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#rewatching this in 2021 is definitely an experience
shenpie · 4 months
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cropslinger jumpscare .Sorry guys.
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uhhhhh i dont have a super solid human design of these two yet ;( im always experimenting and such ... trying to ..... go beyond my limits (aka not make them look like a twink) but Heres more of these freaks ~~~
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first design after i rewatched the movies Huge difference to the one i made in 2021 . definitely.
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really wanted him to have long enough hair to make a pony tail or sum .... but i scrapped that
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DUSTY ON ENGLISH HOMEWORK LMFAOOOOOO my Classmate kept saying smash to him . i cant blame her tho. i hope u can tell im trying my best to not make him look like a twink ,,£-)72;2"2;+. Ok
bwwaaaahhh Thats it Thanks guys *explodes *
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echo-and-dust · 10 days
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a letter of gratitude to Young Royals
(warning: extremely cheesy)
in september of 2021, i watched this show for the first time, completely unaware of what it was about and simply looking for something to disrupt my boredom.
two rewatches and several internet deep dives later, i was undoubtedly held captive by the story, its characters, and creators and have been ever since. after a traumatizing experience that shoved me back in the closet earlier that summer, young royals entered my life almost exactly when i needed it.
over two and a half years was spent scrolling through beautiful analyses, breaking down over art and fics littered with more prose than they have the right to possess, even outshining many published bestsellers i am familiar with. every fandom will have its trolls, and this one is definitely not exempt, but there is no denying how special this community is with how it seemed to grow overnight and spread the impactful messages of this little show to the rest of the world, to anyone who needed to hear them. it has united people across the world, from many different walks of life, prompting discussions that i never thought i would see happening in my lifetime. it encourages people to talk about the difficult things, the uncomfortable things, so often in such a respectful manner that it can make you forget how outrage-obsessed and uncompromising the internet can be.
many, including myself, have found themselves in these characters, both good and bad, because the show encapsulates what it's truly like to be human in a way that is so full of love and compassion that you don't often find in media. in a culture so obsessed with moral perfection and complete transparency of one's personal life, it is so relieving to have something to remind us that privacy is important, that your feelings are valid, regardless of whether they are good or not. young royals forgives in a way that so much of media and online culture doesn't.
as we approach the final hour before the very last episode of the show's well-deserved three-year-long run, i wanted to use this time to express my gratitude to those who have put their heart and soul into making this work of art the sensation that it is. i cannot wait to see what these talented people have put together for us one last time, and to see how it is celebrated for years to come.
so, as my last attempt at stringing together a coherent thought before i break down crying: thank you, young royals, for helping me grow. thank you for helping me heal. thank you for teaching me to view the world more in shades of grey instead of just black and white. thank you for helping me find beauty in the mundane. thank you for helping me discover things about myself. thank you for reminding me to check my privilege, to uplift the voices of those who may not have as much. thank you for existing.
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the-rewatch-rewind · 1 year
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New episode! Script below the break
Hello and welcome back to the Rewatch Rewind, where I talk about the top 40 movies I watched the most in 20 years. My name is Jane, and today I will be discussing number 39 on my list, Disney’s 2000 animated comedy The Emperor’s New Groove, directed by Mark Dindal, story by Chris Williams and Mark Dindal and screenplay by David Reynolds, featuring the voice talents of David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, and Patrick Warburton.
I find this movie highly entertaining even though – or perhaps because – it has one of the strangest premises ever. It tells the story of the selfish and spoiled Emperor Kuzco (David Spade), whose spiteful and power-hungry advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt)’s assassination attempt goes awry when her bumbling assistant Kronk (Patrick Warburton) accidentally turns Kuzco into a llama instead of poisoning him. Kronk is meant to finish the job, but loses track of the llama, who ends up on the cart of peasant Pacha (John Goodman), whose village Kuzco intends to destroy in order to make room for a summer palace. Despite this, Pacha sets off to help Kuzco turn back into a human, and to prove that there is some selfless good in the emperor.
I know I saw Emperor’s New Groove in theaters when it came out, but I don’t remember that experience particularly well, other than the scene at the end when they’re climbing on the side of the palace making me very nervous – I’ve always been scared of heights. Then we got it on vhs in one of those big puffy cases – remember those? – so I had definitely seen it multiple times before I started keeping track. Then I watched it once in 2003, twice in 2004, once in 2005, twice in 2006, once in 2008, once in 2009, once in 2011, twice in 2013, once in 2017, and once in each year from 2019 through 2021. For those who weren’t counting, that’s 15 times total.
First of all, this needs to be said: Yzma and Kronk are the best villain team in Disney history, perhaps even in movie history. They are hilarious yet unmistakably dangerous. Of course, most of the humor comes from Kronk’s ineptitude, but let’s not forget Yzma’s ridiculously convoluted original plan to turn Kuzco into a flea – a harmless little flea, and then put that flea in a box, and then put that box inside of another box, and then mail that box to herself, and when it arrives, smash it with a hammer! – it’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Yzma and Kronk don’t exactly work well together, but they understand each other, and it’s so fun to watch their dynamic. Kronk is too kind-hearted to be a very effective villain, but he is devoted to helping Yzma as best he can, until she turns on him and insults his spinach puffs. So if I had to point to one reason why I’ve watched this movie so many times, it’s gotta be the villain team. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton are both fabulous and perfectly cast here. And really, the entire voice cast is excellent. David Spade is great at sounding like a whiny spoiled brat, and John Goodman’s voice is perfect for Pacha. There’s also a fun cameo from John Fiedler, whose voice I immediately recognized as the voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh, among many other things. However, I do think, since they went to the trouble of at least sort of setting the film in South America, that it would have been great if they’d cast even one South American voice actor. But if they were determined to have such blatant and frankly inexcusable lack of appropriate representation, at least they got the best possible non-South American voice cast.
Partly because of the excellent voicework and partly because of the writing, this movie is just, very funny. There are so many silly little touches that work together to make it an entertaining watch, from the random extra lever to Kronk being able to speak squirrel – and then there’s all the self-referential humor. Most of the story is narrated by Kuzco, so the 4th wall is kind of shaky from the beginning, and it’s completely broken by the time Kronk pulls out a map illustrating the biggest plot hole. And possibly my favorite moment in the whole movie is in the middle of the climax when it cuts to a palace guard saying, “For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline!” and the trampoline guy replying with, “You know, pal, you could have told me that before I set it up” and then it just so happens that there needed to be a trampoline right there at that moment. For some reason that kind of humor really tickles me. I wonder if a lot of these jokes arose out of necessity because the story went through so many changes – apparently originally it was supposed to be a musical Incan re-telling of The Prince and the Pauper, with songs by Sting? I truly cannot even begin to picture what that would have been like. The movie we ended up with was sort of cobbled together at the last minute after it was clear the story had to be changed and a co-director quit when Disney wouldn’t postpone the release date. This is just speculation on my part, I haven’t seen anyone confirming this, but it kind of feels like instead of pretending they had a fully-formed story they just leaned into the parts that didn’t make sense and turned them into jokes, and somehow made it work way better than it had any right to. Or maybe they just realized it would be funny to intentionally write plot holes into the story. Either way, I love it.
Another thing that sets this movie apart for me is that it has no romance – well, almost. Pacha and his wife – who is voiced by Wendie Malick and whose name is apparently Chicha although they never say it in the movie – clearly love each other very romantically, and I’m actually glad their relationship is portrayed this way. It’s a refreshing departure from the tired trope of married couples who are sick of each other. This is promoting a healthy marriage and we love to see it. But the main storyline has nothing to do with falling in love. Most of the characters in this movie can easily be interpreted as aroace, which maybe isn’t the best representation because most of the characters are also objectively horrible people, especially at the beginning. Nevertheless I think this story successfully avoids perpetuating negative aroace stereotypes. Towards the beginning of the movie, there’s a brief scene where Kuzco is supposed to choose a bride from a line of women, and he’s not interested in any of them. In any other Disney movie, finding someone for Kuzco to marry would have then become an important part of the story – think about Aladdin or Cinderella – but in Emperor’s New Groove it is never mentioned again, and Kuzco goes through the entire rest of the movie without anyone even implying that he should be looking for love. So often in movies, when a jerk is against marriage at the beginning, part of their transformation into a better person is finding a spouse, indicating that not wanting to get married was part of what was wrong with them. Emperor’s New Groove allows Kuzco to become a better, more caring human being without forcing him into a romance. At the end of the movie, Kuzco has become friends with Pacha and his family, but he doesn’t have a partner, and there’s no hint that anyone thinks he needs one, which leads to the conclusion that his aversion to marriage was not part of what needed to change. I’m sure I didn’t consciously notice this as a child, but I think it was important for me to see. Most children’s films end with the protagonist getting married, or about to get married. The fact that this goofy talking llama movie almost feels revolutionary simply for allowing its main character to remain happily single speaks to just how pervasive the assumption that everyone wants and needs a long-term monogamous romantic relationship, an assumption known as amatonormativity, has become in our society. For people like me whose brains are not wired to experience that kind of attraction or to seek that kind of relationship, it’s incredibly confusing and alienating to see that portrayed not just as the default, but as the universal human experience. So every story that portrays not ending up in a romantic relationship as something other than a punishment is noteworthy. Even for people who do want that kind of relationship, it’s important to emphasize that becoming a good person is not synonymous with gaining a partner, despite what so many other films indicate. Don’t be a nice guy just so someone will date you; be a nice guy because that will make you and everyone around you happier.
I would like to point out that while Pacha is ultimately successful in his attempts to bring out the good in Kuzco, the message is not that people should pursue and put up with unhealthy friendships in the hope that toxic people will change. Kuzco is a sheltered 18-year-old, and this is really his coming of age story, which makes it even more noteworthy that it doesn’t include falling in love, since that’s usually portrayed as perhaps the most important milestone toward becoming an adult (in G-rated movies, at least). Pacha is really more of a mentor than a friend, especially at first, and he does leave Kuzco at one point, and only teams up with him again when Kuzco admits that he was wrong – a sign of maturity that I would argue is more important and universal than the ability to feel romantic attraction. Their friendship at the end feels satisfying and earned, and I think the fact that this aspect of the story is so solid is really what allows the movie to get away with the “we don’t know how to resolve this so we’ll turn it into a joke” parts I mentioned earlier. Zany as they are, the characters and their relationships and journeys feel surprisingly grounded and real, so it doesn’t really matter that there’s no way Yzma and Kronk could have gotten to the secret lab before Kuzco and Pacha. This movie takes a few important things very seriously and laughs at the rest, and I think that’s a big part of why I love it so much.
Looking back, the viewing of Emperor’s New Groove that stands out to me the most is the one from 2008 when I was a senior in high school. My two best friends and I were going to a school dance, and we met at my house to hang out beforehand to eat fondue and watch a movie. I don’t remember why but for some reason we decided on Emperor’s New Groove, and soon after we started watching, one of my friends turned to me and asked, completely seriously, if this was based on a true story. Now, granted, we weren’t very far into it at that point, but from the very beginning, the movie makes it clear that it’s about a person who is turned into a llama. So of course we had to make fun of him for asking if it was based on a true story, and of course I still remember that every time I watch or think about this movie.
The other anecdote Emperor’s New Groove always makes me think of is when my family was on a road trip and we got into a discussion about this movie, specifically the scene when Kuzco and Yzma almost run into each other at a restaurant. Kronk ends up taking over for the chef, and both Kuzco and Yzma are trying to order from him at the same time, and they both want potatoes but one wants cheese and the other doesn’t, and it’s confusing everyone, until finally both of them say, “On second thought, make my potatoes a salad.” We spent way too long debating about whether that meant they wanted a green salad instead of potatoes or they wanted potato salad. I had always assumed potato salad, but I think everyone else had always assumed just a regular salad, which is probably definitely the way it makes more sense. Although sometimes green salads have cheese on them and potato salads usually don’t, so I think it’s perfectly logical to assume that potato salad would resolve the cheese argument, even if “make my potatoes a salad” is a weird way of asking for potato salad.
When my brother and I went through all the Disney animated features in 2020, after watching a movie we each separately put it in one of 5 tiers, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst. Then we decided what tier it belonged in on the combined list by taking the average of our two tiers. I put Emperor’s New Groove in Tier 1 and he put it in Tier 2 (although he asked me to emphasize that he does love this movie dearly), so it ended up tied in Tier 1.5 with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which he put in 1 and I put in 2. Those two movies are incredibly different, but somehow it felt right to have them at the same level, since they’re both unusual Disney movies that are surprisingly well done. I’ve only seen Hunchback 5 times since I started keeping track, so it makes sense that Emperor’s New Groove was the one of those I ranked higher. The other Disney animated films that I’ll be talking about on this podcast were all put in Tier 1 by both of us, so stay tuned for even better Disney movies in the future. But don’t worry, there will also be plenty of non-Disney films on here, so there will probably be something for you if Disney isn’t your jam.
Thank you for listening to me chat about another of my most rewatched movies, and thank you for your positive responses to this podcast so far. Remember to rate and if you want, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Emperor’s New Groove is very short – it clocks in at a mere 78 minutes – which is why I ranked it the lowest of the six movies I watched 15 times. The next movie I’ll be talking about is 18 minutes longer and is neither animated nor produced by Disney, so be sure to subscribe or follow on your podcast platform of choice if you want to hear something a bit different. As always, I will leave you with a quote from that next movie: “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. They just don’t.”
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xjinkiesx · 1 year
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Question- What racism is there in SDMI? And how does SDMI only exist because of HP Lovecraft? That just doesn't make sense.
Good Day.
I did, admittedly, spend quite a lot of time last night thinking about your questions and figuring out the best way to address them. The best way I found was from the beginning, which is a perfectly good way to start according to Julie Andrews, so let’s just jump on it.
Screencaps from SDMI are either taken myself from archive.org’s postings of the episodes, or from mysteryincoutofcontext. Other pictures/screenshots were sourced from Google.
And this is going under a Read More because it’s a long read.
Real quickly, however, I’ll amend something that I learned while gathering my sources. I incorrectly called Abigail Gluk and Pericles’s robot creations Kriegstapobots, coming from mixing the German word krieg (war) and the term Gestapo, who were the former secret police of Nazi Germany. The term they use, however, is Kriegstaffelbot, combining krieg as well as staffel, meaning squadron. 
Okay, so into the meat and potatoes of your questions. Let us start with my statements of racism. I may, ultimately, be missing some instances, as these were just the ones that came to my head initially. What I also realized while researching for this reply is that I may also simply be misinformed. I am white. How I see things as being racist may or may not be correct, and the final judgement should be made by people of the cultures that these are directed at. My best work is simply to point out where things can be improved.
The racism in SDMI comes in the form of jokes. There is nothing outwardly malicious stated or displayed that I can remember. Frankly, I am not going to sit back down and rewatch every episode just to catalog things for the sake of this reply to make sure of that. I hesitate to use the term microaggression out of fear of incorrect usage, but I do honestly feel that is what a lot of these boil down to.
Honorable mention to Angel Dynamite (Vivica A. Fox) who I cannot in good faith say is an example of racism but knowing the social conditions that created her character is honestly well worth looking into. Angel Dynamite is heavily rooted in the Blaxploitation genre, popular in the late 60s through the 1970s, with some notable inclusions going up until as recent as 2021. The genre is deeply rooted in the Black Power movement, with characters that are often fighting “The Man”, a nebulous and white power that is attempting to keep them subdued. There are a lot of stereotypes and high romanticization of the Black experience in this genre of film, as well as a lot of generalizations made. I feel like knowing the history behind her character archetype is worth more than boiling her down to “racist trope or not”. What I did find interesting is that Black Dynamite, the film and adult animated series that parodies Blaxpoiltation, was also distributed by Warner Brothers around this era. Her name may be a nod to it, but I could find nothing concrete on this.
Angel is, however, subject to at least one possible microaggression that I can remember. In Season 1, Episode 14, “Mystery Solvers Club State Finals”, Principal Quinlan makes a statement about how Angel is “robust” for a woman. Women of color have a history of their femininity being downplayed or weaponized, and this phrase coming from a white woman just, to me, seems a little off.
For good measure, a screencap:
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Who I can more definitively point out as being a caricature is Lady Marmalade (Cree Summers) from Season 1, Episode 23, “A Haunting in Crystal Cove.” Played for comedy, she is a heavy parody of the Creole South, with her design likely taking inspiration from actual Voodoo practitioner, herbalist, and spiritualist Marie Laveau, shown below:
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Lady Marmalade’s name comes from a song by the same name about a man who visits a New Orleans prostitute, made famous in 1975 by Patti Labelle. This is, ultimately, not what I find out-of-pocket. It’s the characterization. She's a borderline Mammy in her delivery, and the character’s “comical” portrayals of Voodoo – a very real and cultural practice primarily performed by members of the Diaspora – are not flattering. 
SDMI is not terrible with its portrayals of Asian characters, which genuinely surprised me. Like many things in SDMI, you can see where the creators chose to wear their inspirations on their sleeves. From Showa Era film to more modern martial arts films, they take heavy inspiration and do so in a mostly respectful way. 
Chen’s Coffee is the thing that keeps me from giving it a full pass. Of all the designs for a Chinese-owned coffee shop, they went with this:
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Call this one a stretch if you will, but I really feel like they could have done better on this design. Crystal Cove is a tourist-trap town, and gimmicks are certainly a thing, but this really just seems to be too much. Even the Chinatown sign seems overly done in a “Get it? He’s Chinese!” way.
Bonus points for Mayor Jones calling a traditional Peking opera costume a “Geisha” in Season 1, Episode 18, “The Dragon’s Secret”. It’s a completely different culture, though Mayor Jones does have a pattern of using inappropriate one-offs as jokes. The full line, since I wasn’t able to get a screenshot with subtitles of the full scene: “Why do we have a geisha tied up in here? You know they belong downtown in Crystal Cove’s Geisha House of Terror.” Partial screencap with subtitles:
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The last instance of racism that I can think of immediately is from Season 2, Episode 11, “Dance of the Undead”. In order to infiltrate a Hex Girls concert on the yacht of a Sheik, Shaggy and Scooby go under-cover. They’re harem girl outfits. 
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This is very much a joke context: Shaggy is explaining how, because this is a Sheik, it’s obvious that they dress up like this to get in. When they get in, everyone is dressed normally, and they stand out. It’s a decision they made informed by racism and Orientalism, and it backfires to them. In a show of good faith, I like to think that this is critiquing past cultural disguises of the duo that have not aged well. This one from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1970), Season 2, Episode 2, “Mystery Mask Mix-up” where they made this… choice. It reeks of Micky Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
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We have come a long way since 1970, obviously. The fact that the joke is how wrong and out-of-touch the two are to think the disguise would work shows that. However, acknowledging something does not excuse it. There were many ways they could have disguised themselves to get onto that boat. The fact they went for the racist one is the ultimate problem.
                                                           xXx
Before we get into the second aspect of your question, I need to be pedantic and point out a difference in our wording. In my tags, I said: “Not to mention that the entire universe it [SDMI] exists in exists because of HP Lovecraft.” Your question is: “And how does SDMI only exist because of HP Lovecraft?“ Why am I bringing this up?
Because wording matters here. Part of SDMI’s charm is that it takes from multiple different sources to create its universe. It is a love letter to horror as a whole. From Hellraiser to The Hills Have Eyes to Twilight Zone to Alien, SDMI pulls from these iconic pieces and puts them together into something that people can enjoy even without knowing the origins. To me, that’s fantastic! It’s part of why I love it. So much referential content relies on the audience having a background with what it is referencing. SDMI does not do that.
However, the difference between our two statements is that I am stating that SDMI is a genre piece, whereas your question is attributing everything to a singular person’s work. That simply is not what I was saying and, to me, seems like an argument in bad faith. My wording could have been clearer; I was attempting for brevity due to tags, and did not think that anyone would be going through my tags, as this is a small and pretty inactive rp blog. Whether the misquoting was intentional or not, it does point to a breakdown in communication.
With all that said, let us address how SDMI is an entry into the genre of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror, and what that means regarding the genre’s namesake.
                                                          xXx
H.P. Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937) was an American writer. I do not need to tell you at this point that he was a man with some very flawed ideologies (don’t google his cat’s name). He is best known for the Cthulhu mythos, and delved into ideas that were not common in horror at the time, which created an entirely new subgenre. Victorian and Naturalist horror at that time was very much grounded in the person: The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hounds of Baskerville, Dracula. If we want to go into the themes that create the horror in these pieces, that is a whole different ball of wax, but do feel free to ask if you’re interested.
Lovecraft’s interests regarding horror were based on the unknown. The ever present “what if”. The uncertainties that manifested into things that were utterly terrible and terrifying. Yes, a lot of this was rooted in his xenophobic beliefs and sheltered lifestyle. One can argue that he got better as he grew older: his wife, Sonia Greene, was Jewish, and did help to alter his antisemitic beliefs. There are a lot of people who argue that Lovecraft’s beliefs were simply in line with the era he grew up in. If you ask me, I doubt it. Severely. As a society, we have a way of using hyperbole to try to show how much better things are currently than they used to be. While ideologies come and go, the idea that everyone before the Civil Rights movement were a monolith of Extreme White Racists just does more harm than good and dehumanizes our ancestors.
Anywho, once the subgenre picked up and more persons began to add to it, the name became less synonimous with Lovecraft himself and took on the name “cosmic horror”. I actually really like this title more, as it doesn’t restrict the subgenre to a singular person.
So, what does this have to do with SDMI? Let us look at the hallmarks of cosmic/Lovecraftian horror.
Per Wikipedia (yeah yeah, faliable source), Lovecraftian/cosmic horror “...emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries...”. Cosmic dread here means “the result of hyperawareness of our own minuscule nature within our universe” (Puzzlebox Horror). 
Frankly, I cannot better summarize the core themes of SDMI’s ongoing plot better than that list, save to add “the power of friendship” onto the end. 
In the realm of aesthetics, the color green also tends to get attributed to cosmic horror thanks to Lovecraft’s use of it specifically with Cthulhu. One of SDMI’s more striking visuals, to me, is the near- consistant use of a green wash or green backlight up until the final episode after Pericles is defeated and everything goes to “normal”, and then returns after the gang set off to Miskatonic University.
Which... we get to talk about Miskatonic University.
Remember how earlier I mentioned that SDMI does not require the watcher to know everything it references to understand the show, but certainly adds to the piece if you do? This is one of those moments where knowing what Miskatonic University is gives a whole new context to the work.
Prior to the team going, they speak with Harlan Ellison, who was not just a character in the show but an actual author of cosmic horror and is known best for his short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967). He even voiced himself in the show. Harlan Ellison’s voicework in SDMI was one of the last things he did in film and tv before his death in 2014. Ellison puts a bookend explaination on the idea that multiple dimensions exist, multiple timelines, etc., which the show had been exploring in a Baby’s First Theoretical Physics sort of way. This itself has a place in cosmic horror, fitting in that “risks associated with scientific discoveries”, as they have changed everything they know thanks to destroying the Evil Entity that had been manipulating Crystal Cove, and it does fill them with a sense of cosmic dread.
Ellison afterwards states he has enrolled the four of them into Miskatonic University, the gang repaint the van, and tavel off to Arkham, MA. 
Yes. That Arkham. The Batman one. This is where it came from.
Miskatonic University is a fictional institution created by H.P. Lovecraft, and a lot of his stories, as well as subsequent author’s creations, use it as a setting. It’s an Ivy League school, on par with Harvard and very popular with the Old Money of the area, as well as those interested in occult sciences. 
From the Wikipedia:
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Because of the name-dropping of Miskatonic University, the universe of SDMI outside of Crystal Cove is incredibly expandid upon. I honestly recommend just taking a look at the Wikipedia article just to see how many different pieces of media interset at Miskatonic University, and from there see what they are about, and what they delve into, because it is fascinating how that informs the universe that this show now exists in.
And that universe, whether we like it or not, started with H.P. Lovecraft.
                                                         xXx
It’s 2:46pm right now, meaning I have been working on this for almost four hours. I hope that this reply has answered your questions and informed you of the meaning behind my statements. 
I invite you into my inbox should you have further questions, but do ask that you do so with respect and curiosity. 
I hope this finds you well, and you have a wonderful day.
- xjinkiesx
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sxvethelastdance · 1 year
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Love as The Catalyst, a Dragon Ball Z post:
Hello! 
Welcome to part one in a series of many long-winded informal posts I’m slated to make revolving around my series rewatch of Dragon Ball Z. I don’t know what made me want to sit down in 2021 and re-evaluate my relationship with the series as I’ve known it across 2 decades, but we ended up here. 291 episodes of torture and all. As a matter of purity for my re-evaluation, I decided to go with one of the dubs I spent watching as a child. I used  Funimation’s 2007 digitally remastered dub of Dragon Ball Z, since it’s so difficult to get a hold of the version that was syndicated on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block from 1999-2004 without hunting down a bunch of VCR tapes and singles. Generally, the remastered dub does contain a lot of the untouched Funimation voice acting in certain seasons over others. Take Season One, for example. You can visit this wiki page for what got changed and what remained untouched between the two dubs. 
If you see this and think of the dreaded orange bricks, you are correct! I used those babies. That being said, I am treating this dub as its own contained product, I will NOT be comparing it to the original because there’s nothing I can say that like. 15 Youtubers and faithful scholars of the text already haven’t. “The dub” as it is colloquially known, is a Western recontextualization of a fundamentally Eastern product and it suffers for that when we take into account its merits as an adaptation. I KNOW. So I didn’t even try. Instead I point you toward the wealth of intelligently reasoned critiques on that subject. Just hit up the youtube search. 
Instead, I went about my watch observing the dub in a vacuum of its own merits- mainly the scripting and themes. Every post in this vein will be analyzing through that lens specifically. I watched with the Falcouner score to preserve maximum integrity toward tone and documented a lot of shit as I went along my experience. 
Be warned: Opinions will be shared. You don’t have to take them as gospel, you don’t have to take them at all really! So don’t take it personally, this is my exercise in picking apart the experience. Bringing back YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. So… Read at your own risk.
Here’s my thesis: 
Love is Funimation Dragon Ball Z’s call to action. Bear with me here, it seems like an obvious cliche, but it’s one of those threads woven through every major story arc. It’s by far one of the more consistent themes expressed in its scripting of the characters and their priorities. There are lots of different definitions of love, typically we think of romantic, familial, and platonic love as our qualifiers. Maybe you’re an 8 types of love categorizer. At different points you see how central at least one of those definitions is to moving the emotional plot line along, there’s an intensity built into the displays of unbridled emotion that get the audience into a power-up scene. 
Every single one of those scenes is steeped in the things that the characters value. Their relationships and their reason for fighting. These reasons are born from the connections they have with their loved ones, or the things that they love and hold sacred in their lives. Below are some key examples from each arc. 
Saiyan saga. 
Starting with an example exclusively from the Filler: we have Gohan and C-6 in episode 9. Gohan makes friends with an abandoned robot buried in the ruins of a cavern and through his kindness, gives him a friend: The first in 80 years. This newfound affection and maybe even love (categorized as “philia” under the 8 Greek definitions I mentioned) for Gohan is what makes C-6 sacrifice himself to get Gohan out of the cavern when it starts to crumble around them. 
Most important for his character going forward: Piccolo came to love Gohan, he admits that what started as a quest for revenge turned into something different and his love for Gohan made him sacrifice his life to keep him from dying. Gohan’s kindness and care for him introduced Piccolo to the concept of more than hatred. He developed a concept of love from their interactions and it made him a better person. This gave him the necessary context to GROW. 
Gohan’s love for Goku awakened his power at the very beginning of the saga and stopped him from wreaking more havoc in his ape form than he already had. 
Frieza/Namek saga: 
Guru’s love for every Namekian child he bore killed him, the strain of them all dying was the direct cause of his death. He couldn’t have been brought back by Porunga otherwise- Qualified under a death of “natural causes.” 
Porunga means “Dragon of Love.” in the Namekian language. Porunga, the original wish granting dragon, whose existence is the very reason that the Dragon Balls can bring back the loved ones of the characters in this series. 
Goku’s love for Krillin and the anger that sprang from losing his friend gave him the power to become a Super Saiyan. Krillin, with Bulma, is one of Goku’s very best friends. 
Android/Cell Saga
It was Future Gohan’s love for Trunks that made him knock the kid out to fight the Androids alone. Trunks’ love for Gohan not only triggered his transformation, but it made him determined to travel to the past with the chance of preventing his future. 
Chi-Chi very clearly loves Goku, the scene they share after he wakes up from his coma is a good example of what she understands to be true about him and his nature. She encourages him to fight Cell and give it all he’s got. This is a marked difference from her begrudging acceptance and downright disapproval (for her own really good reasons). She knows what kind of person he is and steps out of the way to give him the space he needs to prepare for that trial.
Before Cell kills Android 16, 16 pleads with Gohan: “Let it go. It is not a sin to fight for the right cause. There are those who words alone will not reach, Cell is such a being. I know how you feel, Gohan. You are gentle, you do not like to hurt. I know because I too have learned this feelings. But it is because you cherish life that you must protect it. Please, drop your restraints. Protect the life I loved.” 
Gohan’s love for peace- the anger that accompanied having something as sacred as life ripped from a kindred spirit broke the barrier between his fear of losing control and his power. 
Android 16’s love for living in general, he is another character born to kill. And yet he, a machine, finds something to love in nature. Gentle with birds, at peace. 
Contentious as Goku’s choice is at the end of the arc, its intentions are pure- he removes himself from the lives of his loved ones because he believes HE is drawing the danger toward them. It’s a decision that stems from a selfless love for his friends and family.  
Buu Saga. 
Gohan’s love for Videl- whether you want to categorize it as friendship and loyalty or a budding romance by this point- it’s responsible for the dangerous move that makes him go full-power, leading to Yamu’s theft of his energy to take back to Babadi. I’m calling it love specifically because of the intensity its treated with in the narrative.
Daikaioh’s love for life and Shin was a redeeming force for the pure evil Buu. 
Majin Buu’s love for Hercule and Bee the dog was what turned him good and made him separate from the evil half. Had he not learned to love them, the rest of the arc wouldn’t have taken place. 
Piccolo sympathizes with the sacrifice Vegeta makes because he knows what it’s like to walk through that door himself, “Gohan’s love changed me.” 
Vegeta’s getting his own category not only because I write him, but because of how strange his relationship with love is, and how it continues to come up
The famous “Trunks, Bulma, I do this for you.” line before he blew himself up to try and take out Majin Buu. How he, in this new form after claiming that they meant nothing to him, holds his child and tells him he’s proud. Knocks him out and sends him safely back with Piccolo. This is a very clear change from the android saga, where he didn’t give a fuck about whether Bulma and Trunks died when 20 shot them out of the sky. 
Goku lays Vegeta out when he refuses to entertain fusion: “Look. You’ve always talked about our Saiyan race. How we’re the last of a mighty people. Well it’s time we accept we’re starting a new race! One that’d be just as strong! Just as proud! But not if we’re caught up in so much of our old “birthrights” to see what we have right in front of us! We’ve lost our old race Vegeta! Let’s not lose THIS one too!” It’s THIS that makes him get his fucking act together, along with the revelation that Bulma has been killed. 
Vegeta BEGS the people of Earth to give their energy- what’s very important to this appeal is that it’s to their pathos. He uses ‘children’ in the plea, knowing that he’s just lost his own. Genuine empathy, born of what I struggle to categorize as anything OTHER than the love he has for his family- however complicated it may be. Put himself on the chopping block, pride be fucking damned just to have a chance at keeping him safe in the Otherworld (because Buu can go there too). This man is anti-sentiment and vulnerability, but you can hear him earnestly beseeching- and that’s part of his love for his family forced to come out. The kind of desperation he has isn’t for his own sake- he’s someone who doesn’t treat his life with any sort of sacredness. 
Finally, on the subject of love: Majin Buu’s love for Mr. Satan is actually what saved the entire fucking planet! Had Kid Buu not spit him out because of the burden that is his hesitation to kill Satan, there wouldn’t have been a way to stall for time while Goku gathered energy for the Spirit Bomb. Majin Buu held Kid Buu off with Vegeta, they needed that help. 
Among some fan favorite scenes out of this dub are: 
Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time; 
Future Trunks finding Gohan’s body and transforming, and; 
Gohan’s snap into Super Saiyan 2. 
Many fans latch onto the anger, and for good reasons! It goes toward the dramatic weight of the scenes, but here’s the thing:
That anger does not have any meaningful purpose in a setting like this if NOT connected to a more meaningful emotion. It’s raw because it’s more than just how you feel in the moment. It’s knowing that somebody else spurns the things you value and mocks them, mocks the memory of the person who made you better and stronger than you ever could have been. You, or rather, the characters in Dragon Ball Z- They do not exist in a vacuum. The Dragon Ball franchise, for all its hang ups, can’t get from point A to B without that.
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gothicbarbie · 1 year
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MY TOP BL’S OF 2019 AND EARLIER
I decided to group all of the BL series I've watched from 2019 and prior together because there simply weren't enough. I decided just to go with 10 for this list cuz there were nowhere near enough series as there were for the other years. I love that BL series have really taken off and improved every single year! I just have so much fun watching them and I'm glad others feel the same.
1. TharnType [Thai] - Sexiest bl of all time? Possibly. At least in 2019 haha. A few others have risen to it's level now, but the first time I saw this it really blew me away. Yes, there are some major problematic elements in this series but imo mewgulfs chemistry and the drama more than makes up for it.
2. History 1-3 [Taiwan] - This is a fun series and definitely the best for Taiwan imo. I love that each series is so different from the others. My personal favorite is season 3, I loved both seasons that year. But I've found enjoyable things about all of them. I also love that Taiwan has a good mix of intimate scenes and moments but also longer episodes and different storylines. Just wish we had more from them.
3. Until We Meet Again [Thai] - This drama definitely has really slow and cheesey moments and I am not sure the supernatural storyline was for me but I still had a great time watching. The three pairings were all so different from one another. I like that it had a deeper storyline as well. Definitely memorable.
4. Love By Chance [Thai] - This is one of the "older" thai bl's but has such a unique flair to it and there's a very specific charm that drew me in. It was just well done and cute.
5. The Boy Next Door [Korean] - This was a series I just recently watched and it was very fun and cute. Can def. be seen as a "bromance" in parts but it still had romantic undertones. Not a lot of "intimate" moments here or anything and defintely more of a comedy but I liked how different it was and it was really easy to watch.
6. 3 Will Be Free [Thai] - The most "poly" bl series we've gotten yet. I loved the focus on all three of the mains and relationship between the three of them. I think the show could have gone a bit deeper with it, but I still loved watching this show and I liked the thriller sort of aspect to it, it was different.
7. Theory of Love [Thai] - For me this one started out really good and then got quite a bit draggy near the middle. When it switched POV'S I wasn't as into it and there was way too much crying and drama lmao. But, for a sort of trashy, classic, Thai bl series, it fits the bil.
8. Dark Blue and Moonlight [Thai] - This BL was a HOT MESS from start to finish. A bit odd and all over the place, yet somehow, I still really enjoyed watching it. It was kinda like a car crash you couldn't look away from lmao.
9. Kiss Me Series [Thai] - TBH I don't remember this series all that much and should prob. rewatch it at some point, but it's another fun classic thai bl series. I mostly skimmed it for TayNew tbh.
10. He’s Coming to Me [Thai] - Ghost storylines aren't really my thing but I did enjoy this series and I thought the chemistry between Singto and Ohm was sweet and the storyline was pretty unique.
Honorary Mentions:
Thai: Together With Me (Don't ermember much of this but gotta love MaxTul), WaterBoyy (My first "bl" experience with New+Earth wayyy back before I ever even knew what BL was), Sotus (Didn't enjoy this one as much as other people but it was okay.)
Taiwan: Red Balloon (Nice Taiwanese series, nothing super outstanding but decent.)
ANTI: ADDICTED. I cant tolerate the "love" this series gets... it depicts sexual assault in a romantic light. It's an absolute NO for me.
Also check out my other lists from 2022, 2021, and 2020! https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705139242020618240/my-top-20-bl-series-of-2022 https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705227666795741184/my-top-15-bl-series-of-2021 https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705674738528354304/my-top-15-bls-of-2020
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bidonica · 1 year
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I posted 3,291 times in 2022
That's 2,185 more posts than 2021!
151 posts created (5%)
3,140 posts reblogged (95%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@segretecose
@exterminate-ak
@stavos
@bigre-fichtre
@sarahcakes613
I tagged 2,413 of my posts in 2022
Only 27% of my posts had no tags
#q - 1,760 posts
#house of the dragon - 139 posts
#asoiaf art - 122 posts
#art - 116 posts
#cat - 102 posts
#vibes - 85 posts
#cinema - 83 posts
#dracula daily - 72 posts
#asoiaf meta - 72 posts
#asoiaf - 67 posts
Longest Tag: 133 characters
#but romance language reviwers would be like ‘amazing style’ and english speakers would go from ‘meh’ to ‘this was fucking unreadable’
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Getting tired of the "GRRM writes incest as a total negative" vs "GRRM is a little freak who wrote asoiaf around his incest kink" discourse... not to be democristiana on main but both things can be true! He can use incest to make a larger thematic point about these dynasties self cannibalizing to retain their power/identity while also using it to make the story sexier (I always point at how different the ultimately consensual, while still dysfunctional, targcest or j/c are written vs the abject horror of Craster's keep). He can make anti war points while also being blatantly fascinated by the spectacle of (magnified) medieval warfare with a side of dragons. He so obviously revels in making up family trees and sigils and OTT castles and whatnot but I struggle to see a message of Feudalism Is Good, Actually in asoiaf. 
I guess we wouldn't be having all of these tiring discussions about whether he is endorsing [whatever problematique element is recurring in asoiaf] if he strictly stuck to his intended Message regardless of what he personally finds fun, hot or simply dramatically engaging, but let's be honest, we probably wouldn't be reading asoiaf if it was a straight up moral pamphlet, even though some people act like they wish it was. 
Asoiaf is more than pulp fiction; asoiaf is ALSO pulp fiction. I think analyzing it while ignoring either side makes it less interesting and diminishes the experience! But that's just me. Do whatever, this is a tumblr post not a cop
275 notes - Posted December 6, 2022
#4
Waiting for the Dracula adaptation that actually shows Jonathan walking in on the Count doing chores
275 notes - Posted May 8, 2022
#3
“Little meow meow” is actually a VERY apt definition for your problematic faves because no one like cats demonstrates that you can be an apex predator, a ruthless killer who plays with their prey for fun and an adorable fluffball who must be protected at all costs
1,162 notes - Posted April 28, 2022
#2
I am rewatching Malcolm in the Middle and i wanted to gush a little about its production design because I would seriously put it in Mad Men’s bracket of insane attention to detail, except that instead of getting a historical period right this is about communicating the class of Malcolm’s family. The furniture is mismatched and visibly lived in, their appliances (like the washing machine Lois wants to change) seem to mostly date to when they moved in (likely Francis’ birth), the lawn is a legendary mess. There’s a cold open in one of the later seasons where Lois scrubs a new stain off the floor only to realize this created a clear spot in the now uniformly greyed carpeting. A lesser sitcom would have created a gag where the mom character goes “whelp I guess now I have to clean it all 🙄”. But at this point we know Lois, we know she’s running a household with three unruly teenage and preteen sons and a baby, and she has a job outside the home too, so she does the sensible thing: she picks a handful of dirt off a flower pot and smudges it into the carpet. Clear spot gone. Idk, it’s such a neat little moment, and such a clever use of the set to facilitate showing who this character is.
1,908 notes - Posted September 6, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
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Do you ever think about the infinite
4,303 notes - Posted October 30, 2022
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maggiecheungs · 2 years
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What are some of ur new favorites ?
hi nonny! ahhh, so many new favourite films this month :’)
to start with, i finally saw one for the road (2021), which i’ve been desperate to watch for over a year, and it really didn’t disappoint—it definitely didn’t end up being exactly what i expected, but it was so beautifully and meticulously constructed. watching it felt akin to watching a very accomplished stage magician: you logically know that it is a series of tricks and illusions, but the show is so compelling and well-performed that you don’t want to do anything but sit back in your seat and experience it and admire the craftsmanship—and, if you look hard enough, you might spot some of what’s really going on beneath the flashy hand movements. in the end, i was entranced by the film’s delicious blend of artifice and authenticity—using the true to lend depth to the artificial, and vice versa. it was a true treat to watch; i really loved it
i watched the entirety of yasujiro ozu’s noriko trilogy—late spring (1949), early summer (1951), and tokyo story (1953)—which was just… really as much of a masterpiece as everyone says. it isn’t a conventional trilogy—the films are all unconnected, except for the fact that each one stars setsuko hara as an unmarried 28-year-old called noriko (the three norikos are all different characters, though). they’re all incredibly quiet, but beneath the serene surface there is just—so much emotion and sadness and love that it feels like it would swallow the characters whole if they ever acknowledged it. basically, they fucked me up (particularly tokyo story) and i cannot stop thinking about them. absolute masterpieces of humanist cinema that took the mundane relationships of everyday life and transformed them into something truly transcendent.
i rewatched wong kar wai’s in the mood for love for the first time in years and followed it up with 2046 (which i hadn’t seen before), and they were absolutely sublime. i feel like i’m being too liberal with the word ‘masterpiece’, but there’s really no other way to describe in the mood for love, which is possibly one of the most perfect films ever created. while 2046 doesn’t have the exact same magic as it’s predecessor, it creates a whole new magic of its own.
i also really loved infernal affairs (2002), which was just a pitch-perfect crime thriller starring andy lau and an incredibly beautiful tony leung. it was just *so good* and i had such a good time watching it.
also! this week i finally got a chance to see everything everywhere all at once (in cinema!). it contained *so much* and i’m still formulating my thoughts on it, but overall it was just as fantastic as i’d hoped it would be (and made me cry, to boot).
and though it was only a short film, i was enchanted by the night it rained (1967), an absolutely fantastic iranian metadocumentary that i could compare to rashomon or the films of abbas kiarostami—but won’t, because it succeeded in establishing its own character beautifully. i’ll definitely be watching more of kamran shirdel’s films
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nyarashi · 1 year
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end of year zuka tag!!
so extremely late to do this so I’m just doing it all in one post!!
1) sumire no hana - new favorite
I became a fan in late 2021 so almost all of my current favorite siennes are ones I fell in love with this year… for actresses already in the theatre id definitely say I become such a huge fan of towaki sea!! she is such an incredible singer and is able to be such a wonderful otokoyaku and an enchanting onnayaku. as for new girls, I’ve been keeping my eye on shiragiri tsubaki!
2) never say goodbye - hardest to say goodbye to
100% oto kurisu, she was such a standout in hanagumi and it was never a dull moment when she was on stage. She’s such an amazing performer and singer. I’m so glad she’s on Instagram now and I’m so excited for her future projects!
3) material girl - favorite merchandise
I was able to go to quartre reves and takarazuka an for the first time this year since i was in japan, so I think my favorite pieces of merch are all the bromides I was able to buy! going to the stores in person was such an amazing experience I’m so grateful for. I think my most treasured though is my yuzuka rei clear card, she’s been to so many places with me!
4) mon paris - new favorite show not from this year
2004 phantom!!! idk how I found it but I’m so glad I did. wao youka is just so incredible…. her portrayal of erik is maybe one of the best performances I’ve ever seen tbh… I’m so obsessed with her voice. her acting as well is so fantastic, the scene where christine is singing to erik trying to convince him to take his mask off is a work of art. you can see all the emotions erik is feeling so clearly, you see this hope in his eyes as christine continues to sing. also the way wao youka is styled in the show is so dated but i think it fits so well. she has these very prominent shoulder pads that look a little silly at first but I’ve grown to love it so much. I love the other versions of the show (esp 2018) but 2004 hold such a special place in my heart.
5) wings of the heart - favorite fandom memory
I had so many fun streaming experiences this year! I’m so lucky to have had the time to attend as many as it did. I think maybe the most impactful fandom moment was just walking around the tokyo takarazuka theatre and seeing all the other people taking pictures with and gushing about posters outside. such a crazy feeling as an international fan to see that so many other people share the same love you do
6) where is god - shocking hankyu announcement
maitis senka transfer and yurika + kano taidan!! for yurika and kano I guess it makes sense, but I feel like having any top star retire is surprising to me. yurika has been the only face of soragumi I’ve known, so it’s going to feel strange having a new top star but I’m so excited to see who it’s going to be. maitis senka transfer is a bit puzzling to me but I know she’s going to be amazing in whatever she does next.
7) the final dance - favorite duedan
saki and kiwas duedan in soukyuu no subaru. I was able to see the show in person which I think made it so much more powerful. I could feel their connection much better. I swear I was tearing up watching it. the reality of kiwas taidan hit me like a bus during it, and I felt so honored to be able to see one of their last dances together
8) my everlasting dream - most rewatched show
it’s a revue but probably beautiful garden! I put on shows a lot in the background while doing work and beautiful garden was this years top pick. I love the music so much and so many of my favorite siennes are in it! I love flower theme so much and the costumes especially!! purple and pink are my favorite colors and this revue has so much of them
9) fascinating rhythm - song that got stuck in my head
continuing the last one a bit, the theme song of beautiful garden got stuck in my head so often. especially senna ayase’s part! it’s such a catchy theme!! and the performance of it is so lovely
10) diamonds are a girls best friend - favorite costumes
such a difficult question because I really love the costumes of takarazuka, especially ones with frills and ruffles… there’s just so many to chose from. I think I’m going to say all of the costumes from genroku baroque rock. I love Japanese traditional clothing and it combined with takarazuka’s flair was such a treat. I love madoka’s costume during lucky koi koi. it’s so detailed and I love the way it moves. all the different patterns on it make me want to look at it forever.
11) cool beast!! - most ridiculous costumes
definitely not the most ridiculous, more like my favorite silly costumes are hozumi mahiro’s in top hat as beddini
12) greatest moment - special stage moment
the parade in soukyuu no subaru. being able to applaud for the actresses was such an honor to participate in. it was such a thrilling experience
13) favorite musical
genroku baroque rock! it’s very special to me for being one of the first musicals I saw. it matches my tastes very well and it’s maybe my favorite musical visually.
14) favorite revue
the fascination!!! I love this revue so much!!! pink is my favorite color so of course the costumes to me are so fantastic. especially the parade costumes… madoka’s dress is just so gorgeous. rei’s carnivorous flower is one of my favorite costumes and performances. I love the music in the revue so much too! rei singing in English and anytime hitoko sings are my favorites (of course I also love fashionable empire but I just haven’t watched it enough..)
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moonlit-lake-sys · 1 year
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I posted 170 times in 2022
That's 170 more posts than 2021!
75 posts created (44%)
95 posts reblogged (56%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@outofcontextdiscord
@moonlit-artwork
@frenreyofficial
@chaoticportalfan
@moonlit-lake-sys
I tagged 170 of my posts in 2022
#-💖 - 156 posts
#reblog - 84 posts
#hlvrai - 70 posts
#my art - 42 posts
#benrey - 41 posts
#fav - 38 posts
#other people's art - 37 posts
#half-life - 29 posts
#ships - 28 posts
#memes - 23 posts
Longest Tag: 103 characters
#seeing an intergalactic businesses man staring at tumblr memes absolutely puzzled is a great experience
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
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Collab I did with @frenreyofficial of @melonsharks Twitch AU :]
(dialogue written by @mossier-tendencies)
578 notes - Posted September 2, 2022
#4
Compilation of Pyro sitting like That™
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630 notes - Posted November 30, 2022
#3
Wanted to make an animatic of one of my favorite HLVRAI scenes.
[Transcript below]
Gordon: Yes! Now, you need to—
Coomer: Well! Good luck in the chamber!
Gordon: Oh my God, you can't do this. There's no one else here! Where are you going to go? This is empty! It's just me, you, and Benrey!
Benrey: Wha..?
Gordon: You heard that-?
Coomer: Do you hear something?
Gordon: Yes!
Coomer: Hm.
Gordon: Coomer, I will- I will do anything. I will- I will give you all my PlayCoins™️, I will give you every PlayCoin™️ I get for the foreseeable future. I will do anything! You have to send me back. I know you can, I know you, Dr. Coomer!
Coomer: He- h- he- ... he- he ... h- ... I remember. Come along now, Gordon!
721 notes - Posted July 2, 2022
#2
Just saw Strange World, and honestly, I only had one gripe with it. But it's also a huge one.
Disney? You didn't fucking market this thing. At all. My mom is a HUGE Disney fan and she didn't know about the movie's existence until two days ago when I showed her the trailer.
I went to a theater to see this movie. I went with my mom and one of my brothers. There were maybe around 4 or 5 other people in the entire room. That's it. And this theater isn't small by any means. It's an Emagine. It's a good place.
Sure, it's a late Wednesday night and Thanksgiving is tomorrow, but COME ON. Less than 10 people in the theater? Are you joking?
It's clear to me that this movie was poorly advertised due to its actually good and inclusive rep. An interracial couple, who has a gay teenage son. Their son being gay isn't a lil thing that's mentioned once, it's brought up multiple times and it is more than clear that the son is crushing on another boy. It's treated no different from any other relationship.
Disney, good on you for having a main character be canonically gay and have it be very clear, but also not in-your-face the whole time. You made an actually good queer character.
But Disney? Fuck you for this lack of marketing. You wanted to see this movie fail. If it does, I'll never be over it.
Either way, I'd recommend this movie. I loved watching it tonight. Definitely gonna rewatch it sometime.
732 notes - Posted November 24, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
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763 notes - Posted July 2, 2022
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I posted 6,242 times in 2022
That's 896 more posts than 2021!
221 posts created (4%)
6,021 posts reblogged (96%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@sobernatural
@buglovescas
@dwcoded
@emeraldcas
@deanshauntedmidnights
I tagged 5,141 of my posts in 2022
Only 18% of my posts had no tags
#supernatural - 3,446 posts
#destiel - 2,716 posts
#deancas - 2,712 posts
#dean winchester - 587 posts
#castiel - 288 posts
#fate the winx saga - 260 posts
#shadowhunters - 177 posts
#tvd - 170 posts
#ftws - 143 posts
#teen wolf - 134 posts
Longest Tag: 132 characters
#the moment when you're supposed to be the responsible employer and see something like this and try to hold back screaming and crying
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
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Riven and Musa | Cake By The Ocean (S2) (SPOILERS ABOUT SEASON 2) Lilac Edits was really fast with this wonderful Rivusa-edit. Great job! *returns to rewatch it multiple times*
60 notes - Posted September 17, 2022
#4
When you have rewatched Merlin six or seven times but want to go through all that emotional rollercoaster to introduce it to your friend, are nervous about her reactions...and these are her comments during episode two: 
“It seems like the show is developing the thing between Morgana and Arthur, but I would much rather want to see Morgana with Gwen and Merlin with Arthur. There is so much chemistry there already.”
“Gwen and Morgana have such bi-energy!”
[I made a mistake of accidentally telling her that Morgana is going to turn “evil” at some point, and now she has wild speculations of what would lead such a just cinnamon roll into that...and I’m sitting there like I’m constipated to avoid spoiling anything.]
[when Merlin and Arthur are fighting] “Oh, come on, just kiss and make up already!”
Also, she is such a ray of sunshine every time Kilgharrah appears and she has already so many crossover-ideas. 
And let me tell you, the big mix of relief, nostalgic pain and amusement that I felt was like no other. 
My inner voice: “Oh, honey, you’ve got a big storm coming!”
82 notes - Posted May 21, 2022
#3
I’m all too used to having “Yes, they are finally happy! Wait... Oh no, they are too happy right now... something bad is gonna happen any minute!”-moments, but it still sucks every time. 
134 notes - Posted May 8, 2022
#2
The last year and a half has been challenging enough already, and now Merlin is leaving Netflix too? Seriously? Dammit and other curses. 
158 notes - Posted November 24, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
My opinions about “Fate the Winx Saga” season 2 (MANY SPOILERS!)
If you haven’t seen it yet and want to experience it fully by yourselves, don’t read any further!
- Without any doubt, this season is even better than the first one. Such an emotional rollercoaster with many surprises and great villains. I loved all of the old and new characters and how these episodes deepened their bonds. It took some time for me to get used to the new actors of Rosalind and Ben - the original ones will always have a special place in my heart, but they did a good job with recasting, I think. 
- I have loved Abigail as Bloom since the first episode, but I’m glad she got so many opportunities to shine here.
- I didn’t especially like Skloom in the original animation, but they have stolen my heart in Fate, specifically during this season (episodes two and seven, my beloved). 
- I was both anxious and excited about seeing Flora, but I was pleasantly surprised. She is a badass, fits into group so well, and I like how her and Terra got closer and kind of sorted out their disagreements. 
- Everyone’s storylines and struggles were good and relatable (especially Bloom’s, Sky’s and Musa’s), but Terra’s took the first place for me for multiple reasons. 
- Stella’s and Riven’s character-developments are definitely also worth mentioning.
- My emotions about Dane have been conflicted this season, but I’m happy where we left with him, that the situation with Riven and him seems to be somewhat okay now and he has a chance to real happiness.
- I love Sam as a character, feel really bad for him and want him to find happiness, but Samusa never really was “it” for me (and it’s not just because I have had a soft spot for Rivusa since my childhood).
- When it comes to Rivusa, I really enjoyed their scenes together and can’t wait to see more of them. 
- Musa is still my favorite Winx altogether, even though I adore all of them.
- Aisha deserves everything beautiful and good in this world, dammit!
- I’m thrilled how much Silva-content we got this season. 
- Transformations and magic in general were done great.
- A good nod to Trix, I must say.
- That ending scene got me so emotional it was almost ridiculous. 
Aaand the downsides...
- Farah will always be the headmistress of Alfea to me and many, many others. The scenes we got with her, and her one last valuable lesson, were touching and I’m thankful for them, but she deserved so much more. There was an amazing build up of Golden Trio in season 1, and it was all thrown to waste. My Silrah-heart had so much hope and now it’s broken. And yes... I cried my eyes out. But when it’s all said and done... I just wanna thank Eve Best for portraying Farah so marvelously (and read loads of Silrah/Golden Trio-fanfics).
- Even though Andreas was very... questionable, I’m sad that there were so few scenes between him, Sky and Silva. 
- Stellatrix belongs to my “had so much hope”-department and well ... </3 
Such a great season, and a heartbreaking cliffhanger. We gotta get season 3, as soon as possible.
268 notes - Posted September 17, 2022
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alexthebez · 2 years
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Movies Watched, April 2022
Tumblr media
from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's "Everything, Everywhere All at Once" (2022)
A little late to write this, but saw a few notable films that I really enjoyed and expanded a few trailing thoughts that’s been living in my brain this last month. The weather is generally getting nicer. I’m very surprised that for once in my fourteen years of living in New York, that we are finally in the middle of the longest Spring I’ve ever experienced here.
(2022) Penyalin Cahaya (Photocopier)
A very on the nose message that was executed in a curious way, especially considering the restrictions that most of Indonesian cinema has to exist within. I want to see the director’s short films!
(2021) The Cathedral
A formalist recollection of a personal memory. While I generally enjoyed the film, the distance the film has between itself and the feelings or the messiness of its characters, ended up making me like the film a little less.
(1987) Maurice
Walked into Malcolm watching some of this, so I missed the first 30 - 40 minutes, which I need to rewatch soon. Heartbreaking, beautiful film.
(2001) Josie and the Pussycats
A fun watch that felt timely, with all the similar aesthetics coming back around. It’s way more cynical than I remember it. The love interest sub plot was totally unnecessary.
(2022) Turning Red
Was ok, it’s nice to see this story up there and the animation style definitely feels fresh but somehow the pacing and the writing didn’t feel as good as Soul or other Pixar films.
(2021) Worst Person in the World
Wonderful film. Joachim Trier is one of my favorite humanist filmmakers working today. The timing in which I saw this made me think of Parallel Mothers since it’s so recent in my mind. The two films touched upon generational strive or differences through relationships. Would definitely watch this again.
(2022) Scream
Feels lackluster and kind of unnecessary. The film was aware of itself but also didn’t necessarily add anything else besides repositioning it for a new generation. I really hope that they stop after this one.
(2022) Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Besides the one kind of lame joke that pulled me out of the film for a minute, EEAO was great. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan were amazing. The film was visually surprising, entertaining and felt like something I haven’t seen before. Watched this at the TCL Chinese Theater, which definitely added to my experience viewing the movie.
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excusethequality · 3 months
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My 2023 in Film
Part 2:
51-100
You would think at 100 we would be getting close to the finish line for this list. But you'd be wrong, my friends! We've only just begun.
So strap in (or scroll on).
Link to Part 1
* = rewatched
[++] = I loved it [+] = I liked it [=] = I am indifferent about it [-] = Not my thing [--] = I hate it
Click on the list number to get a trailer for it.
51.
Closed Circuit (2013) ---Crime Mystery Drama
A pair of lawyers are tasked with heading the defense for a man said to be responsible for a terrorist attack. But they soon learn that there is something deeply sinister lurking behind this case and bringing it out into the light may just cost them their lives. [=]
52.
Relic (2020) ---Horror Drama
A woman must go back home to take care of her mother who is experiencing increasingly serious signs of dementia. But while struggling to come to terms with her mother's condition she begins to wonder if the cause is really that simple or if something sinister is at work in this house. [+]
53.
The Quiet Girl (2022) ---Drama
A young girl from a troubled home in Ireland is sent to live with her aunt and uncle on their farm while her mother prepares to have another baby. But in this new place she learns what it means to be truly free and truly loved. [+]
54.
Pusher (1996) ---Crime
When a drug dealer's drug deal goes south he must scramble to come up with the money he lost before his boss makes an example of him. [+]
55.
Hanna (2011) * ---Coming-of-Age Action Adventure
A girl lives with her father in the wilderness and is taught how to survive in a dangerous world. But in order to be free and to truly experience the world, they must first stop those that seek to use her as a weapon. [++]
56.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) ---Horror Comedy
A group of friends go for a weekend cabin getaway. But when one of them winds up dead everyone becomes a suspect. [-]
57.
The Rundown (2003) ---Action Adventure
A man is sent to the jungle to bring back a mobster's son. But things are going to get a lot harder when the man doesn't want to come back until he's tracked down the treasure he's been hunting. [=]
58.
Come to Daddy (2019) ---Thriller Horror Comedy
A man tries to reunite with his estranged father only to find out that the experience is not at all what he was expecting. [=]
59.
INU-OH (2021) ---Animated Queer Fantasy Rock-Musical Revenge Tale
A blind musician and a cursed dancer meet by chance and form a band that seeks to tell the stories of those that history wants to forget. But their mission soon pits the pair against a government who wants to silence them forever. [++]
60.
Sicario (2015) ---Crime Thriller
An FBI agent is recruited to help with a joint task force to aide in the drug war along the US/Mexico border. Unfortunately for her Ethics and Morals were definitely not invited to join the force. [-]
61.
Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) ---Drama Comedy
An aging former movie star is attempting to make his theatrical debut, but his attempts at rebuilding his life and career are forever at odds with his desire for fame and fortune. [=]
62.
Never Been Kissed (1999) ---Rom-Com
A former high school outcast and current adult journalist infiltrates a high school by posing as a student in order to get a scoop. [=]
63.
Rudy (1993) ---Sports Drama
A young man dreams of playing college football for Notre Dame to impress his father and refuses to let his lack of physical aptitude get in the way of his dreams. [=]
64.
School of Rock (2003) * ---Comedy
A down-on-his-luck rocker pretends to be his roommate in order to get a job as a substitute teacher at a prestigious private school. But his mission for money soon turns into a mission of Rock when he learns the kids in his class are talented musicians. [+]
65.
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) ---Action Adventure Horror
During the French revolution a naturalist of the king and his Iroquois companion are sent to investigate the mysterious killings in the Gévaudan area. [-]
66.
Dante's Peak (1997) ---Natural Disaster Action Adventure
A volcanologist is sent to investigate some strange readings in a small town. But he soon begins to suspect that an unprecedented eruption is imminent. [+]
67.
Smoking Causes Coughing (2022) ---Surrealist Sci-fi Comedy?
A band of French Power Ranger-style heroes called the Tobacco Force are forced to go on team-building retreat. [=]
68.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) * ---Comedy Adventure
King Arthur and his knights of the round table are on a quest to find the holy grail. [+]
69.
The Wicker Man (1973) ---Folk Horror Mystery
A detective is sent to a small island town to investigate a report of a missing child. But he soon learns that something is afoot here and he might be in danger. [+]
70.
Possessor (2020) ---Sci-fi Horror Thriller
A secret organization uses a new technology to link their minds to a target's in order to perform untraceable assassinations. The process is not without risk, however, and the longer they stay in the target's body the higher the risk of the two minds beginning to meld together. [+]
71.
Tombstone (1993) ---Western
A former lawman is planning to retire to Tombstone, Arizona with his brothers. But a run-in with an outlaw gang is going to force his hand and postpone retirement for a little bit. [+]
72.
Witchfinder General (1968) ---Folk Horror
A family must struggle to survive when a corrupt witchfinder sets his sights on them. [=]
73.
The Birdcage (1996) * ---Queer comedy
A queer couple who own a drag club must pretend to be straight in order to try and impress the conservative family of their son's new fiancee. [+]
74.
Gattaca (1997) * ---Sci-Fi Drama
In a future where the genetics of babies can be tailored before birth, those created the old-fashioned way are marginalized. In order to fight against the fate of his birth a janitor teams up with a down-on-his-luck member of the upper class in order to live his dream. [++]
75.
Road Games (1981) ---Road Trip Thriller
A truck driver in Australia begins to suspect that the driver of a green van he keeps encountering has been murdering women along the way. [=]
76.
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) ---Rock Opera
A movie adaptation of the 70s rock opera about the final days of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. [-]
77.
Sputnik (2020) ---Sci-Fi Horror
A Russian psychiatrist is sent to investigate the mental state of an cosmonaut who has returned from a space mission with a dangerous stowaway inside of him. [=]
78.
She Dies Tomorrow (2020) ---Sci-Fi Horror
A woman suddenly becomes convinced that she will die tomorrow. But trouble is soon to follow when the idea starts infecting others as well. [-]
79.
Girl Asleep (2015) ---Coming-of-Age Fantasy Comedy
A 15 year old girl finds herself lost between childhood and adulthood in a world where nothing is stable and imagination is running wild. [+]
80.
The Rental (2020) ---Horror
A group of friends rent an airbnb. Unfortunately the reviews didn't mention anything about the place being rigged with hidden cameras and ill intentions. [=]
81.
Paddington (2014) ---Children's Adventure
A marmalade loving bear journeys from Peru to England in search of a home. A British family takes pity on him and agrees to aide him in his search. [+]
82.
West Side Story (2021) ---Musical
The remake of the 1961 movie which was based on the 1957 Broadway musical which was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. [--]
83.
Rat Race (2001) * ---Comedy Adventure
A group of people from a Las Vegas casino are chosen at random to participate in a race for two million dollars and the amusement of eccentric rich people. [+]
84.
Return to Seoul (2022) ---Drama
A French woman finds herself in Korea and decides to try and find her birth parents. [-]
85.
INU-OH (2021) *
See #59
86.
Stone Turtle (2022) ---Magical-Realism Folk Tale
A looping Malaysian folk tale about a woman, a daughter, vengeance, guilt, and turtle eggs. [=]
87.
Hot Rod (2007) * ---Comedy
A wannabe stuntman tries to arrange a massive stunt in order to raise the money needed to save his ailing stepfather. [++]
88.
Isolation (2005) ---Horror
A genetic experiment to create faster growing cattle goes horribly wrong on a remote Irish farm. [=]
89.
Fire Island (2022) ---Queer Romance
A group of queer friends are traveling to an Island for the annual queer party that's held there in this adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. [=]
90.
Antiviral (2012) ---Sci-Fi Horror
In the future genetic technology will allow fans to do everything from eat cloned meat of their favorite celebrities to being injected with the exact strains of diseases they've had—for the right price. But when one of the workers at a celebrity contagion clinic infects himself with unknown strain from the world's hottest starlet he will soon come to regret that decision in more ways than one. [+]
91.
West Side Story (1961) * ---Musical
A pair of star-crossed lovers in 1950s NYC inadvertently set off a gang war. [+]
92.
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) ---YA Horror
After a zombie outbreak destroys the world as we know it, scientists at a military compound work with a group of intelligent zombie children to try and find the cure. [=]
93.
Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) * ---Bollywood Musical Romance
A magical pixie dream man comes to town and works to repair the broken relationships of the family next door. [+]
94.
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995) ---Indie Horror
A low-budget Japanese love letter to the Evil Dead movies. [=]
95.
A Cry in the Dark (1988) ---Drama Biopic
A biopic about the famous Australian case of a family that claimed a dingo ate their baby daughter while on a road trip and the world that didn't believe them. [+]
96.
Evil Dead Rise (2023) ---Horror
Hey...it's The Evil Dead...but it's in an apartment complex now...'ey it's the modern day too. Look at this modern stuff, that's cool, right? [--]
97.
Pulse (2001) ---Horror Mystery
The internet is haunted with ghosts. [+]
98.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (2023) ---Superhero Space Adventure
The Guardians need to solve the mystery of Rocket's past in order to save his life. [=]
99.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) ---Superhero Sequel
When Eddie Brock and Venom accidentally get a serial killer infected with their symbiote baby it's up to them to set things right. [-]
100.
Pearl (2022) ---Horror
A young woman in 1918 dreams of getting away from the oppression and loneliness of her life. But the combination of desperation and trauma can lead a person to break in the most peculiar ways. [+]
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teenmomcentral · 6 months
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Teen Mom star Leah Messer reunited with her ex-fiancé, Jaylan Mobley, six months after their split.
Leah, 32, called Jaylan, 26, during the Wednesday, September 13, episode of Teen Mom: The Next Chapter to explain that she was going through the home they previously shared and found his family portraits. Jaylan agreed to meet up with her so he could get them back.
On her drive to meet Jaylan, Leah called her friend Nicole to discuss the plan. “I went through a lot of emotions after the breakup because when you genuinely love someone it takes time to get over, you know what I mean, a breakup,” she said.
Once she saw Jaylan, she returned the portraits and the exes quickly caught up. After Leah said that she and her daughters – Aliannah, Aleeah, and Adalynn – were doing “good,” she admitted that she was experiencing “a lot of emotions.”
The brief interaction ended with Jaylan telling Leah to let him know if she ever needs anything.
Later in the episode, Leah recounted the experience while hanging out with Nicole. “I just don’t look at him like I did,” she said. “I think that I’m not gonna make an attempt to see him all the time. I mean, if I see him, I’m gonna be cordial. Like, I’m good. And I know my boundaries.”
While Leah was happy with how the meeting went, she admitted she doesn’t see herself reconciling with Jaylan. “Sometimes you just don’t get second chances,” she said. “You gotta keep moving. You gotta keep going.”
The former couple began dating in 2021, while they took a major step in their relationship when they bought a house together in April 2022. Jaylan proposed to Leah when they took a trip to Costa Rica in August 2022 to celebrate their one-year anniversary. However, they called it quits two months later in October 2022.
The episode aired three weeks after Leah exclusively spoke to In Touch about where she and Jaylan currently stand. “Me and Jaylan are in touch,” the MTV personality said at the time. “We are cordial.”
Leah then admitted that she didn’t handle the breakup the best, seemingly referring to her past comments including that their relationship was a “facade” during the July 19 episode.
“I think going through a breakup, there comes grief, and I definitely was like rewatching that stuff. I was upset and reasonably so. But also, it doesn’t need to go to social media,” the TV personality said. “I learned a lot from that and we’re cordial and I would like to just keep it pushing.”
The mother of three said that the romance “just didn’t work out,” though added she was “moving forward.”
Leah also noted that she learned lessons from the situation. “I’m grateful for the lessons that I learned within that relationship and the breakup,” she shared. “I’ve grown from that relationship and I’m okay with just that.”
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amtrak12 · 1 year
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Lucifer Rewatch Liveblog: Ep 1.01
Oh god the NERVES I have over doing this. It’s so stupid. Anyway before hitting play, let’s give a little backstory about how I stumbled ass-backwards into watching Lucifer.
It was September 2021 and the sixth and final season was about to drop on Netflix. Both my spouse and my mother were rewatching the series in preparation of this and both had reached S3 when we were visiting my parents for my mom’s birthday. So Lucifer became the de facto show playing in the background of the visit. All I knew about the show going in was a) it was about the Devil, b) he ran a nightclub in LA, and c) it had at one point been canceled by a traditional network and then ‘saved’ by Netflix. Oh and d) I had absolutely no interest in ever watching it.
But circumstances change don’t they? Because between the time that I first heard about Lucifer and the time when it was playing in front of my face while I visited with my family, the following events happened:
the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the world
Anxiety and depression set in making new shows feel like too much work to watch
both my spouse and I rewatched old favorites instead
I got a shih tzu puppy which confined me to the living room for months until she was fully potty trained.
Now, for my spouse, these go to TV rewatches included The Originals and Frasier. And friends, I got hooked on both. Two shows I never had any interest in watching. Two shows my spouse played in the living room so we could still be in the same room while I raised a puppy. TWO SHOWS I GOT FUCKING HOOKED ON AND HAD TO WATCH ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE END.
So of course the same thing happened when they played Lucifer right in front of my face. And like The Originals and Frasier, I merely picked up where my spouse was in the rewatch and refused to go backwards. ‘You should really watch it from the beginning--’ NOPE! We’re starting here. Just fill me in on backstory when it’s relevant.
Which is how my first experience with Lucifer was scattered S3 episodes and then S4-6 straight through. I loved it! It was fab! But it was months before I got the itch to go back and watch S1-2 and when I did oh boy.... OH BOY.
Well, I’ll share those thoughts live. :P
*hits play on the pilot*
OMG this little text intro they do during S1 is so trying to be edgy but is instead just cheesy.
I hate this opening scene. I mean I understand it. It does it’s job. Lucifer hates rules but enjoys punishing people! He can pull out people’s desires! Cops aren’t here to protect anyone! Just take money from the rich and terrorize the rest! Oh wait they probably didn’t mean that last one.
Weird move then to open with a dirty cop in a cop propaganda show
I am too asexual for this show in general but I’m especially too asexual for S1
I do love how Amenadiel is nearly always introduced in S1 with time slowing down. It’s a fucking awesome power! Shame he stopped using it.
Though I cannot take early Amenadiel seriously because he is so I’m Super Serious and I have seen S4-6 okay? This version of Amenadiel is a total hilarious lie.
I do love Delilah. Also I lose my mind every time that like 8 minutes into the pilot, they foreshadow the show’s end game of Lucifer helping the souls trapped in Hell to confront their guilt when he calls in his favor with Delilah to tell her to get her life together. It means nothing with the pilot alone, but when boosted by the next six seasons, it becomes a nugget of gold.
And RIP Delilah :( You should absolutely not think about how the poor thing was definitely stuck in Hell until Lucifer had his series finale revelation. :( Definitely don’t think about that.
Cool trick to pull back a very recently deceased soul to talk to it. I understand why that never really happened again (because he wasn’t usually there when future murder victims died) but since I’m a sucker for all kinds of ghost/afterlife stories, I kind of wish it had been utilized again.
~Ooo~ narrative mystery. What’s Palmetto Street????? What’s the deal with these two cops????? I wouldn’t actually care if this was my first experience with the show. Oops.
Now, they did not show that Lucifer’s supernatural charisma draws everyone to him before introducing Chloe but that’s okay. It’s the pilot. In general, they’re doing well with the plot and characters.
And by well, I mean I only like S1 because it’s hysterical after knowing where they all end up. Don’t get me wrong! I completely agree that this is the cast’s starting places. But who they all are before meeting each other and growing together is repulsive to me so in that sense S1 is terrible.
Ooph the anti-black racism in this scene with 2 Vile. I mean it goes hand in hand with cop propaganda but WOW. The rap bashing and pretending that liking blues music means you’re not racist. Wow.
I do love Chloe’s backstory of being an actress who had a nude scene in a movie because that’s the kind of thing that is so far outside my lived experience that I never would’ve thought of that for a character in a million years. But it works absurdly well in the context of this show. So kudos to the writers there.
Okay now we’re starting with the real Lucifer and Chloe banter that we know and love. I had nothing to say during their intro scene because I kept seeing all the fanvids who splice it with the series finale callback to it but here’s the actual good stuff.
“I just threatened his life. He would’ve said, trust me.” *long blink of disbelief* “You did what?” -- Oh Chloe you have no idea what a headache the next six years are going to be for you. (And also the rest of your life because I met Rory, okay. That girl is not going to be easy to raise. Trixie is your easy child.)
“Yeah, isn’t that illegal?” -- “Uh, little bit, yeah.” Finally! Chloe has an excuse to arrest Lucifer for being an ass!
Which lasts all of 0.2 seconds because Lucifer can get out of handcuffs. Which Chloe for some reason was not expecting.
Like I know through internet osmosis that sex handcuffs and police handcuffs are two different things, but c’mon Chloe. Does this not strike you as the kind of guy who would experiment with police handcuffs too? Even not believing that he’s the Devil, I feel like you should’ve seen that one coming.
Ah here we go! The mojo demonstration again... that utterly falls flat because Chloe is a gift from God.
(Oops! Spoilers! :P)
Heh heh heh. That may be the first time Lucifer forgets Chloe is a trained actress and falls for her playing him, but it won’t be the last! lol
TRIXIE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE! TRIXIE!
Lucifer calling picking up her daughter an ‘errand’ is like the 4th time Chloe pictured herself shooting him.
LOOK AT HER TWO FRONT TEETH MISSING!!! *sobs* SHE’S SO ADORABLE!
Why is this fifth grader bullying a first grader? I just feel like fifth graders have better things to do like pick on each other in preparation for the ruthless ‘every child for themselves’ warzone that is sixth grade.
Poor Trixie sticking her fingers in her ears while her parents fight :(
Dan really does earn his douche title in S1. RIP Dan.
The cynical part of me that’s bought into purity culture is dismissing Lucifer defending Chloe as dumb hetero ‘This is the couple you’re supposed to ship!’ nonsense, but the rest of me that’s remembering it’s okay to like boy-led shows and junk food can actually analyze it and see that this is just him keying into behavior that isn’t justified and therefore should be punished. It’s not special to Chloe just yet. He does already like her. He is already intrigued by her, and he’s even already slightly charmed by her daughter. But he genuinely cared about Delilah too and wanted to see her turn her life around. The whole pilot is driven by him wanting to punish those that took that opportunity away from her, and I really like that. Again, it’s set up for the S6 end game of saving the souls in Hell.
“Isn’t he funny, Daddy?” followed swiftly by asking Chloe “What’s a hooker?” is some dichotomy. LOL
Oh, Chloe. Just wait until Trixie befriends Maze. ;)
(Just wait until Dan meets Maze ROTFL Okay I will definitely have to keep liveblogging so I can rewatch that ep. OMG it’s hysterical.)
“Daddy will tell you. :)” Oh this separation is not going well. I mean that’s been pretty obvious from every scene that Chloe and Dan have shared so far, but that line really cements that. lol
Chloe and Dan both being different shades of shocked that Trixie likes Lucifer is fab. Chloe is just ‘huh’ about it and Dan is like ‘I want to kill this guy so bad’ x2.
OH I LOVE THIS EXCHANGE OUTSIDE OF LINDA’S OFFICE!
“Planned... sort of.” -- Dude you can’t say that kind of shit to me. I wouldn’t ordinarily care, but this show is already bonkers so now I want the gossip. The full story. What do you mean by ‘sort of’ in this sentence? I *will* pry.
“Did my father send you?” -- !!!!!! NOPE! DEFINITELY DIDN’T! DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! CHLOE IS DEFINITELY NOT A GIFT FROM GOD!
(Did the writers know already? I mean, presumably they did if they’re dropping giant anvils like that. But writers also sometimes write characteristics like ‘is immune to Lucifer’s desire power’ without having the explanation ready to go in the pilot because it gives them freedom to flesh things out later. But this really feels like they had that explanation formed from the beginning.)
LINDA! LINDA! LINDA! LINDA!
I’m excited for her. I am not excited for this scene. This scene where Linda nearly jumps Lucifer is where I would’ve walked out on the pilot episode. If you had even convinced me to sit through more than that intro scene, that is. This pilot and I are very different people who live very different lives :S
However, it is hilarious in retrospect. Utterly ridiculous LOL
“Oh no he’s horrible! So square jawed, so handsome, so vanilla” -- THEN WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LET ME SUFFER THROUGH CHLOE AND CAIN IN S3! YOU COULD’VE STOPPED IT, LUCIFER! YOU COULD’VE SAVED US ALLLLLL THAT PAIN!
I mean it wouldn’t have made the Devil revelation any less shocking to Chloe and so S4 would mostly be unchanged BUT STILL! MY EYEBALLS! PLEASE THINK OF MY EYEBALLS!!!
Lucifer really doesn’t understand how a movie set works, does he? Just walks right into the middle of a massive and expensive practical stunt and then gets confused why the lead actor isn’t doing the stunt.
“You know you’re gonna have to get much better at lying if you’re going to be President?” -- “I know, right?”
“Why else do you think I’ve been sleeping with Bobby?” -- This marital fight is hilarious, I’m not gonna lie. They do not have a healthy relationship!
“Despite your proclaimed revulsion, you can’t deny that there’s a connection between us.” -- Because she can see that spark of genuineness in you which doesn’t make sense with your everything else, and she’s trying to figure out why that contrast isn’t as conflicting as it should be. You’re both puzzles the other is trying to figure out.
(You two are also a walking, talking soulmate AU which is a quickfire way to make me feral -- but that’s a conversation for a different season.)
It’s always about the money. :/
“I told you, it’s fine. I’m immortal.” -- But that poor band member isn’t, Lucifer! Dumbass.
PFFFTTTT! A fan vid cut Delilah being shot side by side with Chloe being shot here in the pilot and I LOST MY MIND ABOUT IT! I never realized that was a full proper parallel with the falling back onto shattered glass and everything until I saw that fanvid. So good!
This show LOVES using parallels and by god they do it well.
(Except S3. That’s still a hot mess, but I think they were trying for a foil there and not a parallel. Keyword is *trying*.)
TRIXIE! And then Lucifer drops her right on top of Chloe’s wounded side. Good move, Lucifer. A+ lol
“Look forward to seeing you soon, Chloe.” -- “I don’t.” Adorable.
“Glad you’re not dead.” -- my GOD when people splice that with Chloe’s S5 death in fanvids, it makes me tear out my hair. I love it!
And once again, I cannot take Amenadiel or this ‘tense brotherly stand off’ seriously. They’re just babies squabbling in comparison to where they end up. It’s nothing but comedy to me.
Bad news, Maze. Humanity is about to rub off on you too. *Jean-Ralphio voice* You’re gonna get a SO-OUL! :D
And we close with Lucifer going back to hold up his end of the deal with Linda and strike a new one with her: sex for therapy. Which thankfully, she switches to ‘money for therapy’ like a normal person at some point in S1. I mean, sex for therapy -- that’s the kind of thing that can get your license revoked. *glances at S2*
In conclusion, this was fun! I think the act of liveblogging helped my enjoyment of the show. It certainly got me to watch a full episode again. I did keep pausing to write things down which interrupted the flow. Fine for my third viewing of the pilot, but that’s going to bug me for later episodes. I’ll have to either be less wordy or take the bare minimum notes of what I want to say and then go back after the episode and flesh everything out.
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thesenesx · 1 year
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2022 Top Films/Series/Books/Comics
I watched and read heaps of stuff last year, so if you need some recommendations, I've chosen my absolute favourites and compiled them in a list.
Enjoy!
Films:
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
This would have to be one of the best films of the year (and of all time). With an amazing cast and a strong theme, this film will reassure you that even if you don't matter to the multiverse, you matter so much to the ones you love.
Ngeri Ngeri Sedap (2022)
A heartwarming Indonesian film about how traditions mean very little without the love of your family. With tight structuring and a cohesive narrative, the ending is incredibly satisfying as it brings everything (and everyone) together.
Darklands (2022)
An incredible Australian micro-budget thriller that has you hooked throughout. This film really deserves more attention as it has a gripping story, great action and terrifying moments.
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
I could write a whole essay on this film. Everything about it is masterful and the growing weight of the inevitable makes this film so heartbreaking yet tremendous.
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
A funny yet sad film about two friends having a row. It may not seem like much from the synopsis, but there is so much to enjoy, from the humorous dialogue, to the quaint Irish village setting, and to the incredible cast.
Series
Peacemaker S01 (2022-)
With so many mediocre superhero shows being released last year, this really outshined them all. A fun yet compelling series, James Gunn knows how to make you love a character you didn't know or care about before watching.
Derry Girls S03 (2018-2022)
The final season offered a perfect ending to this iconic series. I'm going to miss these girls (and the wee English fella) so definitely one to keep on my rewatch list.
1899 S01 (2022-)
This show immediately draws you in with horror and tension bubbling below the surface. The unfolding mystery reaches a satisfying conclusion, but alas Netflix has cancelled it so the cliffhanger is left unresolved.
Bee and Puppycat S01 (2022-)
As a fan of the original webseries, this adaptation/reboot is wonderful. The show is quirky and colourful, offering a respite from all the edgy and crude adult animated shows.
Andor S01 (2022-)
Even if you don't like Star Wars, you can enjoy this for what it is. An incredible sci-fi thriller series, with great writing and a powerful message. The series succeeds because it makes everything feel personal without getting lost in aesthetics or nostalgia-bait.
Books
Beauty is a Wound (2002) by Eka Kurniawan
An incredible magical realism novel written by Indonesian writer Eka Kurniawan (I read the English version translated by Annie Tucker). It is gritty yet whimsical as it blends history with fairytales.
The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes (2021) by Zoë Playdon
A great overview of Transgender history in the UK while also focusing on this one significant case involving a Scottish lord. Once you learn the history, you can understand why there is so much paranoia around transpeople in the UK.
Fireside Coast (2022) by Claire McKenna
The final installment in the Monstrous Heart trilogy, this novel offers a great ending to this gothic series. With the fleshed out setting, deeply-flawed characters, and gruesome nautical gothic details, I was engrossed from the beginning.
Deathless (2011) by Catherynne M. Valente
This was on my TBR for a while and I'm glad I finally read it. A wonderful retelling of the Koschei tale, that blends Russian history and fairytales. I was still thinking about the ending weeks after I had finished it.
Project Hail Mary (2021) by Andy Weir
This novel made me laugh and cry, which is the best experience I can have honestly. A great story with high yet personal stakes for the main character.
Comics
Monstress (2015-)
I started the series a couple of years ago and have loved it ever since. With a stunning art style, high stakes, majority female cast of characters, and eldritch horrors, what more could you want?
Talgard (2019-)
Vol.2 was released last year and proved to be just as worthwhile as the first. These short comics made by Australian writers and artists offer humour, fantasy and a moral at the end of it all.
Retelling the Hobbit (2020-)
A beautiful little webcomic that captures the whimsical world of Tolkien's The Hobbit. It was love at first sight with this one.
Witchy (2014-)
Another webcomic (now published traditionally) that offers a unique world where magic is just a gift someone can exploit. The story is gripping and the characters each have their own struggles to overcome.
The Wizard of Cedel (2022-)
A webcomic that I accidentally stumbled across but immediately loved. The art style is charming and the characters loveable. I can't wait to see how the story develops.
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