Tumgik
#lulu reads sandman
libraryleopard · 16 days
Text
me reading the dead boy detectives issue of sandman: wow this is fucked-up and sad
me when the dead boy detectives show is fucked-up and sad:
Tumblr media
49 notes · View notes
chromium-siren · 2 years
Text
Open Starter
Lucifer is on her throne, filing her nails. “It’s a beautiful day, and I’m a horrible woman. I want to cause some mayhem.”
4 notes · View notes
Note
Hello how are you? I'm going to request an imagine from Morpheus interested in Lucifer's twin sister, in the imagine Morpheus will get the bag of sand that was with Johanna and the reader was with her since they are very good friends, and the reader offers to go with Morpheus to the hell with him, he accepts since he wants to spend more time with her, reader being lucifer's twin having the title of star of the night she and lucifer have the same powers because they are twins she is still in heaven being an archangel when lucifer went to hell she keeps visiting him, reader and lucifer have a great relationship
Harbinger Of The Dusk
Dream of the Endless x Angel!Reader
Summary: After a century of being apart from your love, you meet again with the help of Constantine and accompany him to retrieve his lost item from your twin's domain.
Word Count: 3k+
Warnings: fem!reader, simp!dream, beloved!lucifer, some hurt/comfort, typos, etc.
Part 2 kinda "Holy"
Tumblr media
A/N: the rest of your asks is below the cut! Yes hello nonnie. Its been ages HAHAH but i am well. As well as someone doing their finals is HAHAHHA. Tbh i remember i was really excited when i got this ask cos its so fresh and i love Gwendoline christie sm that i began writing it straight away but then it died 💀 BUT THEN i read the sandman comics in our school library and felt a really strong desire to write for dream and include hell somehow THEN I REMEMBERED THIS REQ and fell in love with your idea all over again so im using your req to scratch both our itches <3 <3 although I will say since then, my image of the ruler of hell has changed dramatically after reading the comics. by the time i wrote in lulu, it was comic!lucifer in my head and not gwen. still referred to lightbringer with fem pronouns <3 cos why not. this was a treat to write in all honesty, so i hope you like this nonnie <3 Tagging: @pinksirensong @aralezinspace @deniixlovezelda @shadow-pancake9 @sloanexx
Tumblr media
Dream was tired, fatigued, completely and wholly exhausted. He barely made it back to the Dreaming, only to see it in rubble and ruins. At this point, he was, too, falling apart.
But then Lucienne appeared, Lucienne appeared and reached out to him and then suddenly, he couldn't fall apart; he wouldn't.
He knew what he had to do, what he had to do for himself, for Lucienne, for the Dreaming.
And so he spoke to the Fates, and now here he was, with this occultist detective, Johanna Constantine, who had woken up from a bad dream.
She shoots awake, clutching her chest. She pushes back into her bed when he catches Dream's nearing figure, "Constantine."
"Stay back! I'm warning you!" she shouts, pointing a finger.
Dream, although unappreciative of her authoritative words, allows her the courtesy of catching her breath and wits, as she was still reeling from her nightmare.
"I am Lord Morpheus, Shaper of Forms, King of Dreams and Nightmares, Prince of Stories, Dream of the Endless."
Johanna makes a face as she heaves. She relaxes suddenly, as if deciding he was no longer a threat to him, though he broke into her apartment, "wait, Dream of the Endless? That's you?"
"Indeed."
She huffs, leaning against her pillow, "huh, how'd you get out?"
Dream stiffens. Johanna awaits his response. She does not get one.
She decides to ask another question, "does this mean I'll be sleeping better now?"
Dream does not reply this time either, but Johanna does; she responds to herself, "well of course not, Johanna, people like you don't sleep well."
Finally, Dream speaks, "how do you know of this?"
Johanna turns to Dream. She raises a brow, "about me not sleeping well? Well, duh, it's me that-"
"About my imprisonment?" Dream cuts her off coldly.
Johanna clamps her lips together upon hearing this. She watches him for a moment. She sniffles and crosses her arms, "her."
"... her?" Dream slowly repeats.
She nods, "her."
When the woman does not clarify or continue, he begins to feel his patience thin and his anger flare. The room begins to darken, his form begins to grow. He was in no mood for cryptic responses.
Johanna had not yet caught on to this, which was why she frivolously thought of adding, "the star of the night."
Dream quickly snaps out of his trance.
Johanna turns to her bed then back to him. She watches as Dream reacts to her words. He looks like he was kicked in the gut. He looks winded. She carefully says, "isn't she your girlfriend?" She narrows her eyes and pushes her blankets off her, "she doesn't get personal, rarely talks about herself in the name of selflessness, but she loves to talk about whom she loved and I can tell-"
"How do you know her?" Dream quips.
Johanna makes a face before she gets off her bed, "she's an angel, I'm an exorcist. It makes sense, no?"
"Where?"
"Where?" Johanna repeats, shaking her head, "where what?"
"Where do you meet her?"
She furrows her brows, "why d'you a-- you want me to take you to-"
"Yes. Take me to her," he quickly responds, "but first, you must help me retrieve something."
After the Endless and the exorcist retrieve the something, that was a bag of sand, Johanna drives them to a home for the aged. It was called Dusk Haven. Immediately, Dream knows this is the right place. He hastily exits the car and stares at the building, wanting nothing more to run inside and look for the angel, but is seemingly unable to move from where he stood.
Johanna steps out of her car and walks over to the Dream King, cocking her head to the side, "come on then."
For a moment, Dream watches before following after her.
I stop what I am doing when I feel a familiar presence near me.
I hear my name get called out and I turn to Margaret, the old lady I had been conversing with, offering her a smile and quick regard as I tell her I must do something.
"Alright, but don't be too long, pretty girl."
I nod, "I will do my best, my dear."
I before I get out of the hallway, I open the door and find Johanna passing by. She turns and blinks, lips parting at the sight of me, cheeks tinting red. I smile, "Constantine."
She stares. I hear her breath hitch. She clears her throat, "Angel."
"My love."
My stomach drops.
I turn and see the face of Dreams. My lips part. I whisper, "my love."
I walk over to him and seal him into a tight hug, feeling my eyes water and my throat and chest constrict in grief and longing, "my dream."
"My angel," he mutters against me, sealing his arms around my form. Dream crumbles into me. I feel him crumble against my form. I feel him release a tight tension in his spine. I feel him relax and find refuse in him. My body calls out to him. I missed him so.
Johanna watches then huffs, "I reckon my work here is done."
Dream's eyes dart to her and he nods once, "yes, thank you, Constantine."
I close my eyes and nuzzle my face into his neck.
She nods, "see ya, Sandman," then walks off.
A few elderly fellows pass us in the hall as we continue to find solace in each other's arms.
"How lovely."
"Get a room!"
"Oh I remember when Gertrude and I-"
"I'm walkin' 'ere."
"Such a stunning girl with such a strange, scrawny boy."
I pull away and take his face in my palms. I trace his cheeks with my thumbs and brush his dark hair out of his face. I inspect every inch of him. He was whole, but he was also not. His face, normally, was angular and bony, but never like this, never.
Dream looks upon me with his hands resting my waist. He allows me to touch him as I please, and while I knew I was always special in this, I knew that he was never too keen on any bold form of affection, as it was not his nature.
"I was forbidden to interfere," I mutter lowly as my hands roam him. I avoid his gaze.
He rubs my back, "I know," he pulls me close, "I know this," he sighs, "I do not fault you for not coming to me."
I look back at him with sorrow, "you must have been greatly distressed," I frown, taking in his sullen form and tired eyes. I have not seen him in such a state. He has taken many forms throughout his life, and though most of them were slender and lean, never did he look so thin or hollow the way he did now.
I blink away my tears, "there has not been a day that I did not want to go to you, Dream."
He places his hands atop mine and leans into my touch, "and there has not been a day I did not want to see you," he leans in and kisses me. I immediately reel him and and deepen our exchange. As our lips and tongue dance together, he briskly pulls away to speak, "to have you touch me lik-"
"GET A ROOM!"
"CALLAGHAN, YOU PUT A SOCK IN IT!"
I pull away from him and turn to the arguing seniors in the hall. I look back at Dream, who leans back into me and clutches my body close. I sigh ands him and lead him down the hall, "perhaps we should get a room, my love."
Dream looks at our joined hands as we exit the home for the aged. He thinks there is a great comfort in knowing that the angel before him is just as honeyed and tender as before, that she lives her life in servitude to others still, that after a century, there is a constant that is the she, the North Star of Dreams.
But he remembers he did not have time for tender honey, though he missed the taste so badly. No time, not at present, "my love."
I stop in my tracks when we get outside and turn to him.
"I do not wish to be parted from you," he starts, stepping close to me, caressing my cheek, "but there are things I must first do."
I knit my brows before I nod, "of course, Dream," I shake my head, "I know you value your duty most of all," I place a hand on his cheek, "and I shall do them with you."
Dream stills as I rub his cheeks. I look at him through my lashes, "I, too, do not wish to be parted from you. I beg that you do not tell me you came only to see me and leave."
He lets out a breath and leans his forehead onto mine. He closes his eyes when I move to kiss him. One I pull away, he speaks out my name. He speaks it with so much reverence I feel my wings flutter from behind its glamour of invisibility.
"I do not mean to deny either of us of each other's company, but you see, my helm has been bartered off to a demon," he pulls away and takes my hand, "I must go to retrieve it in hell, and taking you may cause you quarrel with your blood that I do not wish to happen."
"Oh," I mutter softly, "one of dearest Lucifer's acolytes has your artifact?"
He nods, "it remains to be seen."
"Then do not fear. I shall accompany you to my half's domain."
A line forms between his brows.
I chuckle softly and smoothen the crease on his forehead, "do not trouble yourself with useless worrries, my Dream. You could not cause strife between us that is not already there."
I grab his hand and breath in deeply, allowing myself to take on my truer form. I pull him up as I stretch my dark wings out and begin to rise from the ground, "my sibling is capable of only bearing one grudge against me."
Dream holds onto me as we rise up into the sky. He utters, "not joining her uprising."
"Yes," I clutch him tightly against me, "I am certain though Lightbringer will be most pleased to see me."
And so when we get to hell, Dream and I stand before the gates, awaiting for the keeper to come. Once the wretched thing appears, Squatterbloat, I speak to the demon guard and announce ourselves, "I am the Nightstar, Harbinger of the Dusk, Star of the Night, Bringer of Darkness. With me is Dream of the Endless, King of Dreams, Shaper of Forms, Prince of Stories. We have come to speak with the my blood half, Morningstar, Bringer of Light, Ruler of Hell."
For a moment, I see the demon is too stunned by my appearance and glory to speak. He begins to chant, "holy, holy-"
"Open the gates, Squatterbloat."
He looks upon me then grins, "an angel of the most high, in hell?" he laughs, "you have fallen to the depths to join our ruler."
I narrow my eyes at him, "do I look felled to you?"
"Your feet touch upon the ground," Squatterbloat says, looking down to my shos.
"What do you know? I live amongst the people, and I am not yet in hell."
"Oh, your glory excites me-"
"Chose your words wisely, or I shall smite you."
He tries to reach out to my form, "oh, holy," his paw raises, "I shall love to defile yo-"
"You will regret attempts," Dream quips with a look of disdain.
I blind him with darkness. The demon yelps.
I rise from the ground look down at the him, "you will find that I will not be ridiculed by a lowly imp."
I watch as Squatterbloat withers away, writhing in pain and confusion. I blink at thw pathetic display then turn to Dream, reaching out to him. He takes my hand and I decide to fly us over the gates instead.
"Is this proper, my love?" Dream mutters as we soar over the damned who wail and lift up their hands, calling out to me for deliverance.
I make an annoyed sound, "I will soon destroy the abominations here if we interact with them any more. The ruler of hell would surely appreciate that less."
Dream does not argue, "very well, my love."
When we descend into the heart of hell. I release Dream and prop him down on his feet, but I, myself, do not touch my feet upon the stone. I would both be desecrating myself and my beloved's domain by doing do.
"Lightbringer," Dream calls out, "Morningstar! I call upon you."
There is a crash.
"WHO IS THERE? WHO INSULTS ME BY ENTERING MY DWELLING WITHOUT-" the ruler of hell stops when she gazes upon me. The Fallen blinks, "ah," she releases a breath and smiles, raising her arms out to me, "sister."
I smile back, "my half."
I soar over to Lucifer, placing my hands upon her face. We kiss and I take in her appearance. She looks well. "It is wonderful to see you, beloved"
She nods, "it is wonderful to see you."
There is a groan from the side.
Mazikeen looks up at me and gawks at my form. I turn to her and her half-rotten from, and smile, "greetings, Mazikeen."
She mumbles a garbled greeting in response, eyes wide in wonder of my figure and cloak of holy darkness.
Lucifer turns to Dream, "why have you brought an Endless with you, beloved?"
I turn to Lucifer then to Dream, "there is something that he wishes to retrieve from a demon."
Lucifer crosses her arms and tilts her head, "ah, I see. The Endless has been bested by one of my children."
"I am not bested, Morningstar," Dream speaks, "I was imprisoned for a century and with that time, my helm was taken and traded to a demon."
My twin purses her lips, "I see," she waves a hand, "do not dawdle then, Dream of the Endless, speak the name of the demon and I shall call upon them."
Lucifer and I look at him.
Mazikeen hisses when her hand burns when she tries to touch me.
We turn to her.
"Mazikeen!" Lucifer scolds.
Mazikeen apologizes, pulling back. I look at her as she clutches her rotting arm that was now further mangled.
"I do not know the name of the demon," Dream replies.
"I see," Lucifer repeats, "then we shall call upon them all."
The demons, djinns, damned, and all clamor at the foot of the stronghold. Dream and I walk to the edge, looking out the opening, beholding the view before us. I look out to them as they see my form and praise and curse me all at once. I feel revulsion, a thick bile rise up my throat. I spit it out my side.
Lucifer walks next to me, laughing lowly, "you insult me, my blood."
I turn to her and offer a half-sympathetic look, "it is my nature. Do not be insulted."
Dream looks upon the pit and tries to make out one who has his helm. He listens to them and their dreams. He cannot isolate the cries. He pulls out his bag of sand and scoops a clump, breathing out to it, causing it to flurry over the entities. It then summons the demon that has his artifact.
With a whiff of sand, the demon is brought before us.
"Choronzon," my twin and I speak at the same time.
"My Lord," he bows to my twin. When he turns to me, he falls onto his hands and knees, "my- my-" he starts and tries to lift his eyes, but he cannot look upon my form. Choronzon turns away and shields himself, "I- how may I serve?"
Lucifer watches as Choronzon retreats me. Once he is far and look back at her, she points, "the Dream King wishes to retrieve something from you."
"Greetings, Choronzon," Dream addresses.
Choronzon, now turned away from me, regains composure, "Dream King." He grins.
"I have come to retrieve the helm that was stolen from me."
He grins even wider, sharp teeth laced with malevolence, "stolen? Me?" he places a hand on his chest, "you flatter me too greatly."
"I do not speak to flatter you," Dream retorts.
Choronzon laughs and licks his hand, wiping the side of his head. He basks in self-indulgence.
"Well, have you the helm, demon?" I call, narrowing my eyes upon his disgusting form.
He cannot bare to look at me but he replies, "I don't know of a helm."
"You cannot deceive us," my twin and I speak in unison once again.
Choronzon turns to his master, evading me, "right. My liege, the helm is in my clutch after I traded with something. It is mine. I have broken no laws of hell in gaining it," he turns to Dream, "it's mine."
"Very well," Lucifer says, turning to the Endless as well, "what say you, Dream? I shall not assert myself to a child that has kept my laws."
Choronzon is smug. Dream tilts his head at the demon, "it is not yours to keep, just as it was not something to have been traded for."
Choronzon shrugs then smiles, "then you challenge me?"
I scoff.
Lucifer's lips curl.
Mazikeen watches.
Dream scowls. He thinks about his condition, and how he was not yet strong enough to fight. I watch him, feeling the agitation rise around him. We all can sense it. I knit my brows when he finishes debating and states, "very well."
Choronzon beams.
"No," clatters a sword, "I disagree, demon," I announce, pointing my blade upon his neck. I take my full angel form, stretching my wings. It glitters with darkness as I hover above the creature.
Choronzon shrieks and topples back, the mere presence of my weapon overpowering him already.
"MASTER!" Choronzon calls as he shields himself from me, turning to my sibling for aid.
I press nearer with a look of fury.
Lucifer looks upon her demon and his pathetic form on the ground and watches him shrivel. She crosses her arms while doing so.
"You will soon perish if you do not release what you hoard, Choronzon," my voice echoes and my eyes blaze with darkness, "I will smite you that none of your vileness shall remain, as though it never was. Is that what you wish, deceitful creature?"
"MASTER!" Choronzon calls, screwing his eyes shut until he is at the edge of the room.
Dream gazes at the demon curling up in terror.
The miscreant calls out master again.
"She asks you a question, dear Choronzon," Lucifer says, "do you wish to see the power of the one favored by most high?"
"NO!"
Lucifer raises her hands and shrugs, "then you know what you must do."
Choronzon immediately brings out the helm and throws it away with desperation, "MERCY!"
I pull back and mellow my form, allowing my weapon to dissipate into the air, "this is not mercy, demon."
Lucifer nears Choronzon as he shivers. He reaches out to her garments and cries out, "master-"
"I am sorely displeased with you," she says, looking out to her people, "where are the twins Agony and Ecstasy? Take him away."
Choronzon screeches as he is taken away. He begs all the way down.
Dream picks up his artifact and finds himself sighing in relief.
Lucifer turns from Choronzon with a blank expression, watching as he is dragged away in chains, to me, lips turning into a frown, "that was hardly fair, my half."
I turn to her and shake my head, "I am incapable of hardly fair, beloved. You know this."
"I know this," Lucifer sighs. She looks to Dream as he puts his helm on, "and you. You use my beloved as leverage to beseech me. You have acted most wrongly."
"I did not wish to bring her with me, but you will find that she insisted," Dream says, reaching out to me. I move towards him and take his had.
"Thank you, Lightbringer," Dream nods in regard.
Lucifer scoffs, "thank me?" She laughs, "so you have your helm. Tell me, then, why I should not keep you here?"
I furrow my brows at her look of anger, "my half-"
Lucifer raises a finger. I hold my tongue.
Dream looks upon at her as she walks over with a grimace.
I watch as she stares him down.
"Well?" she imposes, "can you not think of one good reason for me to release you? Or will you use my half as leverage again?"
"An Endless has no place in hell."
Lucifer's lips curl, "and yet you see, you have no power here. It is not by your own power that you have come, and I will not allow you insult me further by using my sister as your chaperon."
I look at Dream, tightening my grip upon him, wanting nothing more than to speak on his behalf in this moment.
He is silent for a long moment
She grins, pleased with herself for besting Dream of the Endless.
Seeing her like this makes my stomach roll. My heart aches at sight of her unquenchable thirst for power. I begin to recall her fall I feel my eyes water at her self-importance. She wounds me deeply
Lucifer catches my express but offers me no pity nor remorse. Instead she raises her nose with arrogance and asserts, "you shall not take him out, beloved. I will hound him, if you do."
"But he is set to rebuild his own domain," I mutter through tears, "you will not keep him here, devil."
"Then he shall give me reason not to, angel."
Dream turns to me and wipes away my tears, "reason?" he starts, "power? You say I have no power here, but tell me," he turns to Lucifer, "what then would be hell without its dreams?"
My half throws her head back and laughs, "hell has no need for dreams, Dream King."
"No?" Dream pulls me towards him, "so I ask," he turns to the legion of damned, "what would hell be if it could not dream of heaven?"
I lift up my eyes to Dream.
Lucifer stills.
I look at my beloved lover then my beloved sibling. I wipe tears.
I feel a fury bubble from within my half. It tears at me. It makes my face harden. It guts me.
It was plain to see that Dream had given reason.
"Come, my love," Dream mutters softly, leading me off as he began go walk away, "let us leave this place."
I nod and allow Dream reel me away like a ballon. I give ruler of hell one last look, "farewell, beloved."
Lucifer glares then turns away.
Dream and I navigate hell as he walks and I float. The damned part for us to give us clear passage.
Lucifer watches, looking down upon her domain, tears streaking down her face, "one day, we shall destroy you."
205 notes · View notes
cry-ptidd · 6 months
Note
My OC, Angelique ‘Angel’ Delios, is a witch and an Empath.
An Empath is someone who can fully interpret the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another. Some users may learn to read emotional imprints left into environment or objects. Usually over time, an Empath's power grows to the point that they can manipulate emotions in others, and possibly use them to empower themselves.
Angel is an eccentric, emotional, kind, and ‘too smart for her own good’ intelligent black teenage girl from America and confesses to being kind of crazy. And by her own admission, has a soft spot for monsters. Angel speaks her mind, even if it may sound crazy or strange to others, with her signature Mona Lisa smile followed by her usual series of airy giggles and is a very touchy feely person when she gets comfortable with someone, which is often when she first meets them due to her deep understanding of people and lacks any of the usual caution or social etiquette ordinary people do.
She has ‘Hellsing: Abridged’ mixed with ‘Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt’ dub humor and is always wearing her Mona Lisa smile and is always giggling about something. She is loosely based off of Delirium and Death from ‘The Sandman,’ Winter from the ‘Lunar Chronicles,’ Gojo from JJK, and is pretty much the embodiment of every Melanie Martinez, Lana Del Ray, and Insane Clown Posse song.
In my slowly - very slowly - progressing story, Angel kind of just..shows up like a stray cat. And like a stray cat, she comes and goes wherever and whenever she pleases, mostly due to the other supernatural stuff she’s dealing with outside of helping or hanging around Hellsing.
- Angel figures out that Alucard is Count Dracula when they first met and she even pointed it out by playfully calling him ‘Count Dracula’ and wasn’t shy about teasing him in good fun.
- When she starts getting comfortable around him, she would lean against him or causally play with his gorgeous hair or steal his hat and sunglasses and wear them on herself.
- Angel is very much a modern teen and teases Alucard about being an old man and even calls him a Boomer whenever he remakes on certain modern things such as Angel’s eccentric sense of fashion or her technology or her unorthodox way of doing things.
- Angel can transform into a small white iridescent snake and black and white spotted rabbit and enjoys being held by either Seras or Alucard.
- She calls his late night walks his ‘eldritch zoomies.’
- She refers to the medical blood packs he’s always sucking on his ‘caprisuns.’
- She also gave him the nickname ‘Al’ and uses often, has him saved as ‘💖Lulu💖’ on her phone, calls him ‘Allie’ when he’s being particularly snowflaky, Or if he’s being an asshole she’ll call him the ‘Crimson Fucker’ (shoutout Team Fourstar!).
- Because she is an Empath, she knows what goes on beneath what Alucard chooses to show to others and brings up his troubles only when they are alone and knows his internal struggles and mechanisms. Also, if Angel focuses long enough on Alucard, she can hear and feel the souls trapped inside of him, sometimes she can even hear them screaming. She tries not to dig too deeply, both because she knows that people who are aware that she is an Empath don’t like it and if she is connected to Alucard for too long, she will start to cry, shedding both her own tears and his blood ones.
- And due to her abilities, and only under certain circumstances, Angel can blanket her presence around Alucard as a way of calming him down like a heated weighted blanket.
- There’s this one scene that sums up Angel’s view/relationship on Alucard where someone exclaims that Alucard is a monster, to which Angel lazily shifts her gaze from the person and Alucard while still wearing her Mona Lisa smile and just softly giggles, shaking her head, and says, “No, that’s not a monster. That’s just Al.”
- Despite her love for the modern age she was born into, Angel is a bit of an old soul though, she loves the vintage jazz vinyl records that she inherited from her mother.
- due to her family and her being a witch, can talk about certain archaic and ancient historical subjects for hours, usually about certain things that she shouldn’t know or that most people would understand. And occasionally, Angel would randomly drop facts and knowledge that humanity either doesn’t know or got wrong that either leaves everyone befuddled and having more questions than answers. (this plays into the multiple mythologies that tie together in this fanfic, it’s a sort of omnism I got going on).
- Angel is a witch and worships and pays homage to the Old Gods of the Pantheons, particularly the Greek and Orisha Pantheons due to her being Black Greek.
- This story gets into the colonization, cultural appropriation, generational trauma, and the violence and prejudice against others caused by the Christian church, both past and present.
- Angel also possesses powerful glamour magic (a hereditary ability in her family). Her glamour reflects her mental state, and since Angel is half-mad, her glamours can be both whimsical and strange. For instance, whenever she’s deep in thought or bored, Angel will summon goldfish/koi-fish or butterflies to fly above and swarm around her. Her hair and makeup and outfits are always bright and attention-grabbing. Her black hair either in it’s loose thick and curly state but with added bright colors or set in beautiful and complicated braids with beads or small trinkets added to it that jingle when she moves, her makeup matches her outfits and also contain glitter and or rhinestones.
- Angel is also a beast tamer, an unofficial occupation she obtained due to her Empath abilities and something that Sir Integra is silently thankful for when dealing with creatures outside of vampires.
- Basically, Angel and Alucard two chaotic peas in a pod and have a very strange brother-sister/father-daughter relationship. She and Alucard have a relationship that I can best describe that if the relationship of Paul and Carl from ‘Llamas with Hats’ and Katya and Trixie Mattel got together, sprinkled some dark-ass humor, cryptic speech patterns, and a shared love of chaos, and produced a bastard child. Also the ‘who’s who’ dynamic switches a lot between them.
Angelique!! Behold!!
12 notes · View notes
benito-cereno · 9 months
Note
Hi. I just saw an old post of yours recommending Plastic Man, Cap Marvel Adventures, Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman comics of the Golden Age. I was wondering, do you have any more recommendations of comics from that era? I've been interested in the Golden Age lately.
Yeah, sure!
Obviously Simon and Kirby were putting out quality stuff during this era, in all sorts of genres. While Captain America is the obvious pick, I’d definitely recommend their work on Sandman, Boy Commandos, and Fighting American. If you’re interested in their non-capes stuff, there are lots of nice collections available now of their sci-fi, Western, horror, and romance comics that should be pretty easy to find. I know Kirby was particularly proud of Boys’ Ranch.
Another favorite of mine from the Golden Age is Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein. It goes through a number of different stylistic eras — horror to superhero to comedy back to horror — but those latter two eras are some of the best comics ever made imo. Here’s an introductory essay I wrote a while back:
I’ll also give qualified recommendations to Will Eisner’s The Spirit and Reed Crandall’s Blackhawk, but only if you can overlook offensively archaic racial caricatures (pretty endemic of the Golden Age, so if you’ve read the stuff I’ve recommended before, you’ve definitely encountered it)
Phantom Lady is pretty good if you don’t mind cheesecakey stuff.
Obviously EC was putting out top tier sci-fi, horror, war, and crime books. Tons of nice collections in print now, some collected by title or genre, some by artist. I personally like the Jack Davis horror collections, but you really can’t go wrong.
If you’re open to humor comics, Herbie is one of the funniest books ever published and the bizarre humor really holds up for the most part. And then the vast body of material from John Stanley — Little Lulu, Nancy, Melvin Monster, et al — is extremely charming, top shelf material. Also technically Carl Barks’s Duck books are Golden Age, but don’t typically get grouped in with Superman and so on.
Of course, the REALLY ace material from this time comes from newspaper strips, but that’s a whole different post
7 notes · View notes
Note
I meant ‘boo-boo,’ damn autocorrect and my southern upbringing lol
My OC, Angelique ‘Angel’ Delios, is a witch and an Empath. An Empath is someone who can fully interpret the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another. Some users may learn to read emotional imprints left into environment or objects. Usually over time, an Empath's power grows to the point that they can manipulate emotions in others, and possibly use them to empower themselves.
Angel is an half-mad, eccentric, emotional, kind, and ‘too smart for her own good’ intelligent black teenage girl from America and confesses to not being the most sanest person in the world. And by her own admission, has a soft spot for monsters. Angel speaks her mind, even if it may sound crazy or strange to others, with her signature Mona Lisa smile followed by her usual series of airy giggles and is a very touchy feely person when she gets comfortable with someone, which is often when she first meets them due to her deep understanding of people and lacks any of the usual caution or social etiquette ordinary people do.
She has ‘Hellsing: Abridged’ mixed with ‘Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt’ dub humor and is always wearing her Mona Lisa smile and is always giggling about something. She is loosely based off of Delirium from ‘The Sandman,’ Winter from the ‘Lunar Chronicles,’ Gojo from JJK, and is pretty much the embodiment of every Melanie Martinez, Lana Del Ray, and Insane Clown Posse song.
In my slowly - very slowly - progressing story, Angel kind of just..shows up like a stray cat. And like a stray cat, she comes and goes wherever and whenever she pleases, mostly due to the other supernatural stuff she’s dealing with outside of helping or hanging around Hellsing. Angel figures out that Alucard is or was Count Dracula when they first met and she even pointed it out by playfully calling him ‘Count Dracula’ and wasn’t shy about teasing him in good fun. When she starts getting comfortable around him, she would lean against him or causally play with his gorgeous hair or steal his hat and sunglasses and wear them on herself.
Angel is very much a modern teen and teases Alucard about being an old man and even calls him a Boomer whenever he remakes on certain modern things such as Angel’s eccentric sense of fashion or her technology or her unorthodox way of doing things.
~ Angel can transform into a small white iridescent snake and black and white spotted rabbit and enjoys being held by either Seras or Alucard.
~ She calls Alucard’s late night walks his ‘eldritch zoomies.’
~ She refers to the medical blood packs he’s always sucking on his ‘caprisuns.’
~ She also gave him the nickname ‘Al’ and uses often, has him saved as ‘💖Lulu💖’ on her phone, calls him ‘Alie’ when he’s being particularly snowflaky, Or if he’s being an asshole she’ll call him the ‘Crimson Fucker’ (shoutout Team Fourstar!).
~Because she is an Empath, she knows what goes on beneath what Alucard chooses to show to others and brings up his troubles only when they are alone and knows his internal struggles and mechanisms. Also, if Angel focuses long enough on Alucard, she can hear and feel the souls trapped inside of him, sometimes she can even hear them screaming. She tries not to dig too deeply, both because she knows that people who are aware that she is an Empath don’t like it and if she is connected to Alucard for too long, she will start to cry, shedding both her own tears and his.
~ And due to her abilities, and only under certain circumstances, Angel can blanket her presence around Alucard as a way of calming him or anyone down like a heated weighted blanket.
~ There’s this one scene that sums up Angel’s view/relationship on Alucard where someone exclaims that Alucard is a monster, to which Angel lazily shifts her gaze from the person and Alucard while still wearing her Mona Lisa smile and just softly giggles, shakes her head, and says, “No, that’s not a monster. That’s just Al.”
~ Despite her love for the modern age she was born into, Angel is a bit of an old soul though, she loves the vintage jazz vinyl records that she inherited from her mother.
~ Due to the resources she has access to due to her family and her being a witch, can talk about certain archaic and ancient historical subjects for hours, usually about certain things that she shouldn’t know or that most people would understand. And occasionally, Angel would randomly drop facts and knowledge that humanity either doesn’t know or got wrong that either leaves everyone befuddled and having more questions than answers. (this plays into the multiple mythologies that tie together in this fanfic, it’s a sort of omnism I got going on).
~ Angel worships and pays homage to the Old Gods of the Pantheons, particularly the Greek and Orisha Pantheons due to her being Black Greek. This story gets into the colonization, cultural appropriation, generational trauma, and the violence and prejudice against others caused by the Christian church, both past and present.
~ Angel also possesses powerful glamour magic (a hereditary ability in her family). Her glamour reflects her mental state, and since Angel is half-mad, her glamours can be both whimsical and strange. For instance, whenever she’s deep in thought or bored, Angel will subconsciously summon goldfish/koi-fish or butterflies to fly above and swarm around her. She mainly uses her glamour to change her hair and eye color to something bold and stunning to match her flamboyant personality.
~ Angel is a beast tamer, an unofficial occupation she obtained due to her Empath abilities and something that Sir Integra is silently thankful for when dealing with creatures outside of vampires.
~ Basically, Angel and Alucard two chaotic peas in a pod and have a very strange brother-sister/father-daughter relationship.
Hellsing OC Gushing
5 notes · View notes
corvidcrybaby · 10 months
Note
My OC, Angelique ‘Angel’ Delios, is a witch and an Empath. An Empath is someone who can fully interpret the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another.
Some users may learn to read emotional imprints left into environment or objects. Usually over time, an Empath's power grows to the point that they can manipulate emotions in others, and possibly use them to empower themselves. Angel is an eccentric, emotional, kind, and ‘too smart for her own good’ intelligent black teenage girl from America and confesses to being kind of crazy. And by her own admission, has a soft spot for monsters. Angel speaks her mind, even if it may sound crazy or strange to others, with her signature Mona Lisa smile followed by her usual series of airy giggles and is a very touchy feely person when she gets comfortable with someone, which is often when she first meets them due to her deep understanding of people and lacks any of the usual caution or social etiquette ordinary people do.
~ She has ‘Hellsing: Abridged’ mixed with ‘Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt’ dub humor and is always wearing her Mona Lisa smile and is always giggling about something. She is loosely based off of Delirium from ‘The Sandman,’ Winter from the ‘Lunar Chronicles,’ Gojo from JJK, and is pretty much the embodiment of every Melanie Martinez, Lana Del Ray, and Insane Clown Posse song. In my slowly - very slowly - progressing story, Angel kind of just..shows up like a stray cat. And like a stray cat, she comes and goes wherever and whenever she pleases, mostly due to the other supernatural stuff she’s dealing with outside of helping or hanging around Hellsing.
~ Angel figures out that Alucard is or was Count Dracula when they first met and she even pointed it out by playfully calling him ‘Count Dracula’ and wasn’t shy about teasing him in good fun.
~When she starts getting comfortable around him, she would lean against him or causally play with his gorgeous hair or steal his hat and sunglasses and wear them on herself.
~ Angel is very much a modern teen and teases Alucard about being an old man and even calls him a Boomer whenever he remakes on certain modern things such as Angel’s eccentric sense of fashion or her technology or her unorthodox way of doing things.
~ Angel can transform into a small white iridescent snake and black and white spotted rabbit and enjoys being held by either Seras or Alucard.
~ She calls his late night walks his ‘eldritch zoomies.’
~ She refers to the medical blood packs he’s always sucking on his ‘caprisuns.’
~ She also gave him the nickname ‘Al’ and uses it often, has him saved as ‘💖Lulu💖’ on her phone, calls him ‘Allie’ when he’s being particularly snowflaky, Or if he’s being an asshole she’ll call him the ‘Crimson Fucker’ (shoutout Team Fourstar!).
~ Because she is an Empath, she knows what goes on beneath what Alucard chooses to show to others and brings up his troubles only when they are alone and knows his internal struggles and mechanisms. Also, if Angel focuses long enough on Alucard, she can hear and feel the souls trapped inside of him, sometimes she can even hear them screaming. She tries not to dig too deeply, both because she knows that people who are aware that she is an Empath don’t like it and if she is connected to Alucard for too long, she will start to cry, shedding both her own tears and his. And due to her abilities, and only under certain circumstances, Angel can blanket her presence around Alucard as a way of calming him down like a heated weighted blanket. 
~ There’s this one scene that sums up Angel’s view/relationship on Alucard where someone exclaims that Alucard is a monster, to which Angel lazily shifts her gaze from the person and Alucard while still wearing her Mona Lisa smile and just softly giggles and says, “No, that’s not a monster. That’s just Al.”
~ Due to the resources she has access to due to her family and her being a witch, can talk about certain archaic and ancient historical subjects for hours, usually about certain things that she shouldn’t know or that most people would understand. And occasionally, Angel would randomly drop facts and knowledge that humanity either doesn’t know or got wrong that either leaves everyone befuddled and having more questions than answers. (this plays into the multiple mythologies that tie together in this fanfic, it’s a sort of omnism I got going on). Angel is a witch and worships and pays homage to the Old Gods of the Pantheons, particularly the Greek and Orisha Pantheons due to her being Black Greek. This story gets into the colonization, cultural appropriation and erasure, generational trauma, and the violence and prejudice against others caused by the Christian church, both past and present.
~ Angel also possesses powerful glamour magic (a hereditary ability in her family). Her glamour reflects her mental state, and since Angel is half-mad, her glamours can be both whimsical and strange. For instance, whenever she’s deep in thought or bored, Angel will summon goldfish/koi-fish or butterflies to fly above and swarm around her.
~ Angel is also a beast tamer, an unofficial occupation she obtained due to her Empath abilities and something that Sir Integra is silently thankful for when dealing with creatures outside of vampires.
~ Basically, Angel and Alucard two chaotic peas in a pod and have a very strange brother-sister/father-daughter relationship.
Okay so wowee I'm sorry it took me so long to respond to this but all I can say is GOSH I hardly think you needed my feedback on anything because it's clear that you've put a ton of effort into constructing this OC! A lot of thought has gone into this and I like how many different angles you considered the relationship your OC has to Alucard and how they mirror and contrast one another. I'm also always one for introducing more political commentary into Hellsing - the show is already p damn political but actual exploration of generational trauma due to colonization, genocide and more is just... My shit. Something I do a lot of with Zemira, in her own way. I also like that you've given her more of a familial bond with Alucard because that's not something we see a ton of in Hellsing - his dynamics with Integra and Seras, while close, are both power dynamics which makes this a unique perspective. All told I love the energy here and I dig your OC a lot! Thank you for sharing her with me!
5 notes · View notes
The 10th Annual L.A.O.K. Awards
Wow. Ten years of the Layokies. What a trip. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to all five of my faithful fans for your readership over the years. In my first ever Layokies post, I named it the “1st (Possibly) Annual L.A.O.K. Awards.” I had no idea how long I’d be working at the Academy, let alone living in LA, but here we are. I bragged about seeing 180 movies that year. I just checked my Letterboxd stats for this year and it turns out I watched...180 movies. However, this year I hit a new personal best for new releases: 125. While this is about half as many as some people I know, some of the first Layokies were based on a field of 60 or 70 movies, so I’ve doubled up on my old self. Funny thing is, I can still look on other year-end lists and find many films I haven’t seen, and even some I haven’t heard of, so the field of films I’ve added are probably in the middle to bottom range of the pack. But someone out there has to watch Tolkien, Gemini Man, The Goldfinch, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, so it might as well be me.
In all honesty, my absolute favorite thing about living in Los Angeles and working at the Academy is access to watching movies and being around the general cinephile community, and even a bad couple of hours in a movie theater beats a lot else. Over Christmas break I saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Shawnee, OK’s own Cinema Center 8. 
Tumblr media
It was quite a trip going back to this theater after so many years and to think of the love of film that was fostered there. Alas, the picture was pretty muddy, and I’m almost positive they showed it in 2k. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 
Now, in penance for naming The King’s Speech Best Picture in my first year (lol), I give you five real good’uns for 2019:
Best Film The Farewell The King Little Women Parasite Uncut Gems
Sometimes I touch on a year being good or bad for film in general. Not sure about the whole, but I’ll call 2019 a real SEC year (aka stacked at the top and mediocre to poor the rest of the way down). While I would probably only give one title on this list must-see status (Parasite), these are all definite should-sees. The Farewell made me laugh and cry and cringe. One might even go so far as to say it “gave me all the feels.” The King gave me actual siege warfare and period-accurate haircuts. Little Women hit me with that structure, and at first I was all “hol up,” but then I was all “OK I see you.” Little Women also made me cry because I cry in movies now. (A quick aside, because while I absolutely loved Little Women, it’s not really going to come up again. If you liked the movie and haven’t read the book, please do yourself a favor and make it the next one on your list. You can’t know how great this movie is unless you know how good Beth is. Beth kind of got lost in this one, and you need to know Beth.) Parasite blew me away through its normality (who, having seen The Host, Snowpiercer, and Okja could have guessed that it wasn’t about some actual alien parasite??). And Uncut Gems was exactly as perfect as I expected it to be. And the Layokie goes to... The King
Tumblr media
Faithful readers will know that one of my absolute favorite genres is ‘discreet conversation behind castle walls,’ and The King absolutely nailed it. It has everything: leadership position foisted on a worthy but flawed character who doesn’t want it, conversations in tents about battle tactics, love built on almost nothing but mutual respect, and most of all, Robert Pattinson doing a funny accent (it’s just a French accent, but he makes it quite funny). I would have already watched this again five times on Netflix, but I’m hoping and praying for an Oscar nomination that will never ever in a million years come in hopes that I can see it again in the theater during nominations screenings.
The Next Five Six 1917 Honey Boy The Laundromat The Lighthouse Marriage Story Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best Actor Timothée Chalamet - The King Adam Driver - Marriage Story Paul Walter Hauser - Richard Jewell Joaquin Phoenix - Joker Adam Sandler - Uncut Gems
Another super stacked category this year. You might even say they’re *puts on sunglasses*...Stacked Actors. (<-- This is a really good joke for anyone whose favorite band from 7th-8th grade was The Foo Fighters.) These are all kind of obvious, so I’ll take a second to comment on Paul Walter Hauser and the fact that I gave out a very specific award last year titled “Refuse to Watch - Any More Clint Eastwood Movies” after trying and failing to watch The 15:17 to Paris on a plane (one of the worst pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever witnessed). Then this year Richard Jewell was getting such good buzz, and it seemed like such a good cast, and it was such a low-risk watch (on my second screen at work while doing spreadsheets), that I decided to shamefully renege on my earlier pronouncement and give it a shot. And...it was great pretty good! What is the deeal with Clint Eastwood?? He’s made some of my least favorite movies of the decade (Gran Torino, Invictus, Hereafter was a particularly awful stretch, Sully was pointless, and even parts of American Sniper, which was otherwise tolerable, were absolute cringefests). Anywho, I was very impressed by Paul Walter Hauser’s understated but perfect performance, in which he gets one good chance to blow up and yell at people--which you know I love. I hope he gets nominated, because it would be a great Oscar clip. (My ultimate dream job would be to pick the acting Oscars clips and I would be very very good at it.)
And the Layokie goes to... The Sandman (love that everyone is calling him the Sandman again)
Tumblr media
I touched on Adam Sandler “A” in the Best Supporting Actor section of my 2018 Layokies post regarding his performance in The Meyerowitz Stories, lamenting that he hadn’t taken more dramatic roles after Punch-Drunk Love and hoping that good writer/directors would keep casting him. One more wish granted by the Safdie brothers. Adam Sandler’s talent is undeniable. He is truly one of the Great Actors of his generation. I really hope this is a respected-actor-making turn for him, but the upcoming roles on his IMDd--Hubie Halloween and Hotel Transylvania 4--don’t give much hope for the immediate future. 
Honorable Mentions Taron Egerton - Rocketman (but only for the phone booth scene) Shia LaBeouf - The Peanut Butter Falcon Noah Jupe - Honey Boy Robert Pattinson - The Lighthouse Jonathan Pryce - The Two Popes
Best Actress Ana de Armas - Knives Out Scarlett Johansson - Marriage Story Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell Florence Pugh - Midsommar Saoirse Ronan - Little Women
Found out last night from my resident celebrity expert Bridgette Smith that Florence Pugh is dating Zach Braff and it absolutely crushed me. 
And the Layokie goes to... Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell
Tumblr media
Her Smell was the last 2019 film I watched before writing this post, and I was really just looking for something to pass the time. I had been wanting to see it for a long time and noticed it was on HBO, so I pressed play and planned to work on this post while I watched. I couldn’t. I was riveted. The writing, score, and sound design are incredible, but it’s all tied together by Elisabeth Moss’s performance. She’s excellent at being revolting but still has all of those qualities that made her Peggy. You can’t not like her, even though you fairly hate her. 
Honorable Mentions Awkwafina - The Farewell Cynthia Erivo - Harriet Lupita Nyong’o - Us (You know I love weird voices, you know I love actors doing weird voices and faces, but this was a bit much even for me. Reflective of Us on the whole, which I thought was interesting but really missed the mark.) Charlize Theron - Bombshell
Best Director Ari Aster - Midsommar Bong Joon Ho - Parasite David Michôd - The King Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems Céline Sciamma - Portrait of a Lady on Fire
And the Layokie goes to... Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems
Tumblr media
Wired: New directors Tired: Old directors
Boy do I not understand the love for The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I’m not totally against boring movies if there’s a good reason for it (Midsommar was actually quite boring), but these were some of the least compelling films I watched all year. On the other hand, you have these young directors coming out of prestige horror, Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and to a lesser extent David Robert Mitchell and Trey Edwards Shults, making some of the most dynamic films out there. Reminds me of Roger Ebert talking about early Scorsese in Life Itself (which I can’t find a clip of). Then you have Benny and Josh Safdie doing Scorsese better than Scorsese with literally breathtaking shots like the one below. How they construct such amazing edits out of such disparate takes as the one in the still above is a wonder. They’ll go from five extreme close-ups in a row to a jaw-dropping shot of the inside of a jewelry store zoomed in from across the street. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on what makes them the best filmmakers working right now. 
Tumblr media
Honorable Mentions Noah Baumbach - Marriage Story Robert Eggers - The Lighthouse Claire Denis - High Life Greta Gerwig - Little Women Alejandro Landes - Monos Sam Mendes - 1917 Alex Ross Perry - Her Smell Joe Talbot - The Last Black Man in San Francisco Lulu Wang - The Farewell
Best Supporting Actress Laura Dern - Marriage Story Lena Headey - Fighting with My Family Lee Jung Eun - Parasite (The housekeeper) Meryl Streep - The Laundromat Shuzhen Zhao - The Farewell (Nai Nai)
And the Layokie goes to... Laura Dern - Marriage Story
Tumblr media
Here’s one for the Laura Dern stan accounts: There’s no question that Noah Baumbach is a talented director of actors, but Laura Dern makes so much out of seemingly not a lot in this role. She truly embodies a wholly unique and three-dimensional character that could have extremely easily been one-note.
Honorable Mentions Lily-Rose Depp - The King Florence Pugh - Little Women Margot Robbie - Bombshell
Best Supporting Actor Timothée Chalamet - Little Women Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse Shia LaBeouf - Honey Boy Al Pacino - The Irishman Robert Pattinson - The King
And the Layokie goes to... Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse
Tumblr media
For being all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT7uR4wNMJs
Honorable Mentions Bill Hader - It Chapter Two Tim Heidecker - Us Sam Rockwell - Richard Jewell Song Kang Ho - Parasite (the dad) Lakeith Stanfield - Uncut Gems
Best Original Screenplay The Farewell - Lulu Wang Her Smell - Alex Ross Perry Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach Parasite - Bong Joon Ho Uncut Gems - Benny and Josh Safdie
And the Layokie goes to... Parasite - Bong Joon Ho
Tumblr media
Another genre we don’t get nearly enough of: comedies of errors. A script like this is as sophisticated as any mystery, political thriller, or...some other sophisticated type of script, like uh, I don’t know, they usually just say Chinatown or Witness. I did think it lagged a bit in the third act, but everything that came before it was so tight. Twist after turn after twist, so funny, so shocking. This is such a rare prestige crowd-pleaser that it really does harken back to Hitchcock; if a wide audience can get over watching subtitles, this has to have one of the lowest barriers for entry of any foreign film in a long time. Here’s hoping for a Best Picture Oscar nomination and a wide release. Uncut Gems played at Shawnee’s other theater (titled simply Movies 6), so it’s not that far out of the realm of possibility. But I know people in LA, even that work at the Academy, who won’t watch subtitled films, so getting people to actually go see it is another question. 
Honorable Mentions Peterloo - Mike Leigh
Best Adapted Screenplay Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi Joker - Todd Philips & Scott Silver The King - David Michôd The Laundromat - Scott Z. Burns The Two Popes - Anthony McCarten
And the Layokie goes to... The King - Joel Edgerton and David Michôd
Tumblr media
It wouldn’t be the Layokies without me championing one film that no one else cares about. I just really really liked The King. Timothée Chalamet is so hot right now! How did this get so overlooked?? 😭
Best Documentary Apollo 11 Honeyland It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It Maiden Mike Wallace is Here
And the Layokie goes to... Maiden
Tumblr media
As I’m in the process of producing a documentary right now, it pains me a bit that my top two picks in this category are almost entirely archival. I thought Mike Wallace is Here was so well done, and the director did some amazing things playing with aspect ratio. But Maiden came into port first. What is wrong with people who don’t appreciate sports? This xkcd comic (who I usually appreciate) makes me so angry. Tell the women who worked their asses off for years to claw their way into this male-dominated space and literally made the world a better place that their efforts were no more than a weighted random number generator on which to build narratives! Clearly the narratives are there, but it rarely has as much to do with the result of the competition as it does the effort that it took individual human beings to get there. See also: Undefeated (currently streaming on Netflix).
Honorable Mentions Fyre They Shall Not Grow Old Satan & Adam
Best Foreign Language Film Duh Parasite
Biggest Missed Opportunity Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (How the first live action Pokemon movie should have happened)
Not Even Close to Enough Monsters Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Most Unbelievable Cosplay Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers
Absolutely Crushing the Sensitive Dad Roles Billy Crudup in After the Wedding and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
Good in Everything Too obvious, but Florence Pugh - Fighting with My Family, Midsommar, Little Women Robert Pattinson - High Life, The Lighthouse, The King Adam Driver - The Dead Don’t Die, Marriage Story, The Report, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Destigmatizing Fatness Award Dolemite is My Name The Laundromat Skin Almost Hustlers but then not (Lizzo got what, 30 seconds of screentime??)
#WasteYourAudience’sTime2019 The Souvenir The Proposal
Didn’t Actually Deserve to be Driven into the Ground Dark Phoenix The Kitchen
Just Plain Liked It Triple Frontier
Most Forgettable Tie: Tolkien and High Life (not for me, but it took me a full 10 minutes to convince Becca that she watched this, and I had to describe the masturbation chamber aka fuck box in a lot of detail before she got it, and I’m still not totally convinced she remembers it)
The Something Award Motherless Brooklyn
The Nothing Award Judy
Worst Movies 1. Rambo: Last Blood 2. Between Two Ferns: The Movie 3. Abominable 4. The Lion King 5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters 6. Wine Country 7. Jumanji: The Next Level 8. Frozen II 9. The Goldfinch 10. Pet Semetary
Best Scenes
Avengers: Endgame - The hammer, the portals, all the nerdy/normie BS, what can I say call me a basic bitch but there were some genuine holy schmoly moments in this that made it a really fun movie to experience in the theater
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - When Mr. Rogers uses the puppets on Lloyd
Captain Marvel - When she went full shit on ‘em
Climax - The opening dance sequence (the only thing that made this movie worth watching)
The Farewell - Too many to choose from, but I think my favorite moment in this movie was when they were taking photos of the fiances and another couple stumbled in on them, claiming they were lost. That couple leaves and we never see them again. These are the kinds of details that make movies come alive. Absolutely brilliant.
Gemini Man - The motorcycle chase (a rare scene actually made better by the high frame rate)
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum - The knife fight in the knife store
The King - The conversation between Hal and Catherine
Knock Down the House - When A.O.C. debated the incompetent proxy
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Skateboarding into town
Little Women - The “break-up” scene between Jo and Laurie (not a spoiler)
Midsommar - The drug trip scene (not that I’ve ever done drugs but this was the most accurate drug trip scene of all time) and the Ättestupa ceremony. Also found out in the video linked above that Ari Aster pronounces it Mid-SO-mar?? I thought that was the dumb way to pronounce it but apparently I’m the dumb one. Also also, another amazing detail worth mentioning: I absolutely loved that every time they were in their community sleeping barn, there was a baby crying somewhere on the second floor that we never see. Such a perfect way to put the characters and the audience on edge and indicate that there’s something wrong here.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - While I didn’t care for this movie, the scene where Brad Pitt went to the movie ranch and when he fantasized about going to the film set were absolutely dripping with tension, which made them as just as riveting as the rest of the movie wasn’t
Parasite - When the other family comes home early
The Peanut Butter Falcon - The scene after they come out of the corn field and share one of their first genuine moments
Uncut Gems - *Sarah Palin voice* All of ‘em, any of ‘em. But seriously the finale with the Celtics game
Us - The initial home invasion and the visit to the Tylers’ home (Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss)
The A.V. Club also does a best scenes list at the end of the year, and I love writing mine first and then seeing what they came up with. I’m always surprised at how many we match on. Just goes to show that a good scene is universal. I also enjoyed some of theirs that I overlooked here, including from Her Smell, Bombshell, Ad Astra (I almost included the moon chase myself and thought the baboon scene was equally compelling), and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Stupidest Scenes Every other John Wick 3 scene
Deserves Discussion The Dead Don’t Die
This movie was a lot of fun. But then it also completely sucked? Not really a Jim Jarmusch fan in the first place, but this had so many awesome elements to it: a great cast, great soundtrack, really fun and unexpected ways of breaking the 4th wall, but then it was also pointless and boring. I would love for someone to tell me why this is a good movie after all, but judging by its complete absence from the end-of-the-year discussion (or any discussion), I’m guessing no one cares enough to mount that challenge.
Best Visuals Alita: Battle Angel Aquarella A Hidden Life Honeyland Midsommar Monos
Many LOLs It Chapter Two Jojo Rabbit Parasite
Best Song Ready or Not - The Hide and Seek Song (why was this not submitted?)
youtube
Best Soundtrack Waves - Never have I already known so many songs on a film’s soundtrack; it’s almost as if Trey Edwards Shults is another white guy around my age with the same interests as me...
Worst Accents Midway
Started But Never Finished Cats Cold Case Hammarskjold Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Primal’ - Tales of Savagery  The Highway Men High Flying Bird Queen and Slim Spies in Disguise
Didn’t See Ash is Purest White Atlantics The Beach Bum The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (still really want to see this one) Clemency Diane Invisible Life Luce Shadow Synonyms Transit Woman at War
Absent on Purpose Pain & Glory Ford v Ferrari I think these are the only two contenders that I’ve seen and haven’t mentioned. I actually liked both of these movies quite a bit. Just didn’t stand out for me in any one category I suppose. But then also: Booksmart Brittany Runs a Marathon Just Mercy The Mustang
Hah!
Tumblr media
0 notes
libraryleopard · 8 days
Text
i'm glad they didn't put it in the show because jed walker had gone through enough shit with his foster parents but i do sometimes think of that bit in the sandman comics where rose has a conversation with the corinthian and is then like "okay where's my brother?" and he's like "oh he's been in my car trunk the whole time" and chuckle
3 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
family dinners in the sandman
24 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 2 years
Text
an unhappy take on sandman is that i don’t care for hob gadling and his relationship with dream and that is directly correlated to the fact that i do not think the show included his meeting with dream where it’s clear hob now realizes the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and explicitly regrets his involvement in it. i think the way that the sound of her wings and men of good fortune were adapted together was clever but i feel like that moment should have been included if they were going to keep the fact that hob was involved in the transatlantic slave trade because that is a very weighty thing to put in a story.
17 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 2 years
Text
sometimes a baby-sitter’s club is a reincarnated serial killer with mouths for eyes, a librarian who knows every book never written but not his own life story, and the first murderer in the world
21 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 2 years
Text
what i am thinking about on this fine wednesday morning is how when i watched the sandman tv show i had only read the comics it was directly adapting and during the episode where morpheus goes to hell i was kind of like “what was the point of giving matthew a larger role in this episode and why was it necessary for the talking bird to give morpheus a motivational speech” however now having read the kindly ones if the show ends up doing a call-back to this moment in the final season when matthew leaves dream behind to face the furies and is then wracked with guilt i may have to prepare myself for the possibility of crying over a cgi crow voiced by the rat from ratatouille 
15 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 2 years
Text
apparently arcane, sandman: brief lives, and interview with the vampire are proof that if you REALLY want to get at my emotions you should put some tragic parent-child relationships in your media
14 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sandman spin-off comic following largely new characters in the world of the Dreaming
A Shakespeare scholar accidentally gets sucked into the Dreaming when a failed nightmare attempts to escape into the waking world and must seek the help of a reckless sorceress and a beleaguered angel to make things right
Trans woman lead; gay lead
Likable & interesting new characters 
Gorgeous art!
4 notes · View notes
libraryleopard · 3 years
Text
like logically i do know that sandman and hellblazer all take place in the larger dc universe but i always sorta forget that when reading so whenever anyone mentions something like the justice league i’m just like
Tumblr media
10 notes · View notes