography,” she says. “I thought, Why not merge those two things?”

Arthur Chiaravalli in “It’s Time We Hold Accountability Accountable”:

Author and writing professor John Warner points out how this kind of accountability, standardization, and routinization short-circuits students’ pursuit of forms “defined by the rhetorical situation” and values “rooted in audience needs.”

What we are measuring when we are accountable, then, is something other than the core values of writing. Ironically, the very act of accounting for student progress in writing almost guarantees that we will receive only a poor counterfeit, one emptied of its essence.

“How to Teach Art to Kids, According to Mark Rothko”:

“Unconscious of any difficulties, they chop their way and surmount obstacles that might turn an adult grey, and presto!” Rothko describes. “Soon their ideas become visible in a clearly intelligent form.” With this flexibility, his students developed their own unique artistic styles, from the detail-oriented to the wildly expressive. And for Rothko, the ability to channel one’s interior world into art was much more valuable than the mastery of academic techniques. “There is no such thing as good painting about nothing,” he once wrote.

Update [10 July 2018]: Here’s a great thread from Dr. Lucia Lorenzi on form in academia, but also on the value of silence and pause.

I have two academic articles currently under consideration, and hope that they'll be accepted. I'm proud of them. But after those two, I am not going to write for academic journals anymore. I feel this visceral, skin-splitting need to write differently about my research.

It just doesn't FEEL right. When I think about the projects I'm interested in (and I have things I want desperately to write about), but I think about writing them for an academic journal, I feel anxious and trapped. I've published academic work. It's not a matter of capability.

I think I've interpreted my building anxiety as some sort of "maybe I can't really do it, I'm not good at this" kind of impostor syndrome. But I know in my bones it's not that, because I'm a very capable academic writer. I know how to do that work. I've been trained to do it.

This is a question of form. It is a question of audience, too. The "what" and the "why" of my research has always been clear to me. The "how," the "where," and the "who," much less so. Or at the very least, I've been pushing aside the how/where/who I think best honours the work.

In my SSHRC proposal, I even said that I wanted to write for publications like The Walrus or The Atlantic or GUTS Magazine, etc. because this work feels like it needs to be very public-facing right now, so that's what I'm going to do. No more academic journal articles for now.

With all the immobilizing anxiety I've felt about "zomg my CV! zomg academic cred!" do you know how many stories I could have pitched in the past year alone? SO MANY. How much research and thinking I could have distilled into creative non-fiction or long-form journalistic pieces?

It's not like I haven't also been very clear about the fact that I probably won't continue in academia, so why spend the last year of my postdoc doing the MOST and feeling the WORST doing my research in a certain way just for what...a job I might not get or even want? Nah.

Whew. I feel better having typed all that out, and also for having made the decision to do the work in the way I originally wanted to do it, because I have been struggling so much that every single day for months I've wanted to just quit the postdoc entirely. Just up and leave.

In the end, I don't think my work will shift THAT much, you know? And I've learned and am learning SO much from fellow academics who are doing and thinking and writing differently. But I think that "no more scholarly journal submissions" is a big step for me.

I also feel like this might actually make me feel less terrified of reading academic work. Not wanting to WRITE academic articles/books has made me equally afraid of reading them, which, uh, isn't helpful. But now I can read them and just write in my own way.

I don't want to not have the great joy of sitting down and reading brilliant work because I'm so caught up in my own fears of my response having to replicate or mirror those forms. That ain't a conversation. I'm not listening if I'm already lost in thinking about how to answer.

That's what's so shitty about thinking as a process that is taught in academia. We teach everyone to be so hyper-focused on what they have to say that we don't let people just sit back and listen for a goddamn moment without feeling like they need to produce a certain response.

And we wonder why our students get anxious about their assignments? The idea that the only valid form of learning is having something to say in response, and in this way that is so limited, and so performative, is, quite frankly, coercive and gross.

As John Cage said, "I have nothing to say and I am saying it." When it comes to academic publications, I am saying that no longer have anything to say. I do, however, have things to say in other places to say them.

My dissertation was on silence. In the conclusion, I pointed out that the text didn't necessarily show all the silences/gaps I had in my years of thinking. I'd wanted to put in lots of blank space between paragraphs, sections, to make those silences visible, audible.

According to the formatting standards for theses at UBC, you cannot have any blank pages in your dissertation. You cannot just breathe or pause. Our C.V.s are also meant not to have any breaths or pauses in them, no turns away, no changes in course.

I am making a course change!

Update [7 March 2019]: Maya Weeks makes this point on Twitter:

i'm so over the fetishization of language!!!! not every1 is ~good~ at formulating thoughts thru words & we need systems that reflect ppls' various strengths! prioritizing work done in words (rather than literally any other action, like dance, or organizing) is elitist as hell!!!

u might think i'm kidding about this but i'm a professional writer with 2 degrees in language (linguistics & creative writing); i have been thinking about this for 12 years

Musical Theatre Themed Ask

Okay, I’m gonna answer... all of these! (Because I have a paper to write and zero motivation. And also: musicals.)

Oh, and by the way, I’m going to assume that every “Broadway” is a “Broadway/West End” because Tumblr is a free platform.

1. What was the first musical you saw?

Mary Poppins, West End, 2006 (not 100% sure about the year)

2. What musical got you really  into theatre?

Les Misérables - saw the film, started stalking the actors, you know how it goes.

3. Who was your first Broadway crush?

Aaron Tveit (he’s the main one) and Samantha Barks - like I said, stalking the Les Mis actors...

4. Name three of your current Broadway crushes.

Um... still Aaron Tveit? Plus Rob Houchen (Les Mis London) and Cleve September (In the Heights London and soon Hamilton London) - Also, I get “talent crushes” not physical attraction crushes.

5. Name four of your dream roles.

Only 4? Natalie Goodman, Enjolras, Maureen Johnson, and HERCULES MULLIGAN!!

(I can’t sing, act, or dance, nor am I a man, so...)

6. Favourite off-broadway show:

Heathers and The Last Five Years

7. Favourite cast recording.

Gotta be Hamilton, it’s just such a well-produced album. Bonus points for including nearly the entire show.

8. 2013 Tony opening number or 2016 Tony opening number?

2012? The Book of Mormon thing is just pure gold!

9. Favourite show currently on Broadway.

Broadway: I guess Hamilton - There are way too few that I actually know.

West End: Les Misérables forever!

10. A musical that closed and you’re still bitter about. Rant a bit.

In the Heights London! Though I can’t really complain, they extended their initially run several times and now they’ve cast my amazing Sonny as Laurens/Philip, so... But it was just so good!!

11. Best stage to screen adaptation?

Les Misérables. Controversial, I know, but I usually kind of hate movie musicals. With this one they did something new and different and I think it works. The Last Five Years is pretty good too, though it lost a lot in the adaptation (couldn’t be avoided).

12. Worst  stage to screen adaptation?

Rent. I’m sorry, I love the show, I love the cast, but it all feels so staged and wrong and meh. Also, they cut Goodbye Love and left in fucking Santa Fé which adds exactly nothing to the plot!!

13. Favourite #ham4ham?

Gotta be the Schuyler Georges, but there have been so many great ones...

14. A musical you would love to see produced by Deaf West?

Oh, tricky... Maybe Next to Normal? That has a lot to do with people holding things in and failing to see each others’ struggles.

15. If you could revive any musical, which one would it be and who would you cast in it?

Not exactly a revival, but bring Next to Normal to the West End already! That show’s got a sodding Pulitzer. And London’s only a 2 hour flight away from where I live, not a transatlantic one, so I might actually be able to go see it.

Oh, and give Spring Awakening another chance, West End. Maybe adapt some American Sign Language into British Sign Language and...?

Also, maybe revive Rent, Broadway? (And cast Aaron Tveit as Roger... please?)

16. If you could go to a concert at the 54 below, who’s would it be?

That list would be waaaaaayyy too long...

17. Do you watch broadway.com vlogs? Which one is your favourite?

I’ve seen a few, but I don’t really watch them on a regular basis, so no favourites...

18. Make a Broadway related confession.

I really, really hate South Pacific. It was part of our American drama syllabus, as an example of a musical. Quite apart from the fact that I think it’s a godawful, sort of racist and sexist show (it’s from the 40s, go figure), it displays LITERALLY EVERY cliché about musicals!

19. What do musicals mean to you?

Hard to say... Apart from hours and hours of ALL the emotions, some awesome internet buddies (looking at you, @frei-und-schwerelos), I’ve got generally more interested in and knowledgable about theatre, which is a great asset when you study English. Musicals have also introduced me to a wide range of music I wouldn’t normally listen to and so many talented people I wouldn’t have known about otherwise...

20. Express some love for understudies and swings!

Okay here goes: I went to see the West End production of Memphis because of Killian Donnelly and then he unexpectedly wasn’t on that night - bummer. But then Jon Robyns just knocked it out of the part (and I only ever listened to Avenue Q and Spamalot because I watched clips of him when he was in those shows).

My first Thénardier was Adam Pearce and his version of “It was me wot told you so...” is the funniest one I’ve ever heard (he kind of went “No? Sorry, fair enough.”).

The second time I saw the show Adam Bayjou was Valjean and his Bring Him Home was one of the best I’ve ever heard (effortless high notes).

Also, Charlotte Kennedy was Cosette that time (she’s principal Cosette now) and her performance was so incredibly sweet! (She also brought some brunette power into the sea of blond that were Marius and Éponine.)

And Jordan Lee Davies was Bamatabois both times and he was great!

Oh, and my Christine from Phantom was the wonderful Lisa-Anne Wood.

21. Best Disney musical:

Mary Poppins - My first ever musical, fond memories, I still wear the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious shirt my dad bought me (11 years ago... didn’t fit then, fits now).

22. Which Disney movie should be made into a musical?

Uh, I don’t know. Tangled’s funny...

23. Which musical fandom has the funniest memes?

Hamilton and Les Mis. I mean, the Les Mis/Mean Girls crossovers alone...

24. Name a character from a musical you would sort into your Hogwarts house.

Well, the test sorted me into Hufflepuff (great house), but I know that I am a Ravenclaw (and, as we know, the hat listens to you). Okay, Ravenclaw... maybe Melchior from Spring Awakening?

25. Name a Broadway star you would sort into your Hogwarts house.

Ugh, that’s even harder! Sorry, no clue.

26. Best on stage chemistry?

Hmm from what I’ve seen live, Rob Houchen and Carrie Hope Fletcher were pretty darn amazing together.

From what I haven’t seen live, Jennifer Damiano and Adam Chanler-Berat, and Justin Johnston and Michael McElroy seemed fantastic.

27. A Broadway duo you love.

I’m gonna say Jonathan Groff and Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I’m not sure I understand the question...

28. What book, tv show, movie, biography, video game, etc. should be turned into a musical?

Umm... I don’t know. Supernatural sort of is a musical... A Lord of the Rings musical in the style of A Very Potter Musical might be fun. The Fellowship of the Sing? I’ll show myself out.

29. If you could make a jukebox musical, what artist or genre would you pick?

I doubt many people know her but: Vienna Teng. For three reasons (aside from me liking her songs): 1. Her songs tell stories. 2. She often writes from the perspective of “characters.” 3. Her songs are actual poetry!

30. Favourite role played by _________________?

I don’t get it. What am I supposed to put here?

31. What musical has made you cry the most?

I don’t actually cry often at musicals (internally I do), but It’s Quiet Uptown from Hamilton got me bad the first time. And I once listened to Next to Normal when I was already feeling like shit - bad idea! (Don’t listen to There’s a World when you kind of want there to not be a world, kids...)

32. What musical has made you laugh the most?

Probably Avenue Q and Something Rotten

33. Current showtune stuck in you head:

Well, you just put Hard to Be the Bard in my head!

34. A musical that has left you thinking about life for a long time or deeply inspired you.

Les Misérables... I haven’t spent a single week without thinking about that show (or, indeed, the book) since early 2013.

Next to Normal also gave me a lot to think about.

I keep discovering new little bits of genius in Hamilton lyrics. Also, I’m writing a paper on the early US for the second time in under a year and characters from Hamilton (otherwise know as historical figures) keep popping up. Seriously, I’m writing about the Whiskey Rebellion and every time I read Hamilton’s name my brain goes PAY YOUR FUCKING TAXES!

I’ve also thought quite a bit about Heathers and The Last Five Years, because both of them have had productions where they genderbended (genderbent?) a main character, which made me think about how it changes the story and why.

35. If you could perform any ensemble number , which one would you pick?

“If you could...” Are you implying that I don’t?! Come on, any theatre geek who claims never to have done a solo rendition of One Day More is definitely lying! Oh, and I rapped myself all the way through One Shot the other day and made only one mistake - one that Lin’s made before, so I’m proud!

36. Name a musical you didn’t like at first but ended up loving.

I don’t think that’s really happened... There have been shows where I thought “What in the holy hell is this?!” and ended up loving it. I mean, what in the holy hell is Avenue Q?!

37. What are some costumes you’d love to try on?

Give me that red vest! Also, let me play Enjolras! Yes, I know I’m a woman and can only hit that low “foooorm” when I’ve got a really bad cold, but fuck all that!

I’d also really like to try on Elphaba’s Act II dress, because it’s epic!

38. Favourite dance break.

Hmmm... I don’t really have one? The one in Cool and the ballet in Somewhere where they sort of replay what’s happened are pretty amazing (both West Side Story).

39. Favourite Starkid musical:

A Very Potter Musical is the only one I know... Sorry...

40. What’s a musical more people should know about?

Well, where I live, most people have heard of Cats, Phantom, and Mamma Mia and that’s about it.

But in general, I’ve never met anyone who’s even heard of Assassins (although many people who have met me have now heard everything about Assassins - I’m that kind of person).

41. What are some lines from musicals you really like?

Okay, this is gonna take a while...

"Can you remind me of what it was like at the top of the world?” (In the Heights)

“Oh, my friends, my friends, don’t ask me what your sacrifice was for.” (Les Misérables - internal Niagara Falls!)

“Here, put some hail into the chief.” (Assassins)

“But the sky’s gonna hurt when it falls. So you’d better start building some walls.” (Heathers)

“I’m not mad that you got mad when I got mad when you said I should go drop dead!” (Tick, Tick... Boom!)

“My God, in God we trust, but we never really know what God discussed.” (Hamilton)

“What doesn’t kill me doesn’t kill me.” (Next to Normal)

And just for fun: “Honest living, honest living, honest living, honest living,...” (Rent)

42. Name a Tony performance you rewatch and rewatch.

In the Heights, Next to Normal, Hamilton, and Spring Awakening (both versions).

Moving image and Semiotics - Session 4

Todays session was focused on the moving image and semiotics within it, at first the word semiotic scares me, mostly because it is a word I am not familiar with. so how do we conquar that issue? well we learn the word.

Semiotics (noun) - the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. 

so what does that mean? well I think it means, what the viewer takes away from the image (eg, what they think the message is). I did some digging on the web and found this website (which pretty much confirms what I suspected the word means). “the relationship between a sign, an object, and a meaning. The sign represents the object, or referent, in the mind of an interpreter. “Interpretant” refers to a sign that serves as the representation of an object.”  

Moving on from that, I was presented with this image:

instantly I think of Authority and western cowboys, because the American police force wear badges and they are massively represented in film and tv (more than UK police) you will probably recognise this phrase “hand in your gun and badge” for police getting fired more than you'll recognise “your fired fellow policeman, hand in your baton”. (well I do anyway). and cowboys are from America which leads me to think of America when I see this image. 

I found this little task interesting, it made me notice how much thought I can generate from looking at one image. and that the power of what films can do as well and how I can study them. This links to Metonymic meaning (a psychological approach to studying screen).

Synecdoche (another big scary word) which is a figure of speech that relates to a whole thing (eg, If I was to say “gimme a slice” you would auto-magically think of pizza, and would hopefully give me that slice) and this is important for film. (as described in the slide) we can use it to determine on screen characters, I use this in “Joker”(2019,Philips) 

as when he has the faceprint on we can say its a mask/ trying to make people happy - using semiotics that what we see when we see clowns 

From this image alone I can see that joker is wearing clown makeup which makes me think that his character is using a mask to hide who he really is and to put a ‘face’ on that he feels other people will like, this gives me the feeling that his traits are venerable and sad. He is using Clown makeup to make people laugh/ happy, using Semiotics its what we relate Clowns to (or use to). Clowns are made to make people laugh and happy which is what joker is portraying. (if I was to go deeper into this I would relate laughter to madness and so forth but this isn't an essay... although I did enjoy this little break down). 

This is all pretty similar to what I explored in session (blog) 3. connotation and denotation with looking at images and exploring the messages behind them, only difference is in this session i’m looking at moving images. (I did touch on semiotics but it wasn't my main focus of that blog - hence why I go into more detail in this one). 

Stuart Hall & Encoding and Decoding. This is slightly related to Synecdoche and semiotics in terms of interpretation but this has a twist, it's more of an active spectatorship. My summary - when your presented with messages from tv or film you will interpret it depending on your experiences/ background etc, its quite interesting as its a more risky approach to decoding. Risky as in someone can take total offence in something or they might not react to it at all. Risky. 

Then I was shown a video Close Reading - Jennine Lanouette’s Visuals and Action on an analysis of a scene from ‘Mad Max’. I paid a lot of attention to this video essay and found it really helpful to see the theories I've been looking at in action. (I like to analyse scenes/ films and she had some really good points). I like her decoding of the bad guy:

She touched on the fact that the viewer sees an dirty/ intimidating car with a skull mounted on the front and those images register in our unconscious and we know the car is not friendly. (she plays on the viewers interpretation) and inside we see a man whose face is covered with a mask and sunglasses - which we instantly don't trust as we cannot see his eyes (my words - which is the window to the souls and his is blocked... prompting the idea ‘does he have a soul?’) I liked her technique of watching the scene first all the way than going in detail through each frame/shot looking at each detail (which is good at gathering detail but thinking of it that can be very time consuming, so perhaps every other shot). 

This leads me to my next task... Decoding in groups. We were given scenes from different films. Okay so in the class I did the ‘Phoney’ scene from Grease but I didn't really enjoy it personally (not my type of film, which I know is very unproductive and silly as all film analysis is analysis. looking back I wish I gave it more of a chance but I couldn't decode much). So for my analysis here I am going to talk about ‘Garden party’ scene from Get Out. as I saw a lot of potential in this film and picked out quite a bit. 

Now for this analysis I will be giving away spoilers... as I have already watch this film (and loved it) so to reference Stuart Hall theory my interpretation will be different as from experience I know the plots. 

starting off we see Chris (protagonist) and his girlfriend introducing him to a couple, Rose is wearing red which represents danger whereas it contrasts with Chris’s blue (blue = calm like water) shirt. so on the first bat we register that there is some type of danger emitted from rose, making us not fully trust her. 

The couple that Rose and Chris talk to are ironically wearing black which makes us think of a funeral attire, relating to death. but what has died? is it psychical or mentally? or are they simply dressing for the future?. and with my dramatic irony knowledge the “black is in fashion” line the man says is quite cynical as these people will take the bodies of the people who are of different colour to them. so saying that a body is in fashion makes me not trust these characters and also dislike them too. 

Chris holding this camera makes me think of him as an observant character, he is constantly taking stuff and ‘has a good eye’, from my knowledge he ‘may’ be the one to escape (no spoiler there). But notice how everyone else is watching him, like he is a piece of art... or more relatable to the situation, a piece of meat (or a pair of trainers) it makes the viewer uncomfortable and almost want to shout to Chris “Its behind you!!” (from personal experience it won't make a difference, he can't hear us).  The background is also interesting, the dense forest makes us feel like we're trapped and isolated “middle of nowhere” springs to mind. (the lady in the back is also wearing red to represent danger).

I will also like to talk about this interaction “Good to see another brother around here” I find this scene to be most intriguing when you have seen the film, only because it adds to the dramatic irony of the scene. Andre (I had to research his name as the woman doesn't introduce him, which is interesting in itself to make me think she doesn't see him as a person more of an accessory, referencing back to the line “black is in fashion”) his body language is off, he is acting like an old man (no offence to old men) from being slightly hunched over and the way he holds his drink, His costume design also points me in that direction of old man (again no offence) the sun hat to blazer with a sandy colour. it is a big contrast to Chris who supposedly is around his age (psychically).

I found this task interesting, its nice to dive into a scene and focus on detail and using decoding to... decode it. This experience was different to how it was in class where I was working in a team which is a 50/50 for me as I didn't have the freedom to dive deep and develop my ideas as much as I did right now, alone. And in that particular team discussion we weren't really productive, I wanted to focus on the task but I could sense that wasn't the same for the rest of the team. Whereas it can be productive, you see things you didn't see before, and relating to the Stuart Hall theory, they would have different experiences to me which means a variation. 

Next task in teams we looked at fairytale writing, Going against type and changing an already well known character/story. Being the classic teenagers we chose to focus on Jack in the beanstalk but instead of beans...its drugs. (so “jack and the drugs” has more of a ring to it if you ask me. Part one of the task was to think of the details, location - Bristol (because Bristol is apparently the capital city of cocaine, and myself being from Bristol I don't agree with this but I find it funny to take the mick out of where I live...who doesn't) but I found this fun and essentially the best part of story witting. setting up the scene or painting the canvas, picking out the legos before you use them.

Then as a group started to write the story using the Pixar prompt story structure  by Ken Adams. 

it is a bit messy but to admit to you we were having a little bit too fun with it and focused a little too hard on task one. But reflecting on this if I did this task alone I most likely would of struggled to think of what to do as I do find it difficult to pin an idea down and stick to it whereas in the team I had the opinions and help  from my team to focus and develop an single idea. I also had fun doing this which isn't it the whole point? to have fun and enjoy it. 

Korean Cinema & 한

1. Have you planned any independent trips to sites or cities outside of your program?  Why did you choose to go where you did?  What did you learn during the trip about yourself or your host country during this trip?   2. Are local people opening up more to you about their personal matters and/or political views?  Are you achieving a depth of understanding that surprises you or raises questions?

Although I’ve wanted to go to Busan and Daegu, I don’t think I have enough money to do that (or maybe I do, we’ll see, with a bit of budgeting) but in the meantime, I wanted to explore the rest of Seoul as well, and the perfect opportunity presented itself this week, in the form of the Bucheon International Film Festival. 

The Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) takes place for about a week, from the beginning of this week to tomorrow. Now, although the timing could have been a bit better, considering we had midterms, I was able to go for a full day. 

I began by browsing the screening schedules on the BIFAN website. As a film major, I have interest in cinema from all over, but Korean cinema has been especially interesting as of late, and, considering I’m here to study Korean, I wanted to be sure to get more exposure to Korean cinema. 

I boarded the subway from Sinchon to Bucheon, which took about an hour with a transfer in between. Right when I got off the subway, there were signs in the station directing me towards the locations where the screenings were being held. The film festival takes place in about four different locations between three subway stops (Bucheon City Hall, Samsan Gymnasium, and Sangdong Station)

Here and there throughout Bucheon, there were kiosks set up with English-speaking volunteers to help you find your way and figure out how to purchase tickets, etc. When I reached my destination-- CGV Sopoong, where my first screening would be-- an information volunteer directed me to the floor of the building where I could purchase my ticket. By the self-ticketing section of the cinema, the festival staff had set up a kiosk with more volunteers, and a sign that showed all the screenings throughout the week, updated with those that had already been sold out.

Ticket prices were six dollars per screening. Each screening was held in a regular screening room within the theater, which, in Korea, is ridiculously high quality anyways. The movie I watched was a supernatural romantic comedy titled “A Beautiful Vampire.” I have to admit, going into it, I wasn’t expecting anything fantastic, considering both the genre and the fact that it was an indie film. So when the opening credits presented establishing shots of the main character’s bedroom with a beautifully cinematic eye and color grading to put Marvel to shame (not that that’s difficult to do, let’s be honest) I was pleasantly surprised. 

One of my favorite things about Korean cinema is the fact that no genre falls into cliché predictable plot lines without at least some redeeming qualities. That’s not to say there aren’t a million and one dramas with overly cold male leads who somehow still win the girl in the end (and it only takes like, 22 episodes) but even among the clichés, Korean cinema includes social commentary and themes which don’t have definite answers. This is something I’ve found increasingly rare in the run-of-the-mill American Netflix Rom-Com. In “A Beautiful Vampire” there were many elements viewers would find predictable—yes, the vampire was ridiculously attractive. Yes, she wore over-the-top Victorian style outfits (with a Korean fashion twist) that would put your goth girlfriend to shame. Yes, she was experiencing a new, budding romance, like she’d never experienced before, despite being alive for centuries. But the film still managed to be fresh in ways I truly don’t think a western adaptation would accomplish. 

For one, the film had comic elements verging on slapstick, with anime-like CGI and sound effects that just by virtue of juxtaposition to the topic made for an interesting experience. For two, the movie addressed the romance through means of reincarnation, which I have never seen in the vampire genre before. I would be willing to bet this is due to the Buddhist influence in Korea, but I can’t be sure. Either way, it makes for a much more believable story than a 1000 year old creature falling in love for the first time in 2018. Lastly, the ending was not at all what I was expecting. I won’t spoil it for those who want to watch it, but it was left more open than I have ever seen a romantic comedy end and the uncertainty of the end was perhaps the most innovative element of the entire production. Then to add to my surprise, at the end of the screening the director and stars began a Q&A, at which point I realized the director was a female—which is about as easy to find in the movie industry as a needle in a hay stack. Thus, what started out as a low-expectation, mindless movie-going experience to prep for the real events later that day turned out to be a perfect example of the potential of Korean Cinema. 

Having gone through a dry spell of not watching movies for about three weeks (which is a long time for me) I felt revitalized and remotivated from the experience. The festival continued for the rest of the day and I attended several other events, but since those are more relevant to filmmaking than they are to my experience in Korea, I’ll save that for another time on another blog. For now, I would like to switch to addressing topic 2 of this overdue blog post with an awkward segue between filmmaking in Korea and the Korean experience. 

Although “A Beautiful Vampire” could have been set in pretty much any city in any country around the world, there were certain elements of it that, when watching, are distinctly Korean. I mentioned one before—Buddhist influences—but there were plenty of other. The beauty standards (a pale face in America might draw attention in a vastly different way than it would in Korea, that’s just the facts) for one, but more importantly, the relationship between the main character and her former lover, from the Joseon period. A big part of the story relied on the fact that there was no way for the Vampire to know if her old friend was truly reincarnated, due to her poor position in history (which meant her name wouldn’t have carried through history). This part of the movie brought into sharp relief the deep influence Korea’s history has its cinematic style and plot construction. 

Which brings me to Han (한). 

My private tutoring partner, for her cultural project, talked about the issue of 한. Although the project wasn’t mine, it brought up a lot of questions for me, in terms of its relation to cinema. From my understanding—which, admittedly, is extremely simplistic—한 is a sort of nebulous feeling that is kind of nationalistic, kind of not, and greatly related to the adversity Koreans have been put through in the past, from the numerous wars to the Japanese occupation and onwards. It’s been said that 한 is not as present today in younger generations as it was in the youth back during those turbulent times, but through our discussion following her presentation, this was debated. It is possible that 한 exists in different forms today as opposed to how it did in the past. It’s possible it doesn’t, too. It’s hard to know, especially as a foreigner. But this intangible feeling is inevitably rooted in Korean culture and, I think, contributes to what makes Korean cinema so… Korean. The slow-burning pace, the off-center cinematography, the deeply nostalgic waltz-influenced OSTs, and the subtle build up to hyperbolic representations of suppressed emotions within Korean culture (lust, revenge, hatred, bitterness) are all a result of (in my opinion) of the 한 felt my the directors manifesting itself in the art.

Which brings me to the issue of prompt number 2. Have I gained a deeper understanding of Korean culture? Not necessarily. What I’ve gained instead, though, is an understanding that there are some things in Korean culture that I will probably never truly grasp. One of those is 한. What does that mean for me, as a person who wants to work in the Korean film industry, with Korean directors and cinematographers? 

At first, I thought it meant that’s not something that’s likely to happen. If I can’t understand where all this style is coming from how can I ever hope to work with it? To be honest, I probably won’t be able to. If my goal is to make a movie with the same essence as Park Chan Wook’s revenge trilogy, then I don’t really stand a chance. Which is why I shouldn’t aspire to do that. 

When we were discussing 한 in class, we posed the question of whether or not there’s an equivalent in other cultures. I’m not sure what Koreans would say to this, and I’d love to know, but in my opinion, there is something like 한 in other cultures as well—namely, those that have suffered colonization. Is it the exact same thing? No. Does it come from the same place in history? No. But I think something similar inevitably arises in cultures that have had their culture stripped from them. Being forced to in another way, practicing traditions that aren’t yours, or being forced to speak a language that isn’t yours inevitably affects one’s relation to their own culture and their own tongue. It can force a perspective on a people that others—those who have never experienced that stripping of identity—might not know. 

And working with that feeling, that nebulous emotion, I can, at the very least, bring my own perspective to a story. My people have experienced adversity similar in some ways, and vastly different in others, from Korean colonization. If I were to make a revenge trilogy, it would be completely different from Park Chan Wook’s. But that’s not to say that the two couldn’t complement one another. 

Like I said, I barely understand what 한 is, and I’m sure my understanding is deeply flawed. But I believe that, in understanding that I don’t understand, and in acknowledging what my own background can offer, I might be of even more use than if I tried to fit myself into Korean cinema by trying to be as Korean as possible. If you try to fit yourself into a mold that isn’t you, the creations you make in that mold will be just as fake as their creator. I have to acknowledge that I love pure Korean cinema, but if I were to work in the industry, the projects that I touch will no longer be pure Korean cinema, and that’s not a bad thing. Variety is the spice of life, anyways.  

The Room Review

Movie Review:  The Room

 Director: Tommy Wiseau

Studio: Wiseau-Films

Genre: Drama

Release: 2003

Run Time: 1 hour 39 minutes

IMBD Rating: 3.6/10

Metacritic Score: N/A

Rotten Tomatoe %: 32

 First Impressions –

 This gem of a movie had a budget of $6 Million and made only $1,800 in the USA. However, ever since this movie has become a worldwide cult classic among the ‘so bad its good’ genre of movies it has made $9,656,530 all the way up to 2012, so after almost a decade it was technically a success.

 The Plot -

 To say this movie has a plot is a tiny bit of a stretch. The movie opens with our main character, he arrives home to his fiancé with something he bought for her and she puts it on. Then we have a sex scene. The next scene involves the female lead explaining to her mother that she does not love the main character anymore, after wards we get another sex scene between them. After that we are introduced to character after character with no actual relevance to these introductions and no real pay off. One of the characters we are introduced to is the main character best friend, him and the fiancé of the main character have a sex scene…or three and that establishes nothing about them as characters despite the fact that they are poorly written. Every character finds out about this affair but does nothing and acts like it’s just a little white lie. The Mom and Fiancé character have 100 identical scenes in which the fiancé tells her that she doesn’t love the main character anymore and loves somebody else and the Mother character replies by telling her she should marry the main character because he has a stable job. Soon after we are shown that the main character is figuring out what is going on, during his birthday party, things get tense and the truth is revealed. The main character confronts his fiancé; after she leaves him (finally) he becomes distressed and upset and blows his brains out. The movie ends with 3 characters hanging over his dead body crying and sound effects of police cars and fire engines in the background for some reason. First of all it has to be said, this movies pacing is absolutely non-existent. Nothing flows and everything is so mismatched and out of place. The editing is utterly poor and actually it’s laughably poor. Everything in this, movie is laughable. It’s so bad, that it’s good. So many scenes have absolutely no purpose or pay off, everything is unfocused and disjointed and there is no structure to speak of. Characters say redundant lines and scenes are copy and pasted to pad run time. The whole movie is pathetic but in actual fact, it’s pathetically funny as hell and as a result it is hilariously entertaining.

 Characters and Acting -

 Tommy Wiseau himself plays the main characters Johnny. Now, it’s very difficult to get across how he performs this character, it’s very much a right of passage to experience the way he acts for yourself. He is a Polis-American so it makes sense to some degree that he doesn’t have the best grasp on the English language but he also slurs and draws out his words and sentences, putting emphasis on the wrong parts of his lines, it’s funny, odd and fascinating. His character stands as the only likable one in the movie. Johnny is a banker and a friend to everyone, being nice to everyone around him and helping whoever with whatever he can. He is kind hearted and positive all the time, even to his bitch of a fiancé after he suspects that she is cheating on him. Lisa, Johnny’s fiancée is possibly the most confusing and badly written character I have ever seen in a movie. Lisa has no clear motive, no spoken goal, no explored intent, she just destroy Johnny’s life, sleeps around, acts like a bitch behind peoples back and is an all round selfish bitch. Now you would assume that she is a sociopath and there is no method to her madness, which would be interesting but the movie can’t even get that right. The character is so inconsistent; one minute she will care about Johnny and having sex with him but she is constantly bitching to her mom about how much she doesn’t love him. She lies, cheats and acts like an idiot. Mark is the character that Lisa cheats on Johnny with and happens to be Johnny’s best friend. Mark is a very stupid character also, he claims he is regretful of sleeping with his best friend’s girl and even sometimes shows signs of change but it never pays off, as soon as the reveal is made all his regret vanishes and he declares his devotion to Lisa and decides now that he hates Johnny for no reason. Denny is a pointless character through and through. He adds nothing to the characters and the plots over all. There was some small scene about him taking drugs and involved another character holding a gun to his head that resulted in the most painfully noisy, incoherent scene of verbal mess. Denny is Johnny’s adopted son and just shows up acting like a weird kid who craves attention while other times acting straight up creepy. Lisa’s Mom is a character in this movie that provides us with the most redundant retread of lines and dialogue. She is absolutely pointless. Other characters are introduced but add nothing to the movie, if anything they make things even more confusing and unfocused, one character near the end of the movie isn’t even introduced but just involves himself in the main plotline as if he is an already established character, it’s darn confusing. I might as well talk about Mike. Mike is a ridiculous character who provides us with stupid faces, pointless scenes in which he explains a scene that literally just happened and a moment in which Mark pushes him down on accident, everyone helps him up and then the scene ends. He and his girlfriend in one scene decide to have sex in Johnny’s house for some reason (probably because they didn’t have any other sets). His girlfriend, whose name I do not remember is another extremely unlikable character. She is one of the first characters to become aware that Lisa is cheating on Johnny and even catches them in the act but constantly giggles and act like it’s a cheeky secret, it’s annoying and stupid. The entire casts, besides Johnny, are irredeemable and unlikable beyond measure and absolutely all of them are poorly written and give horrible performances. Again, it is entertaining and laughable how fucking dreadful this all is.

 Film Techniques

 During many of the pointless scenes that have no context or relevance to the overall plot there ids usually a shot that focuses on one character while other character are talking, it‘s very strange. The movie only has a few sets in which scenes take place and one utilizes a green screen which doesn’t look too bad but against a close up of a character is easily spotted. The music is a big issue in the movie. Out of place music will play during the many scenes of establishing shots and shots of Johnny walking through the streets for no reason. The other time strange music is used is in the many sex scenes. The sex scenes in this movie are all very similar, equally as awkward and last too long.

 Tones and Themes

 It’s difficult to give this movie and themes but I had to choose I would say ‘trust’. Johnny is too nice and trusts everyone around him, especially Lisa and they all end up betraying him. Once he finds out he is overwhelmed by the idea that his friends could do such a thing and sees nothing good left in the world and ends his life. Throughout this movie the tone is up and down. It’s not madly inconsistent but the lack of focus and poorly written characters make the tone on par with the rest of it. At times the best I can describe the tone is, ‘the colour grey’. The tone that worked the most that fitted with the theme also was the ending of the film during Johnny’s outburst; it’s the only moment in the film where events of the movie paid off and things made sense. The movie was focused at this time and everything that was going on was relevant, Tommy’s acting didn’t make it perfect but it certainly was the only part of the movie I can even slightly respect as an actual movie.

 Conclusion

 In the end, judging this movie critically is doing it a disservice. This movie is fucking awful but goddamn is it entertaining. It’s a cult classic for a reason and easily the best worst movie of all time. Nothing comes close to how unintentionally hilarious this movie is, you can’t write movies like this and something like this comes around once in a life time. It’s popularity spawned a whole genre of movies that are made bad on purpose to gain momentum on the internet, but the charm of this movie comes from the fact that $6 Million was sunk into it and the star, director, writer and producer Tommy himself was behind it all. Numerous quotes and funny moments have come from this movie and I am so thankful it exists. I could watch it over and over again. I love it.

 My Score – 3/10

People Magazine Bio piece on Stan Lee from 1979. (Text of the article below.) Lee’s superheroes ‘have ego deficiencies and girl problems’ At two minutes past midnight, the plot thickens. In his dark bedroom, Stan Lee—publisher and creative director of Marvel Comics—clicks on the miniature tape recorder beneath his pillow. Dictating in mumbled phrases, he spins a web of adventures. He has hit on the idea of having “the Incredible Hulk meet Spider-Man in the greatest power trip in the history of comic books!” Lee switches off the tape. “Why is it that I always come up with the most brilliant plots just when I’m about to fall asleep?” The next morning at 6:30 he bounds out of bed in a single leap, plugs in for a shave and then brushes his teeth. “Half the time I brush without Crest,” he claims. “I will not be the prisoner of American advertising!” Ten minutes later he is dressed. “I do not believe in bathrobes,” Lee says firmly. “It’s the kind of in-between garment that gets you nowhere. You can’t go outside in it. You can’t go to sleep in it. I’m the kind of guy who likes to always feel ready to go!” On his wrist hangs a heavy link silver bracelet. His feet are contained in thoroughbred Guccis. Piercing green-gray eyes are hidden behind prescription shades, but their hip image is offset by a conservative Paul Stuart herringbone jacket and tan slacks. He struts through the lobby of his New York condominium with an armload of dirty laundry and proceeds along boutique-lined Third Avenue. His virile features are tawny and relatively unlined at age 56. His stomach is flat, “like iron,” he brags. His legs are muscular “from walking to and from the office. You know, after 31 years my wife still thinks I have a perfect body.” He drops off his laundry and picks up the New York Times and the Daily News. “I do not believe in deliveries,” he declares. “They inhibit perfectly natural activities.” Back in his 14th-floor apartment, decorated in exotic pieces grouped like a furniture showroom, wife Joan is still asleep. “Why should I get up to make him breakfast?” she asks, not unpleasantly. “He doesn’t bother to make it for me.” As a husband liberated by the independence of his wife, Stan Lee has reduced breakfast to a domestic science. “For hundreds of years” he has thrust one Pepperidge Farm apple turnover into a 400° oven and set the timer to go off before “the neighbors holler ‘fire.’ ” While waiting, he carries his tape recorder into the study, ready to decode, when the phone rings. Lee throws down his Bic, cringing. “There is nothing I hate more than the telephone!” On the line is John Romita, who draws Spider-Man. A crisis is at hand. “Stan,” he cries, “either you come up with a plot for the Sunday page by tomorrow or the syndicate will kill Spider-Man!” “Don’t worry, John,” Lee reassures him and promises to call back in five minutes. An alarm sounds in the distance. “I’ve got to save an apple turnover from burning!” In the swashbuckling tradition of one of his own comic book heroes, Lee first rescues breakfast and then, with a flick of his Bic, Spider-Man. An era in comic book history dates from 1961. That was the year Stan Lee began to create the family of cartoon characters that eventually included Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk and Dr. Strange. They had a profound impact on many youngsters that was hardly as negative as parents feared and educators preached. Gene Simmons of Kiss, who grew up with Marvel comics, says, “His stories taught me that even superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk have ego deficiencies and girl problems and do not live in their macho fantasies 24 hours a day. Through the honesty of guys like Spider-Man, I learned about the shades of gray in human nature.” Lee’s arch rival, Jenette Kahn, publisher of Superman comics, adds, “Stan Lee created characters who related to the experience of the alienated youth of the 1960s.” As publisher, creative director, active writer and even spokesman for the comic book business on the college lecture circuit, Lee is, according to the gracious Kahn, “the living superhero for the American comic industry.” Cary Grant has phoned Lee to express his appreciation of Marvel comics, introduced to him by his daughter, Jennifer. Federico Fellini, the Italian film director, showed up in Lee’s office with an admiring entourage. French director Alain Resnais wanted Lee to write a script for a film. “But most of the phone calls,” says Martha Conway, Lee’s 24-year-old secretary, “are from 12-year-old boys inviting him to their bar mitzvahs or 13-year-old girls who want to know how to attract a superhero.” Marvel sells about six million comic books a month in 15 languages. With upwards of $25 million a year in sales, it is the largest and most successful business of its kind in the world—”if not the universe.” For the past few years Lee has written the narrative for only two of the strips—Spider-Man, which appears in about 500 newspapers, and the Hulk, in 200 papers. He devotes the rest of his time to supervising the transition of his characters into other media. The Hulk was a prime-time sensation last season and continues among the top 20 shows. Spider-Man made five specials last season, and CBS has scheduled more this year. Dr. Strange and another hero, Captain America, also have starred in specials from Universal. With so many pop groups fascinated by comic heroes these days, Stan has become the Werner Erhard of the rock world. Paul McCartney asked him to come up with vivid characters to give personality to his second band. One of Meat Loaf’s songwriters wants Lee to do a script for a Broadway musical for the singer, and Lee has already submitted an outline. In turn, Stan has made some rock superstars into comic book heroes themselves. The Kiss edition was a huge seller. The Beatles flopped because the company misjudged their popularity. But Mick Jagger and the Stones, soon to be published, should do well, and Alice Cooper was recently signed up. In recognition of Lee’s unique role in American mythmaking, Harper and Row has paid out a “sizable” advance for his autobiography. “But I asked them to give me five years to write it,” he says, “because I haven’t done an eighth of the things I want to do. You know,” he adds wistfully, “I still feel as if I’m waiting to be discovered.” Stanley Martin Lieber was born December 28, 1922 in Manhattan. In his family’s cramped three-room apartment, “I slept in the living room until I was old enough to need my privacy.” Then he switched rooms with his parents. Nine years after he was born, his brother, Larry, who now draws the Hulk, arrived. Lee says, “I have no idea where he slept. I always considered him only a guest.” By the time he was 10, Stan’s mother, Celia, already thought of her little boy as some kind of superior human being. “Whenever I walked in the door, she’d ask me why some talent scout hadn’t whisked me off the street and taken me straight to Hollywood.” Stan saw every Errol Flynn movie “a hundred times” and loved adventure books. During the Depression, his father, Jack, found it hard to get work as a dress cutter. The frustration turned his older son into a workaholic. “School was just something to get past.” After graduation from DeWitt Clinton High, Lee was offered an $11-a-week job as a gofer at the firm that would become Marvel Comics—”I was probably the only one who applied.” A few months later both editor and art director walked out over a disagreement with the publisher, leaving Lee in charge. He was 17. “I knew the position was only temporary. I figured I would last maybe two or three weeks.” That was in 1939. While the company grew, Stan achieved a reputation as a formidable ladies’ man. Then in November 1947 he strolled up Fifth Avenue from his offices in the Empire State Building to have a look at a “gorgeous redhead” recommended as a date by his cousin Morty. When Lee opened the door to her office, he took one long look at “that face and hair” and surrendered. “I love you!” he cried. Joan Clayton Boocock, a hat model, was flattered. She was also married. He insists that her first marriage “wasn’t so great.” Joan corrects him without hesitation. “I had only known my first husband 24 hours when we decided to get married,” she explains. “It really was a great marriage in many respects. But after living with him a year, I was finding him sort of boring…” Lee was nothing if not interesting. Joan recalls, “He wore a marvelous floppy hat and a scarf and spouted Omar Khayyam when he took me for a hamburger at Prexy’s. He reminded me of that beautiful man, Leslie Howard.” They dated for a passionate two weeks, and then he proposed. “But first I had to send her to Reno for a divorce.” So Joan took off for Nevada and met another—and richer—man, a cowboy who also wanted to marry her. “I thought for a moment, maybe this is better…” But when Stan got a letter mistakenly addressed to “Jack,” . the Reno rival, he grabbed his scarf and flew to Joan’s side. The judge who granted her divorce married them. For the next 19 years they lived on Long Island, where Joan Lee raised their daughter, Joanie (a younger daughter, Jan, died in infancy). Wife and daughter became accustomed to hearing the cries and whispers of creativity as Lee acted out his heroes’ tales of adventure. “Don’t worry,” Joanie would assure her friends at the strange noises coming from the study. “That’s just my father at work.” In 1969 the couple moved to New York City, where Joanie was in acting school. One reason for Lee’s 40-year loyalty to Marvel may be that, unlike other creators of comics such as Garry Trudeau or Charles Schulz, Lee does not own the rights to any of his heroes. The company does. To leave would mean walking out on his creations. “I’m not a man to turn his back on his children,” he says. His job is not without its rewards, however. His salary is upwards of $100,000 a year, plus fees and royalties from TV scripts and books. At 9:30 Lee enters the tacky offices of Marvel Comics on Madison Avenue. He is singing the Alka-Seltzer jingle. The phones are ringing. Before anything else, he has a heavy problem to resolve. Spider-Man’s Aunt May has been pressuring him to get married. Unfortunately, Lee killed off the hero’s girlfriend, Gwendolyn, in an earlier episode. Ignoring the phones, Lee reaches for a pen and begins to scribble. He bites his thumb. He pulls out a tissue and blows his nose. “I always have a cold,” he cries. “Even when I don’t have a cold, I sound like I do.” Pacing the floor, he wanders into the hallway and puts a quarter in the machine for a cup of chicken soup. “I will not drink coffee after 7 a.m.” A parade of employees, eager and young, marches in and out his door. They represent the “20,000 different projects” going on at the moment. Lee concentrates on each visitor but remains offhand and cool. Things get tense only when John Romita pops in. “Is Spider-Man getting married next week or isn’t he?” Lee tenses and asks his secretary to hold the calls. He shuts the door and puts a hand on Romita’s shoulder. “John,” he says thoughtfully, “I’d like to have a wedding, but do you really think Spider-Man is mature enough yet?”