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soldouthaz · 4 years

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hii! I'm not having the best night and I felt like compiling a list of my favorite fics that never fail to make me smile when I'm down or have provided me a beautifully worded escape for a while :)

disclaimer: I will list the specifics for those interested, but there is a mix of bl / bh so be aware of that please. these are the fics that make ME happy and I want to spread some positivity for the talented authors that have gotten me through some rough times, so please leave any negativity out of it and stick to your own preferences.

thank you and happy reading! ♡

✰ enter the rose garden (GA, 10k, imp. b!L) by @angelichl

Soft heats make omega Louis clingy. Enter alpha Harry.

✰ before we knew (E, 40k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight

Louis has been skeptical of soulmates for years so it seems like fate when he finally bumps into the owner of the obnoxiously large signature printed into his skin since age sixteen: Harry Styles, a human rights attorney who is firmly against soulmates.

✰ baby we could be enough (I'll make this feel like home) (E, 57k, b!H)

“Did you clean the table?” Harry asks Louis once Rose is done speaking, now occupied with trying to see if she can reach over and touch Harry’s hair from where she’s sat. At Louis’ nod, Harry frowns. “You didn’t have to do that. You’re my guests here, I could’ve dealt with it later.”

Louis just smiles easily, though, adjusting Rose on his lap so that she’s facing Harry better. She manages to tug on a loose wave of hair, and she makes a noise of triumph that both Louis and Harry smile at.

“I don’t mind,” Louis murmurs to Harry, even though he’s looking at Rose. “This one here seemed very excited to talk to you.”

And, okay. Harry can’t help but think of how domestic this feels, all of a sudden.

[harry is a photographer who's trying to find his place. louis is a single father with a smile that feels like home.]

✰ when you touch me, paint me like a van gogh (E, 4k, b!L) by TurismoEmocional

(Harry has been away for a month. He comes home to Louis in the middle of the night - dramatics and smut ensue.)

✰ undone, undress (E, 134k, b!H) by @angelichl

Louis' new roommate is shy, skittish, and flinches at the slightest sounds. He's an art major who gets drunk on cherry wine, wears lacy lingerie, and shows up late at night covered in bruises that blossom across his skin like flowers.

Obviously something is wrong. Louis just doesn't know what it is.

personal note: this fic is amazing and has been very validating for me, but please make sure to check the tags and author’s note for any possible triggers before reading and make the best choice for yourself!

✰ ours are the moments I play in the dark (E, 30k, b!L) by @holdingthornsandroses / edensrose

Jane Austen's Persuasion AU. Nine years ago Louis Tomlinson was persuaded to break off his engagement to Harry Styles, a poor sailor. Since then Louis has come to regret being so easily convinced to give up his one chance of happiness. Now Louis' family is in debt and his childhood home is being sold. In a complete reversal of fortune, Harry has returned to England a wealthy bachelor looking to settle down. Events conspire to bring them together once more though Louis is- must surely be- the last man on earth that Captain Styles would think of now.

✰ hot and heavy, pumpkin pie (E, 10k, b!L) by @sunflowerstyles

Louis and Harry get separated at a Green Bay Packers game. Harry finds him and helps his baby relax by buying Louis things that get him to smile and making love to him for quite a while.

✰ laundry room (E, 10k, not specified/no penetrative sex) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Louis and Harry are both students living in the same apartment complex. They end up having the same laundry night and time. Louis can't stop staring at Harry and he can't figure out why Harry consistently points out Louis’ inside-out shirts, and his untied shoes, and messy hair. Enter slow burn-ish flirting, banter, awkwardness, and a lot of laundry.]

✰ everywhere and nowhere (E, 16k, b!L) by @2tiedships2

Niall took a seat and said, "Apparently Louis' downstairs neighbor is a fan of giving Louis creepy gifts. Maybe I should go introduce myself and tell him that Louis actually prefers food."

"What has he given you?" Liam asked.

Louis shrugged as it were no big deal. "There was a rabbit's foot keychain on the door a little after he left from introducing himself and there was a small teddy bear sitting by my door tonight. Obviously I can't prove it's from him, but they seem to have his scent. I could be wrong though."

"Wow," Liam said, looking deep in thought. "That's old school."

"What's old school?" Niall asked. "Giving creepy gifts?"

"I've never known an alpha to do it, to be honest, but he's courting you."

Louis couldn't contain his look of disbelief directed at Liam. "He's courting me. Like some sort of romantic shit they'd do in the 1800s or something?"

✰ thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in (E, 52k, b!L) by @absoloutenonsense / nonsensedarling

Harry's alpha fraternity donates to a local thrift shop (because of Liam's latent crush on a cute beta in his lecture). Louis' financial situation (and confusing omega instincts) lead him to make some interesting fashion purchases. Lots of pizza, feelings, and not-really-lying.

✰ the case of the (definitely not haunted) styles mansion (E, 40k, b!H) by @briannamarguerite / briamaria

The Nancy Drew AU where Marcel is a man of logic, Louis is a private detective who believes in ghosts, and the Styles Mansion is definitely, absolutely, positively *not* haunted.

✰ building castles in the sky (GA, 22k, no smut) by @whileatwiltshire

"D-dad? You think I c-can do it? Y-you think i c-can..." Evan trailed off looking down at his chest. And Louis' heart melted.

"I think you can do everything, love. Everything." Louis said while pulling his boy closer. "Because you, my little dandelion, are very brave! And so strong and wonderful and so very bright! You will go up on that stage, and you will blow everyone away. I just know it."

They laid there on their porch while they hugged each other tightly. His little boy was so brave. Louis didn't need to see him on a stage to be proud. He was proud of him already.

"You know,” Evan mumbled aloud again. “Mr. S-Styles says the same t-thing. He s-says I c-can do e-everything too.”

And Louis couldn't help but smile.

or,

Where, Louis had a four year old with a stuttering problem. Harry was always there to help.

✰ a trail of honey through it all (E, 27k, b!L) by faeriestyles

the TPH* fic we’ve all been waiting for.

* (trailer park harry)

✰ we should open up (before it’s all too much) (E, 43k, b!H) by @disgruntledkittenface

Struggling with grieving and depression since his dad died, Harry has never felt so alone. It’s too much to cope with on his own, but he feels like a burden when he tries to open up with people.

Then he meets Louis.

personal note: I cannot stress enough how much this fic means to me and it is very close to my heart, but I strongly suggest checking the tags for any possible triggers before reading!!

✰ my love’s not simple (it’s fragile) (E, 27k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight

Harry's new job is threatened by his impending rut. Desperate for a solution, he allows Niall to introduce him to Louis, an omega whose heat begins the same day. They click.

✰ swept me off my feet (took my heart and took me down) (E, 25k, b!L) by jennifer_kaid

When Louis had decided to reopen his mother's bakery, he never thought a charming alpha would walk in through the door, let alone fall in love with him over tea, dessert and music.

✰ knock knock, I love you (E, 86k, b!H) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Harry and Louis get kicked out of a statistics exam for passing a knock knock joke note, and subsequently fall in love. Harry's a virgin, there's a cat, a hot cocoa date, a lot of sex, even more knock knock jokes, and everything is lovely and happy.]

✰ enjoy the ride (E, 11k, imp. b!L) by @2tiedships2

the one where Louis, an omega more than tired of being treated as lesser than alphas, is forced on a road trip by his beta besties only to meet Harry who might just be the alpha he never knew he wanted.

✰ fading (E, 202k, b!L) by tothemoonmydear

Louis knows about beauty; the combination of qualities that pleases the aesthetic senses. He creates that combination every day in the garments he designs while studying fashion at uni. The cut of the design, the color of the fabric, the intricacy of the stitching; it all comes together to create something beautiful. When the science student with the long legs and dimpled smile agrees to model for him, Louis decides he’s found beauty personified. Harry just thinks Louis needs someone to show him how beautiful he is.

personal note: another wonderful and realistic story but please check the tags for triggers before reading!

all of these fics and authors mean a lot to me and have unknowingly made me incredibly happy during some dark times. if you visit these fics, please make sure to leave a kudos or a comment to spread some positivity, or feel free to let the authors that have made your life better know! :)

(as always, please let me know if I tagged or linked anything incorrectly! happy reading!)

#fic recs #look at when sad #Larry fic

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Ranking : Martin Scorsese (1942-present)

Of all the places in the world that seem to be hubs for creative energy, New York stands high on my personal list of favorites, and when it comes to iconic New York filmmakers, there aren’t many that can hold a candle to the prolific career of Martin Scorsese. His appreciation for films, art and music blasts off the screen with the same energy as his kinetic cinematography and vibrant editing. Once he established himself as a mainstay in the industry, his list of collaborators evolved into a who’s who of acting legends, both old and new. His career spans just over 50 years, and even his latest film (his 25th in his catalog) went head to head with other contenders for the top awards of the year.

To put it bluntly, there is Martin Scorsese, and then there is a long list of imitators and those influenced by his genius. To rank his films is a true test of logic, patience and decision making, but after a few weeks of catching the 7 or so films I had yet to see, I think I can stand behind this list as my definitive ranking (from least to most favorite) of a director I hold in the highest regard.

25. Gangs of New York (2002) An honest attempt at an epic flick, but at the heart of the matter, I simply don’t care about either side in the battle Scorsese presents us. Set in New York City in the mid 19th Century during the Civil War, we are thrown into a generational battle where the two key figures have different goals... Bill the Butcher stands as antagonist in his fight to maintain power and control, while Amsterdam is our protagonist charged with a mission of revenge. In the end, neither side ends up mattering, very much like my personal experience with this all flourish, no foundation exercise in style.

24. Bringing Out the Dead (1999) Nicolas Cage was gearing up for the run that most people know him for now during the release of Bringing Out the Dead : he was coming off of Golden Globe and Academy Award wins for Leaving Las Vegas, but was quickly leaning towards films of a more exploitation-based style. This film marked a refinement of his wild-man persona, while simultaneously being one of the last high-level actor/director combinations he would be involved in before his mad dash to accept every film and avoid bankruptcy. New York is captured in a mid-transition point between the darkness of the 1970s and 1980s versus the Disney aesthetic of the new millennium, and while heavy on the entertainment factor (as well as visually striking), there is ultimately not enough on this plate to push it higher up the list.

23. The Color of Money (1986) If you had to do a quick gander at the Scorsese list and pick the film that, on paper, screams Hollywood, it’d be hard to argue against The Color of Money taking that top spot. A soft sequel to The Hustler, Scorsese picks up the Fast Eddie story in the 1980s (an era that oozes out of each and every frame of this film), and yet, despite this legendary move, the film is ultimately the Tom Cruise show. Scorsese’s trademark dollying and trucking camera shots work beautifully in the context of this film, but in a story that shines bright, the star of Cruise ultimately outshines all that remains.

22. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) After a few exploitation-based projects, it seemed that Martin Scorsese wanted to provide a slightly different change in perspective, albeit one that still dwells in the darker corners of life. Rather than deal with the streets of New York or crime, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is a study on broken homes, single parenthood and domestic violence that oscillates between the view of the titular Alice and her young son. Harvey Keitel gives another strong performance as a Scorsese regular, while Ellen Burstyn shines in a transitional role towards more mature performances. Seeing Scorsese camera movements coopted into a more down to Earth story was refreshing.

21. The Departed (2006) Many people would have assumed that The Departed would be higher on a list of Scorsese films based solely on the cast... pairing Leonardo DiCaprio opposite Matt Damon in a tension-filled triangle with Jack Nicholson is a bold combination in its own right, but surrounding this nucleus with Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Corrigan, Anthony Anderson and supporting actors of that ilk creates a rich showcase of talent. Stylistically, everything you need is there too, as Scorsese proved time and again that films of this nature were his wheelhouse. That being said, the story itself, an adaptation of the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, takes a few liberties in its adaptation that ultimately are to the detriment of the narrative. Kudos to Scorsese for putting this one together, and too bad for him that the choices of William Monahan knocked what could have been a mega-classic way down the list.

20. New York, New York (1977) New York, New York is one of the most unique offerings from the Scorsese canon for a number of reasons. Of all his films, this one is probably the one that can be considered a “style exercise” more than the rest, as it oscillates between obvious sets and real locations before blurring the lines between the two. Long gaps of time are given to fully executed musical numbers (a must when a talent like Liza Minnelli is involved), and traditional methods of songwriting and performance are given their due respect. The exercise portion, however, comes in the newer acting styles that are infused into the old school structure... improvisation and aggressive physicality are used to put a deeper, disturbing red tint on an era often presented through a rose-colored lens. While interesting at times, the nearly three hour run time of the film begins to wear on the limits of the style, which ultimate leaves the film feeling more like a personal indulgence than a statement on changing times. For the iconic title track alone (and the buildup to its release), this film is worth seeing, but in terms of its placement in the realm of other Scorsese films, it may have to grow on me a while to find a higher placement on the list.

19. Boxcar Bertha (1972) Originally, this film was much lower on the list, largely due to its chronological placement between Who’s That Knocking at My Door and Mean Streets seeming odd to me. Upon revisitation, however, it stands clear and present that this film served as an exercise in the process of directing and organizing a shoot. With its period-specific placement, ensemble cast and action sequences, it was bound to be compared to (and ultimately overshadowed by) the formidable Bonnie and Clyde, but Boxcar Bertha has a few key moments in it (including a stellar final action sequence) that places it near the middle of the Scorsese canon, even with it being his second film.

18. Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967) For all of the refinement that Scorsese found in his second film, his debut film, the stunning Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, stands as testament to the fact that Scorsese brought his many gifts to the table from day one. What started as a student graduate film grew into a speculative project, only to find 25th hour funding that allowed it a festival run and a proper release. The film took many years to complete and release, to the point that keen viewers will notice Harvey Keitel’s boyish, soft good looks morph into the sharper, edgier intense profile we came to recognize in Mean Streets and the films that followed. The energetic cinematography, respect of film as a medium, stellar music choices, defiance of youth, toxic masculinity and realistic look at relationships are all here, making this debut a hidden gem in the Scorsese canon.

17. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Seeing Scorsese retread old stylistic ground (as opposed to infusing his style into newer projects) is an interesting take, and for what my opinion is worth, The Wolf of Wall Street feels like Goodfellas for white collar criminals. In theory (and, in some aspects of the film, in reality), the experiment does work, but ultimately, this film finds its placement in the middle realms simply because we are given infinite sizzle off of what amounts to a very thin steak. Goodfellas works because it is carried by the weight of omerta, but The Wolf of Wall Street focuses on a culture where status comes from self-appointed importance, which ultimately makes for an attempted redemption story for despicable people.

16. The Irishman (2019) Seeing actors the stature of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino combine forces for a film is always a major event, but until 2019, those combinations have been limited to duos. When Netflix announced its intention to release The Irishman in 2019, people were not only intrigued on Scorsese’s take on the Jimmy Hoffa story, but seeing De Niro, Pesci and Pacino in the same film for the first time. For what it was worth, the trio lived up to all expectations, with the only bittersweet criticism being wishes that the three could have found a way to work together prior to the twilight of their careers. The historical drama is high quality, with Hoffa’s larger than life persona captured perfectly by Pacino, and bolstered by the dramatic chops brought to the table by De Niro and Pesci. The film is a tad on the long side, and the de-aging process tips into the realm of the uncanny valley due to the older actors’ physicality, but for a 25th film 52 years into an illustrious career, The Irishman must be recognized for the triumph that it is.

15. The Aviator (2004) Much like The Wolf of Wall Street, I avoided The Aviator for years simply because I have no interest or fascination with Howard Hughes. I was very much aware of his financial stature, his innovations as an aviator, his rocky love life and his personal demons that plagued him, but for my money’s worth, I was fine without seeing it presented on the big screen. In an effort to cover all the bases for a director I hold in high esteem, however, I made the decision to finally check out The Aviator, and for every element of the film I previously had no interest in, an element was presented that won me over. Cate Blanchett and Adam Dunn put on two of the strongest performances in the entire realm of Scorsese films, and the XF-11 crash sequence is possibly one of the grandest and well executed in any Scorsese film. Leave it to Martin Scorsese to make a powerful film about an individual I care nothing about and nearly crack the top ten with that effort.

14. Hugo (2011) Up to the point of watching Hugo, I knew nothing about it. About halfway through Hugo, I had to stop and look up how the film was received, as it was simply stunning, and sure enough, it was a monster in terms of award nominations and wins. I never would have pegged Scorsese as the type to direct a kid’s film, but in all honesty, that ‘kid’s film’ title is used as a façade for a love letter to film in general, and the groundbreaking work of Georges Méliès specifically. The look of the film is otherworldly, the energy is light, kinetic and infectious, and even a mostly slapstick performance by Sacha Baron Cohen yields surprising emotional depth when given the opportunity to do so. While just missing the top ten, Hugo easily stands as the number one surprise on this list in terms of pre-viewing expectations (of which there where none) versus post-viewing thoughts (of which there are many). Knowing that Hugo exists lets me know that one day, if I have children, and they want to know why I love film so much, I will have a film on the level of Cinema Paradiso to share with them and (hopefully) help foster a love of film they can call their own.

13. Casino (1995) For a time, this film stood as the last work containing the vibrant combination of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, a trio of high energy creatives known for putting their all into their projects. Casino felt like a spiritual successor to Goodfellas, focusing on a lavish but secretive lifestyle with high stakes and even higher consequences. An instantly iconic movie, Casino felt like the end of an era in regards to gangster fare for Scorsese, opting instead for more challenging projects, adaptations of other books and films, or personal passion projects. It would be nearly 25 years later before Scorsese would touch similar subject matter or work with these actors again, but had Casino been the last of Scorsese’s so-called “gangster” films, I believe the world would have been happy with that.

12. Kundun (1997) To make one religious-based film in a career is a bold move to some, but I am hard-pressed to think of any director that made films on two different religions who didn’t explicitly make religious films. With that in mind, it is incredibly impressive that Martin Scorsese was able to make a film as moving and objective as Kundun after making such a bold take on religion as The Last Temptation of Christ. The film centers around the discovery, growth and eventual escape to India in light of growing aggression from China. In all honesty, I had my doubts as to whether or not the Scorsese style would work for this story, especially in light of the lack of cooperation from Tibet and China, but somehow, Scorsese’s amazing signature camerawork captures the unique spirit and essence surrounding the Dalai Lama. I’d heard of this film for years, but never got around to it until it was time to make this list, but I will almost certainly try to find a copy to own in the near future.

11. The King of Comedy (1982) What an odd left turn in regards of career trajectory for both Scorsese and De Niro. With three collaborations already under their belt (not to mention The Godfather II already being a well-established classic), it would have been easy to imagine the duo putting another notch on the gangster film genre belt. What we are given, however, is the yang to the yin of Taxi Driver : our protagonist is a statement on personal conviction and the trappings of instant stardom, our antagonist is a statement on star fascination and the high costs of celebrity, and our satellite characters directly reflect the toxicity certain fandoms can be capable of. Scorsese sets aside his normal flourish and camera moves for a mixing of film and video mediums, as well as a completely new sense of freedom in regards to the highly improvised nature of the film. Its influence on recent successful films like Joker is undeniable, but I’d argue that Joker lacks the heart, sincerity and realistic bite present in The King of Comedy.

10. After Hours (1985) Of all the “new to me” Scorsese flicks I finally viewed while preparing this list, After Hours stands as my favorite discovery of the bunch. I was marginally familiar with the film, both from my younger days in video stores and from friend recommendations, but for some reason, when Scorsese time arrived, After Hours seemed to never be on the docket. That oversight, however, will now be a thing of the past. This film feels like a personal challenge to Woody Allen in regards to how one should make a New York-based romantic comedy, and I’d be hard pressed to share any shortcomings or failures present in this comedic masterpiece. One of the few films that can be both a product of its era and a timeless classic, and one that should be much more recognized in the Scorsese canon.

9. Shutter Island (2010) Me hesitating or not getting around to Scorsese films seems to be a bit of a common theme here, but there was literally no excuse for me to take this long to get around to Shutter Island. Despite knowing the premise of the story (and even having the ending somewhat spoiled for me), I still found the impact of the final moments just as powerful as I imagine I would have going into this film blind. Some people will likely argue this statement, but in my opinion, this was the best Leonardo DiCaprio performance captured by Martin Scorsese. The asylum setting is wonderfully bleak, and the psychological horrors it infers create a vibrant playground for some of the most stunning visual symbolism that Scorsese has ever committed to film. Don’t be like me if you’ve not gotten around to Shutter Island yet, because it’s a thrill ride more than worth the price of admission, and a rewarding repeat viewer.

8. Mean Streets (1973) Mean Streets may have been Martin Scorsese’s third film, but for many fans, it was the first true indicator of the brilliance that was to come. A true New York film through and through, it not only presented fans with a stronger Harvey Keitel performance than Who’s That Knocking at My Door?, but it introduced the world to the palatable tandem of Scorsese and De Niro that would go on to lead to years and years of iconic performances. The use of altering aspect ratios is something that I wish Scorsese would have continued to use more often, but in all honesty, Mean Streets has style to spare. This the film that I love to recommend when people start ranting and raving about Goodfellas, and more often than not, it impresses those unfamiliar with it just as much.

7. The Age of Innocence (1993) Martin Scorsese’s love of film is widely known and well documented, but The Age of Innocence goes an additional step further by displaying Scorsese’s love of art. The film also is one of the most touching displays of unrequited love that Scorsese has committed to film, a slight alteration from his normal infusion of love stories trying to sustain in the surrounding chaos of gangs, crime, religion and so on. Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder all give standout performances in this masterfully directed film. If Gangs of New York was meant to be the definitive old school New York film in the Scorsese canon, then The Age of Innocence is the unintended definitive New York film from Scorsese, with some European touches thrown in for good measure.

6. Cape Fear (1991) Of the many, many iconic performances that Robert De Niro has given Martin Scorsese, I’d be hard pressed not to put his characterization of Max Cady at the top by a clear margin. Cape Fear was already a classic film adaptation of The Executioners when it was first released in 1957, but De Niro pulled two fast ones with his update : in terms of casting, especially with the aforementioned De Niro, Scorsese brought the harrowing story into a much darker, recent world, therefore increasing the tension by upping the ante for violent retribution, while at the same time, paying direct homage to the original by having Elmer Bernstein adapt the original Bernard Herrmann score. Juliette Lewis also provided a breakout performance in this modern day classic, and possibly the film that provided the most tense debate in terms of placement, as we will get into with the next film.

5. Silence (2016) Despite being one of the most recent Martin Scorsese films, this one’s limited release meant that I missed it during its initial run, and the lack of streaming service placement essentially erased it from my memory. I was certainly intrigued about watching it for this list, and it ended up being the last film viewed. Going into it, it felt like a sort of religious take on Saving Private Ryan, but it didn’t take long for the film to start dealing out much heavier cards in terms of faith, belief systems and cross-cultural contamination. The Last Temptation of Christ showed that Scorsese could find nuance and secular drama from a holy tale, and Kundun showed that he could make a religious icon a relatable human figure struggling to grasp his divine appointment. Silence is the work of a wise, steady hand, however, like some sort of cinematic parable or testament to faith in the face of crippling doubt and danger. Scorsese is certainly still moved by the idea of faith, and he uses Andrew Garfield to display this in some of the most powerful moments that he has ever created or captured for his films. For those who have not seem the film, this placement may feel a bit high, but I would not be surprised if, given time and proper amounts of reflection, it makes its way higher.

4. Raging Bull (1980) The placement of Raging Bull and Cape Fear was the biggest hurdle I was forced to overcome in the creation of this list. Robert De Niro is powerfully captivating in both films, though I would personally give his performance as Max Cady the nod over his embodiment of Jake LaMotta, but when it comes down to the brass tacks of it all, Raging Bull is ultimately the better of the two films. The raw, black and white look of LaMotta’s life already provides a gritty, unflattering portrait of a savage and uncouth man looking for beauty in the world, but that beauty he searches for appears in the boxing sequences with no apologies. The airy look, mainly caught by dynamic slow motion photography, works in tandem with the abrasive first-person views of the combatants, not to mention the direct nature of the combat itself as the viewer is often placed directly in the line of fire. The involvement of the real LaMotta within the film provides a nice button to the superb acting put on display by De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty and the numerous actors used to portray the opponents of LaMotta.

3. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Call it a trope if you like, but it feels like every great (or aspiring) director has a film in them that is driven by religion in some capacity. The Last Temptation of Christ is unique in this sense because it takes the story of the accusations, betrayal, trial and eventual crucifixion of Jesus and turns it into a deeply faith-based suspense thriller. Many of the familiar beats we know from the Bible are re-contextualized as visions, mystic tests of faith, carnal desires driven by lust, and nihilistic views infringing upon deep indoctrination. Willem Dafoe plays a Jesus that is bitter in his acceptance of his fate, Harvey Keitel plays a wonderfully opportunistic Judas, and Barbara Hershey plays a very modernized version of a woman forced to use her body for survival that is suddenly trapped between necessity and passion. The film hinges on the verge of becoming a soap opera without falling into the trappings that come with such high drama, and the walkup to the film’s amazing final sequence puts you in the emotional passenger's seat while Jesus takes the wheel and steers directly into his fate. A dramatically powerful yet brutally sincere take on an iconic, revered and sensitive subject matter.

2. Goodfellas (1990) Is there any original praise left to bestow upon this movie? To focus on the imperfections of this film is an act of futility, as they are mostly non-existent. Some of Martin Scorsese’s best examples of his iconic camera movement, editing techniques, still frames, writing gleaned from personal experience, soundtrack use, loose historical connections and dark humor are found within the confines of Goodfellas. If you’ve seen in actor in any television show or film that had any connection to the mob prior to Goodfellas or since, it is more than likely that that actor was in Goodfellas, even if only briefly. Using Henry Hill as both an outsider and insider perspective is a brilliant narrative stroke, as he can get close to the top, but can never have it all, making him essentially a fly on the wall bursting with charisma and personality. They highs are as epic as the lows are tragic, and for most people, it is the first film that comes to mind when the name Martin Scorsese is mentioned. This could have very easily been the number one film on my list, but anyone who has been visiting this blog with a keen eye for detail probably figured out my favorite Scorsese film the first time they visited the DOOMonFILM blog.

1. Taxi Driver (1976) Since the day that I started this film blog, there has been one image at the top of the page : Travis Bickle in the porn theater (with his face replaced by my logo) from the iconic Taxi Driver. There’s not a single element that I can put my finger on for this film, but there are certainly a number of elements that do speak to me : the isolation that Travis faces, the journal-like narration that drives the story forward, the hypnotic nature of both Bernard Herrmann score and the repetitive taxi cab shots and the vivid camera movements are all burnt firmly into my brain. Everyone that makes up the main cast for this film kills in their performance, and the ending of the film is not only a brutal one, but an ironic one in regards to where Travis lands in the eyes of those who make up the world of the film. Martin Scorsese has made more amazing films than some directors have made, period (amazing or otherwise), but for my money’s worth, none of them are as powerful or well put together as Taxi Driver.

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thisismeelephanttrying · 3 years

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After reading the book, I feel fortunate enough to across his heritage of that lifetime. He must have a beautiful heart in conclusion of a floating soul in a heavy world.

"In all his writing, the world of concrete objects carries its full common sense of pleasure and hardship, of beauty and blight. At the same time, his philosophical turn of mind involves him in a real struggle of ideas, one usually carried on by closed mings and obscured by fuzzy words. This struggle pits the "materialists" with their rational methods against the "idealists" with their intuitive or spiritual insights."

"Or rather he tells us all over again that the true battle lies within us and calmly transfers the struggle to the slopes of an interior mountain which we must climb. Most of us find that a harder task than carrying on a rousing battle with an ideological enemy."

"And neither of them took cover behind the convenient shrubbery of the "ineffable"; words brought their trials and their triumphs. Daumal's work follows Nerval's in its resolve to fuse body and spirit, speech and sleep, logic and intuition, in order to enter a "second life".

'"Nerval, however, prepared himself increasingly to disappear for good into that other world, and finally hung himself in a Paris alley. Daumal, somewhat less afflicted, or blessed, with night vision, resolutely returned to this world, his eyes seeking light again, his mind struggling to tell what he had seen."

"We must first become human before seeking anything superior."

"The Westerner tends by tradition to think of grasping the meaning of life through certain crucial experiences - death, grief, danger, passionate love, sudden success, catastrophe. Existentialism has aptly termed them "extreme situations", in reference to which we discover ourselves - whence our attraction to the adventurous life, war, scientific progress, romantic love. Having cast his mind deep into Indian philosophy, Daumal senses that the reality and meaning of the world can come to us at every moment without having to rely wholly on extreme situations to wrench us into awareness. Action, as has been pointed out many times, is for Westerners both stimulant and drug. The four stages of Hindi initiation, from the Vedas to the Upinshads, and the complementary disciplines of Yoga and Zen, prepare us not for a career of great exploits to be recalled in old age, but for a life increasingly dedicated to "the teaching which cuts through illusion."

"He understood very early that the basic act of consciousness is a negation, a dissociation of the I from the exterior world of not -I. Meaningful perception reduces and refines the I, withdraws it from the world into an increasingly strict identity or subjectivity. Then, however, beginning a vibratory rhythm which must follow if self-annihilation is not to result, the pure consciousness expands again into all things, experiences the world subjectively once more, loses itself in the mystery of creation."

Asceticism

"Man achieves inner spiritual progress by his own efforts, by a human discipline that is not a gift of god and can be learned from other men further advanced on the path of knowledge. Teaching and initiation are central to all religions and cultures. Within a system where no truth comes by divine revelation but only by human attainment, the sense of a tradition of knowledge comes to support the entire structure of life.... And thus Daumal spoke un-flinchingly of a Doctrine, meaning not a narrow set of rituals or dogmas, not art for art's sake in aesthetics, not a fixed philosophical position, but a number of paths leading to the same goal: a higher form of life."

Peradam

"Mount Analogue, the novel, has the force of a curving and uncurving lens for our minds. Through it, we can glimpse that "other world" of which Nerval spoke, and Spinoza and Socrates. And yet it is hard to look through it, for so limpid a substance almost escapes one's attention even when it is right under one's eyes. One could conceivably read ever word of the book without seeing a thing."

"And from deep within me, like a bubble, rose the admission that my life had become all too stagnant lately. Thus, when I opened the letter, I could not be sure whether it affected me like a breath of fresh air or like a disagreeable draught."

"I had written in substance that in the mythic tradition the Mountain is the bond between Earth and Sky. Its solitary summit reaches the sphere of eternity, and its base spreads out in manifold foothills into the world of mortals. It is the way by which man can raise himself to the divine, and by which the divine reveals itself to man."

" ... a general discussion of symbols, which I divided into two classes: those subject to law of proportion, and those subject only to the law of scale as well.... "Proportion" concerns the relations between dimensions of a structure, "scale" the relations between these dimensions and those of the human body. An equilateral triangle, symbol of the Trinity, has exactly the same value no matter what its dimensions; it has no "scale". On the other hand consider an exact model of a cathedral a few inches in height. This object will always convey, through its shape and proportions, the intellectual meaning of the original structure, even if some details have to be examined under a magnifying glass. But it will no longer produce anything like the same emotion or the same response: it is no longer "to scale". And what defines the scale of the ultimate symbolic mountain - The one I propose to call Mount Analogue- is its inaccessibility to ordinary human approaches. .......

For a mountain to play the role of Mount Analogue, I concluded, its summit must be inaccessible but its base accessible to human beings as nature has made them. It must be unique and it must exist geographically. The door to the invisible must be visible."

" You understand that you and I have such grave decisions to make, with such a far-reaching consequences for our lives, that we can't start by taking shots in the dark. We'll have to get to know each other. Today we can walk around together, talk, eat, and be silent together. Later I believe we'll have the opportunity to act and suffer together. All is that necessary to "make someone's acquaintance" as they say."

"Up to that point I had always spotted those second-hand Satans. They were so naive and always tried the same tricks, poor devils. Their entire approach consisted of variations on a few fundamental falsehoods every one knew, such as:"To obey the letter of the rules in only for imbeciles who cannot understand their spirit". Or :"With my health, alas, I cannot attempt such hardships."

" Life dealt with me a little the way an organism treats a foreign body: it was obviously trying either to encyst me or to expel me, and for my own part I yearned for "something else" .... I readjusted little by little to contemporary life, but only externally, it's true. For, when you come down to it, I can't bring myself to fall in with this monkey-cage agitation which people so dramatically call life. ..... Fake, all fake. I can't say one of those cards: here's a truth, one small but certain truth. In the whole show there's nothing but mystery and error. Where one ends, the other begins."

Since Logos is quite crazy in his assumption because everything was merely made in his mind. He is as if a scientist making a hypothesis totally out of intuition and initiated a whole journey to test it; that is the reason why I found this description pretty cool "We all sat stunned by the audacity and logical power of this deduction. Everyone kept silent and everyone was convinced."

"The path to our highest desires often lies through the undesirable."

" If I were to tell this story the way history is usually written or the way each of us recalls his own past, which means recording only the most glorious moments and inventing a new continuity for them, I should omit these little details and say that our eight stout hearts drummed from morning to night in time with a single all-encompassing desire - or some such lie. But the flame which kindles desire and illuminates thought never burned for more than a few seconds at a stretch. The rest of the time we tried to remember it."

I do not know why but this author did have a sense of humor with all of his mockery and ironicness.

"Some people say they have always existed and will exist forever. Others say they are the dead. And others say that, as a sword has its scabbard or a foot its imprint, every living man has in the mountain his Hollow-Man, which he will seek out in death."

"No one has ever been able to catch it, for the tiniest tremor of fear anywhere close by alerts it, and it disappears into the rock. Even if one desires it, one is a little afraid of possessing it, and it vanishes. .... It's like looking for night in broad daylight."

"But in our relations with the superior beings of Mount Analogue, what would be suitable for barter? What did we possess of real value? With what could we pay for the new knowledge we were seeking? Would we have to accept it as charity? or on credit?"

"At the same time as we decided to leave our heavy equipment on the coast, we were also preparing to leave behind the artist, the inventor, the doctor, the scholar, the writer. Beneath the old disguises new men and new women began to show the tips of their ears. Men and women, and all kinds of other creatures as well."

"In the mountains a man becomes very attentive to any sign indicating the presence of one of his fellow men. That distant smoke was particularly moving for us, a greeting sent us by strangers climbing ahead of us on the same trail. For from now on the trail linked our fate to theirs, even if we were never to meet. Bernard knew nothing about them."

Rhododendron

"At the end I want to speak at length of one of the basic laws of Mount Analogue. To reach the summit, one must proceed from encampment to encampment. But before setting out for the next refuge, one must prepare those coming after to occupy the place one is leaving. Only after having prepared them can one go on up. That is why, before setting out for a new refuge, we had to go back down in order to pass on our knowledge to other seekers..."

"Probably Rene Daumal would have made clear what he meant by this work of preparation. For in his daily life he devoted himself to preparing many minds for the difficult voyage toward Mount Analogue. The title of his last chapter was to be: "And you, what do you seek?.... To face it directly is to strike against the deepest layer of being which sleeps within us, and then one must listen painfully and lucidly to the sound it sends back."

"By our calculations - thinking of nothing else - by our desires - abandoning every other hope - by our efforts - renouncing all bodily comfort - we gained entry into this new world. So it seemed to us. But we learned later that if we were able to approach Mount Analogue, it was because the invisible doors of that invisible country had been opened for us by those who guard them. The cock crowing in the milky dawn thinks its call raises the sun; the child howling in a closed room thinks its cries cause the door to open. But the sun and the mother follow courses set by the laws of their own beings. Those who see us even though we cannot see them opened the door for us, answering our puerile calculations, our steady desires, and our awkward efforts with a generous welcome."

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buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

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ALPHAVILLE

Alphaville is a film you must watch.

Not “watch” in the conventional sense, where you passively sit and let sound and image wash over you, the type of slickly made / often entertaining mainstream factory pap that explains the plot points every fifteen minutes for anybody who went to the bathroom / checked their phone / nodded off in the interim.

“Watch” in the sense you must follow it close, actively paying attention to what unspools before you.

It is not a difficult film to follow, but you’ll be lost if you blink.

Alphaville the motion picture can be described several different ways.

One way -- the most common way, the easiest to reduce down to a simple logline -- is the producers of the Lemmy Caution movies (a European version of the Sam Spade / Philip Marlowe type of private eye character) threw caution to the wind and asked then La Nouvelle Vague wunderkind Jean-Luc Goddard to direct the next installment of the character’s adventures, resulting in a weird / off beat combination of film noir and sci-fi.

This would be like the Shaft franchise asking David Lynch to direct an entry.

Another way -- and in my view, far more accurate yet more difficult to explain -- is that Alphaville is a series of discussions on philosophy / theology / poetry covered with a dream-like patina of surreal tough guy antics.

Goddard, a film and pop culture maven since childhood, wisely mixes science fiction with stereotypical private eye tropes to bring these discussions to life.

The science fiction aspect is the first and foremost element, but the world of the private eye is needed to make Alphaville complete.

Science fiction enables Goddard to bring deep philosophical questions up to the surface by couching them in sci-fi terms that let them be treated as concrete concepts instead of abstract ideals.

Alphaville isn’t the first film to do that, not by a long shot, but the challenge in using sci-fi to discuss big ideas is that the spectacle of the genre may overpower the theme, the form triumphing over the content.

Metropolis, as superlative as it is, is a prime example of that.

Goddard’s stroke of genius lay in double filtering his message through the stereotypes and cliches of private eye fiction. Eddie Constantine’s Lemmy Caution is brutish and confrontational but uses that as a physical shield to protect a very human soul. This enables Goddard, through the character, to anchor the flighty intellectual aspects of the story in a grim and gritty reality that filmgoers could readily identify with.

Even at its most grim and gritty points, Alphaville continues to play with pop culture, tongue firmly in cheek in the manner in which it examines its questions, but like a prophetic parable carrying a far deeper and more profound meaning than apparent on first blush.

The plot is very pulpish, suitable for either Planet Stories or Black Mask Detective.

Caution, posing as a journalist for Figaro-Pravada but actually secret agent 003, arrives at Alphaville, the capital of a far distant planet (or galaxy; Goddard either not knowing or not caring about the difference and using the terms interchangeably throughout the film).

Alphaville appears identical to Paris of 1965, and indeed references in the dialog suggest the story is taking place in the very near future.

Ostensibly there to do a story on Alphaville, in reality he’s tracking down two men: Professor Vonbraun (Howard Vernon), an American scientist formerly known as Nosferatu who has gone to Alphaville and established himself as the de facto human face and hands of Alpha 60, the computer that runs the society; or failing that, locating Henri Dickson (Akim Tamiroff), a previous Earth secret agent sent after Vonbraun who apparently vanished.

Caution’s mission is to return Vonbraun / Nosferatu or kill him; his superiors are aware Vonbraun is guiding Alpha 60 to launch a massive war against the rest of the galaxy. (Why Alpha 60 thinks this war is a good idea comprises the true heart of the picture.)

Caution is met soon after his arrival by Natacha Vonbraun (Anna Karina), a computer programmer for Alpha 60 and the (apparently adopted) daughter of Professor Vonbraun. She unintentionally manages to arrange an encounter between Caution and Vonbraun, resulting in Caution being targeted for first interrogation then recruitment by Vonbraun and Alpha 60.

If you’ve never heard of Alphaville before this, you may be imagining this in grandiose Blade Runner style, but Goddard wanted his film grounded in reality so he shot using real locations, no special effects (other than the screen images turning negative in a few instances), and no elaborate props or costumes.

Alphaville literally is Paris of 1965, and the soulless laboratories and indoctrination centers and police stations are what was then mid-century modern architecture.

What makes Alphaville the society so alien is that Vonbraun through Alpha 60 turned the world into a completely logical / unemotional civilization. Goddard combines nods to Russian Communism, Orwell’s 1984, and French existentialism to shape the society of Alphaville, at first glance seemingly so like our world, but soon revealed in word and gesture to be radically different.

Gene Roddenberry got logical civilizations all wrong with the planet Vulcan. A logical civilization would not become a world of high minded aesthetics but rather of haunted, empty human souls using sensuality in lieu of spiritual values.

Despite its supposedly logical / non-individualistic nature, Alpha 60 acts to preserve itself. It relentlessly controls the population through language and censorship, hammering down any outbursts of individuality or spiritual leanings (spiritual here expanded to more than conventional religion).

This desire for self-preservation, fueled and guided by Vonbraun, manifests itself in its plans for galactic war aimed at subjugating all other planets so that they may never threaten Alpha 60 (the film leaves as a far question which came first, the egg of Alpha 60’s antagonistic plans, or the hen of the other planets sending agents like Caution to thwart them).

Goddard was no computers expert and he made Alphaville long before artificial intelligence research moved from the theoretical to the practical, but he nonetheless raises an interesting issue: Alpha 60’s oppressive nature is clearly hardwired into its cybernetics by Vonbraun, yet Alpha 60 displays enormous curiosity in the very human traits it strives to eliminate while Vonbraun feels so sure of himself as Alpha 60’s chief architect that he fails to realize his creation is truly thinking for itself, not following the guidance he programmed in.

Much of the philosophical inquiry in Alphaville centers on religion, but here Goddard doesn’t use “religion” in the conventional term of a set of dogmas and creeds too often followed blindly and slavishly by the uninquisitive and the superstitious, but in the difference between philosophy and theology.

Theology is best described as a sub-set of philosophy dedicated to things of the spirit (i.e., abstract, not necessarily supernatural). It reflects how we think and feel about unknowable and unprovable concepts.

Philosophy and ethics can be tested; we can see if the golden rule is a viable philosophy to follow, we can judge if one view of how the world works is more accurate than another.

As stated, the key difference is that philosophy never presumes to postulate a final answer, and when it offers an insight it never claims that insight represents absolute reality.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is philosophy because it reflects a view of reality never meant to be taken literally; far too often religious devotees insist their parables be taken literally and at face value, not any deeper, more meaningful one. Caution defeats Alpha 60 in the end by luring the computer into a trap of its own devising. Unable to grasp why humans value love and emotion and things of the spirit, it searches for meaning where it can find none because as advanced as it is, it cannot intuitively grasp their importance.

Alpha 60 realizes it is a little tin god, and in its futile attempt to elevate itself to the next level ends up destroying the very fabric of Alphaville’s social order.

Caution drives Natacha away from Alphaville to safety in the end, cautioning her like Lot’s wife not to look back. Natacha responds with a tentative expression of emotion: "Je vous aime" (and notice the use of the formal vous instead of the more intimate tu, she is starting to regain her humanity but a long road remains ahead of her).

In terms of execution, Alphaville is an extremely economical looking film (as well it should be since everything was shot on existing locations using the light weight cameras the French New Wave loved so dearly). The alienness comes across in the societal mannerisms, the elliptical dialog, and the odd juxtapositions found in the city.

Case in point: The phrase "I'm very well, thank you, you're welcome. Don’t mention it" is repeated frequently in the film.

At first it sounds like a typical social bromide, but as it is used again and again it takes on a more ominous, then sinister meaning.

It is not a polite thanks and dismissal but a warning, both to others and the speaker, not to entertain certain ideas.

Alpha 60 tries to control the citizens of Alphaville by controlling the language, banning certain words, changing the meanings of others. Characters refer to looking something up in the Bible more than once in the film, but only later is it revealed the Bible of Alphaville is a dictionary, and the salvation found within is the accepted language of the day.

The film maintains a dream-like quality throughout. Like most dreams, it certainly carries a strong, realistic feel yet at the same time is populated by surreal events and juxtapositions.

This dream-like quality plays well off the stereotypical private eye derring-do. Hard boiled shenanigans pop up almost randomly yet oddly not unexpectedly throughout the film viz Caution getting involved in a fist / gun fight with a hotel detective trying to spy on him as a “seductress third class” attempts to seduce him. It’s less than a minute of wild slam bang action and then it’s dismissed as if it never occurred, with Caution and the seductress continuing their cat and mouse game.

The film juxtaposes the opulent hotel lobby where Caution first checks in with the seedy rundown hotel lobby where he finds Dickson. The latter seems scarcely larger than Dickson’s seedy room, yet is crowded with its own staff (each engaged in some impossible to define task) and its own seductress third class waiting for clientele.

One of the most iconic scenes in Alphaville are the executions. Rebels against Alpha 60 (i.e., people who read =gasp!= poetry) walk out on a diving board over a swimming pool and are shot while making their last statement.

As they fall in the water a line of bathing beauties dive in, swim over, and drawing knives administer the coup de grace to the victim by repeatedly stabbing them underwater.

Which, incidentally, brings us to another point we need to acknowledge: How Goddard, Alphaville the film, and Alphaville the society treat women.

From our perspective almost 60 years later, we can look back at Alphaville and excuse its depiction of women by saying it was simply parodying the style of private eye movies of the era.

Which is true…but not enough.

Both French culture at that time and movies in general did not present what we’d consider an enlightened view of gender politics, and the females of Alphaville are all there for eye candy.

In some cases it works: The aforementioned synchronized bathing beauty executioners are so ludicrous as to be funny in a grim way, yet there are no other non-eye candy female characters to balance them out (there is a female cab driver, certainly unusual casting for a mid-1960s film, but she’s as gorgeous as all the other women).

And while one gets the idea behind each hotel employing professional seductresses (as an amenity in the world of Alphaville, as a commentary on the commodification of human relations in the film), today our reaction is more along the lines of “Is this really necessary?”

Far be it for me to tell Jean-Luc Goddard how to make movies, but it seems there could be half a dozen or more alternative ideas that would get the same point across without reducing women to this role.

Even Anna Karina’s Natacha gets subjugated to this mindset, serving mostly as a tour guide until the end of the film where she finally starts engaging more directly with the central conflict.

It’s not a comfortable look today, but we can live with it when viewed as a commentary on the style of the era. Compared with the Bond movies or almost any counter-culture film of the 1960s, it’s hardly the worst offender.

Here’s where I’m supposed to wrap things up and tell you to go watch the movie.

Okay, go watch the movie.

I’m not going to be hyperbolic and proclaim Alphaville a great movie because it’s a film set so far apart from the mainstream of cinema and the genres it mashed up that it’s not even an apples and oranges comparison but more like apples and the sound of autumn rain on the roof.

But seriously, you need to watch this movie.

#Alphaville #Jean-Luc Goddard #Lemmy Caution #science fiction #sci-fi #film noir #cinema #French New Wave #philosophy #theology #poetry #religion

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seeingisknowing · 4 years

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Hovering Over the Void: Flesh and Spirit in Caravaggio’s Salome Presented with the Head of John the Baptist

‘In his capacity as a missionary, Maurice Leenhardt once suggested to a New Caledonian elder that Christianity had introduced the notion of spirit into Canque thought. ‘’Spirit? Bah!’’ the old man objected: ‘’You didn’t bring us the spirit. We already knew the spirit existed. We have always acted in accord with the spirit. What you’ve brought us is the body.’’’

Marshall Sahlins, ‘What Kinship Is - And Is Not’, 2013

____

Perhaps there is something of the opening verses of Genesis in Caravaggio - we begin with formless, empty darkness, over which, just out of sight, hovers the Spirit of God, descending to cast its spotlight over some apogee of human drama; scenes of ecstasy and death, affliction and sensuality, are plucked from the void like sequences from a dream. Nothing is fixed; the same rotating cast of faces appear and reappear on new bodies and in new roles; prostitutes, thieves and gamblers are transformed into Virgin Mothers, apostles and martyred saints; cries of pain and passion, not so different from each other, call out from the precipice of a limitless abyss. One such moment is captured in the artist’s 1610 work, Salome Presented with the Head of John the Baptist; (oil on canvas, 92 x 107 cm, National Gallery, London) the executioner stretches out his arm to offer a disinterested Salome the saint’s severed head, purpling lips agape, held by a knot of hair over her golden platter, which catches the last drops of blood as they drain from his neck. She turns her own head away, her gaze caught by something else just behind us, and over her shoulder looms an old woman, hands clasped tightly in prayer as she contemplates the Baptist’s gruesome end. The piece’s loose handling of paint, and muted, earthy palette, make this a characteristic late Caravaggio, produced during his 1609-10 stay in Naples, in exile from Rome, having murdered love rival Rannucio Tomassoni, living as ‘a fugitive under death sentence [...] in constant fear that he would be forced to return to [...] face justice.’ During the latter years of his life, the artist’s works take on a more morbid tone, with late paintings like David with the Head of Goliath (1610), The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610) and Toothpuller (c. 1609) betraying a profound interest in increasingly more grisly depictions of torture and execution.

Nonetheless, the theme of decapitation seems to be one that Caravaggio takes with him his whole career; it represents a thread that begins with the famous Medusa (1597) and does not find its end until he paints David with the Head of Goliath (1610), months before his untimely death. As Bersani and Dutoit have put it, ‘Caravaggio seems to have found in decapitation a nearly irresistible aesthetic appeal’ - his ‘extreme solution to the human head as a traumatically enigmatic signifier.’ What then, to make of The Head of John the Baptist?

First, the act of beheading signifies the transition from body into relic. To understand this premise, we first have to understand the Christian, and specifically Catholic, faith to which Caravaggio and much of his work belongs as one uniquely interested in corporeality. A faith in which man's relationship to God is not merely understood as a one way system by which what is material, and thus mortal, is granted the possibility of transcendence through eternal life, but equally one in which what would otherwise remain transcendent, and thus out of reach, can take material, and thus mortal, form - ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ The relic, whether it be a little fragment of bone, a withered hand, or, as in our case, a severed head, exists at the very crescendo of this exchange between the created and the uncreated - a body from which the soul has long since escaped, while the flesh lives on forever, not just through deliberate preservation, but endless reproduction. Let us note some of the sites that claim possession of the Baptist’s head, or some piece of it - The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus; The Church of San Silvestro in Capite, in Rome; Amiens Cathedral; El Congregados, in Porto; the Residenz Museum, in Munich; as recently as 2010, a number of Bulgarian archeologists claimed to have found the relic amongst the ruins of a monastery on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan. Saint John’s executioner has cut off one head, and, like the Lernean Hydra, two (or three, or four, even five for that matter) have grown back in its place - a notion perhaps hinted at in the Eastern iconographic tradition, which often depicts the Baptist holding his own severed head, while another rests atop his shoulders, (see Fig. 1) as if what had been presented to Salome had only been a very convincing decoy. This is how Caravaggio presents the Baptist’s head to us, as a relic, in a scene in which the piety of the old woman, caught in prayer, prefigures that of the pilgrim, and the golden platter prefigures the reliquary. Caravaggio would not be alone in this. A century earlier, Solario had painted again and again images of the Baptist’s head resting in a silver platter (see Fig. 2), unaccompanied either by Salome or the executioner - removed from any context, it becomes unclear, and perhaps unimportant, whether the head is presented as Salome’s grisly trophy, or as a perfectly preserved relic. Similarly, Dries Holthuys oak carving of the Baptist’s head for Xanten Cathedral (see Fig. 3), crowned with its intricately carved brown ringlets, which each unfurl daintily into the ornate platter in which it sits, seem to replicate the morbid glamour of the reliquary rather than the severed head itself. In this way, Caravaggio’s Salome Presented with the Head of John the Baptist, like so many other depictions of this scene, shows us the head not just as a head, but a miracle fixed in flesh and blood and bone - a relic. Bersani and Dutoit approach something close to this, positing that Caravaggio inserts himself into the painting as the executioner, who offers the head to Salome just as he, as the artist, offers the image to us:

‘‘Cutting into and shaping space: was Caravaggio interested in executioners as a mode of self-representation? The executioner’s gesture in Salome [...] is not unlike that of the painter reaching out towards his canvas.’

But perhaps the work goes further than this: Caravaggio identifies himself as the executioner, offering the head first to a dispassionate Salome, dispassionate because she fails to see its significance, and then to us, not as mere image, but as relic: an object that exists as a totem, signifying something beyond itself, and that thus exists beyond physical limits: incorruptible, granting miracles to the faithful, replicating itself at will - from this position, it is not unthinkable that Caravaggio’s image of the Baptist’s severed head becomes something no ‘real’ a relic than any of the various skulls encased in gold that have been scattered so abundantly across Christendom.

A second meaning emerges - Julia Kriseva’s comment in The Severed Head: Capital Visions, that ‘we seem to have the—fantastical?—birth of Homo religiosus and of his socius. Centered around the cult of the severed head’ applies not without some credit to Christianity. The Baptist’s beheading signifies the beginning of something separate from the faith of the Old Testament: there are no Old Testament martyrs - there is no need for them, since in the Old Testament, those in God’s favour reliably triumph in the face of tremendous odds, while the mighty, but faithless, of the Earth are humbled. Interestingly, it is often the motif of decapitation that is employed to make this point, as in the stories of Judith and Holofernes, and David and Goliath. Martyrdom only becomes a possibility in connection with the Cross; a martyr’s death is accounted for because it is avenged by Christ’s victory over death itself, in the face of which, earthly life is rendered ‘a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away’ - a no-stakes game, in which nothing is to be gained or lost except the possibility of resurrection. In this sense, the Baptist’s severed head, as a sort of prologue to the Cross, demanding a retribution that will be found in Christ’s resurrection, signifies the dawn of Christianity; and the more total his death is, the more total his apotheosis. This is the lesson of the cold, unflinching realism of Caravaggio’s painting, which lays bare the whole Christian economy of suffering. Somewhere back in primordial darkness from which Caravaggio’s figures reach out to us takes place a monumental exchange, by which the most abject violence is transformed into the most flawless spiritual triumph, flawless because the jaws of defeat from which victory is snatched are monstrously real, so recognizably human; bodies are set aglow in the light of this invisible miracle, the light of the Spirit of God that hovers over the void.

To conclude: in Caravaggio’s 1610 Salome we find revealed the whole internal logic of Christianity - the logic that governs the delicate relationships between flesh and spirit, between death and resurrection, between victory and defeat, between the Old and New Testaments, between the created and the uncreated. The Baptist’s severed head becomes a sort of lodestone, the nexus of a vast constellation of points, mapped out against the empty darkness that falls over the greater part of the painting, reminding us that if we were to pull aside this heavy black curtain even an inch, we might unveil the real inner workings of Heaven.

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spookyson-zine · 5 years

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Our first contibutor spotlight is @pendulumtess!! Tessa is featured twice in this zine, as a cosplayer and writer!

Sample from Just Biding Time

“Hm… what is to play next?”

Roman elegantly strides around his room of the imagination’s castle, getting ready for the upcoming filming session with Thomas and the other sides. His music was on shuffle with various songs in the process, though between the pauses voices of the characters Thomas created flitted in and out of earshot. A few from his own concocted adventures were heard as well, though all dialogue outside of his room was muffled out in favor of the dramatic tune that started up next: Be Prepared, the iconic villainous song from the Lion King’s soundtrack.

“My my… how appropriate.”

Grinning at his own reflection, the royal side made a few adjustments to his blood red sash whilst humming along. It was spooky season, after all, and what could be scarier than a true villain?

Soon he would exit his room, heading through the corridor and descending a spiraling staircase as the music played throughout the vicinity. Occasionally, he would sing along on the way down.

♬ “And injustice deliciously squared. Be prepared…” ♬

Before he was to leave, however, there was a visit to pay. Walking through a particularly hidden door and down another short flight of stairs, Roman peered into another standing mirror. Within was a male figure, an antagonistic character from his latest venture. The music paused as this man looked up through the looking glass, weary eyes glaring over at the royal from within the darkness in a fiery, yet silent anger.

“Oh dear, are you not a fan of this song? Granted, it doesn’t quite fit my aesthetic choice either… but the timing is simply too good to pass up.”

He proceeded to draw a sword from its sheath for only a few moments, his own smoldering gaze reflected upon the blade with a knowing smirk. There was no flare in the gesture, simply a calm sense of triumph.

“After all, one as nefarious in villainy such as yourself must understand that your actions have consequences. If only you knew how to listen, you gilded pauper.”

The figure tried to speak, but all words were drowned out into silence as the song started up once again. The ruling side departed from the chamber, belting out the words as he had heard them sung so many times before. ♬ “…Meticulous planning, Tenacity spanning. Decades of denial Is simply why I’ll Be King, undisputed, Respected, saluted, And seen for the wonder I am. Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepared.” ♬

The song proceeded to end as a different voice called out into the castle.

“Roman! Where are you? We only have a few minutes until Thomas is to call for us. Do you seriously wish to be late for filming, again?”

“I’ll be out shortly, Logan! The song just ended.”

A shutting of the imagination’s main door seemed to signify that the logical side was satisfied with the answer provided, leaving the creative side to head towards that very exit.

However, he decided to take one last glance at his own reflection before making his way out into the mindscape, snapping his fingers as a crimson sheen sparked in his eyes with excitement. He looked like the spitting image of true, deserving royalty.

It was showtime at last. ♬ “Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepared…” ♬

#contributor spotlight #spooky son zine #sanders sides #Virgil sanders #Thomas sanders #cosplayer #writer #pendulumtess

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not-so-innocent-bi-sander · 7 years

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The Dragon Witch’s Monster Curse

Ok, so this idea popped into my head almost fully formed and I just had to write it down. Inspired by a conversation I was having with @authordreaming13, heres a little.. i dont know. A little story I wish i had come up with before Halloween. I hope you all enjoy it.

Gonna tag a handful of people- let me know if you want me to not tag you in the future. @twentyoneparades-to-panic-at @de-is-me@introverts-assemble @lilylunalovegood2002 @musicwitchthomas @sidewritings

Logan sat at his desk, his arms crossed in frustration. He was stuck in this situation through no fault of his own and there was nothing he could do to remedy it. But because of a mishap between Roman and the infamous Dragon Witch combined with the unfortunate timing of Patton opening Roman’s bedroom door… The four sides had been transformed into different classic monsters.

Logan reached up and itched at the bolts sticking out of his neck. Of course he was a Frankenstein’s monster.. Just of course. He glanced down at his fingers, finding them the same tinged green just they had been since last night. He had random suture scars all over his body, which he found extremely unbecoming. Even his clothes had become tattered and stitched in spots, almost similar to Virgil’s style. Roman assured him this would last around 24 hours at most, and seeing as this was magic, Logan couldn’t do much about it. He sighed and scratched once more, these bolts were irritating.

He stood to move away from his desk, none of his books offered him much information about magic and dragon witches anyway, when he heard a knock at his door. He moved and swiftly opened it, finding Roman in the hallway. The royal looked moderately distressed standing just outside his doorway.

“What is it Roman?” Logan asked the figure before him.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked, gesturing into the logical one’s room.

“Sure.” Logan spun on his heel and walked back into his room. He expected to feel Roman’s presence behind him but when he turned, the creative was still in the hallway, looking annoyed. Logan sighed audibly.

“Roman, you have my permission to enter my room.” He said, annoyed. Roman swooped inside and closed the door behind him.

“Hey its not my fault!” The regal vampire said exasperatedly. If you had asked Logan two days ago to choose classic movie monsters to embody his counterparts, he would have instantly assigned the role of vampire to Virgil. Something about his dark room and overall aesthetic just made sense. But looking before him at Roman, he realized the royal side before him embodied the regal style of the monster much moreso. He stood in what was mostly his usual prince getup, but there was a lot more of a Victorian era flare. He also had a stunning cape that trailed behind him and the classic vampire look: his skin was much paler than usual, he had a pair of glinting fangs, and his irises were blood red.

"Of course it isn’t, Roman. Now what did you need to talk to me about?“ The stitched together trait asked, once again scratching his neck bolts. "Two things, mainly. First… Do I look ok? How’s my hair?” he asked, uncharacteristically unsure of himself. Logan rolled his eyes once again, Roman had asked him this about a million times since he realized he no longer had a reflection.

“You look like you normally do, Roman. Well… Given the circumstances. What is the second order of business?” The regal vampire rolled his red eyes.

“Well, I wante-” he began but what was cut off by another knock at the door. Roman instantly swooped to hide behind where the door would open and put his finger over his lips. Logan was unsure what that was about but ignored Roman’s antics and moved to the door. Opening it, he found Patton.

“Heya Logan! Can I borrow your puzzlebook?” He cheerfully asked. Logan nodded and handed it to him from the bookshelf near the door. “Thanks Logan! I’ll be in the living room if you want it back!” He smiled and wandered off. Logan closed the door, revealing Roman. Logan simply raised an eyebrow at the strange creature of the night.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about!” he exclaimed Roman.

“What?” Logan’s eyebrow remained raised.

“Patton! He isn’t a monster!” Roman exclaimed. Logan hadn’t even noticed. But now thinking about.. Patton didn’t look out of the ordinary at all.

“Oh… You are right. He didn’t seem at all affected like we do…” Logan trailed off, he had just looked right at Patton. Nothing about him seemed changed. “It’s possible it didn’t impact him?”

“He was the one who opened the door and let the spell escape, he was right there… I feel like it must have done something!” Roman explained.

“Hmm… Well I was in the living room and you were in your room. Maybe Patton was blocked by the door. We have no evidence it would have affected anyone who may have been shielded.” Logan pondered aloud. Both their eyes widened at Logan’s words and they both whispered in unison.

“Virgil.”

Neither of them had seen the anxious trait since this had occurred last night. He had been in his room when the spell escaped the previous night and hadn’t been seen yet that day. They both ran from Logan’s room over to Virgil’s. Logan knocked on the door and reached for the handle.

“WAIT!” They heard Virgil from inside the door and what sounded like quick scrambling around. “Ok, you can come in.” The amalgamation and the night creature shared a worried glance before pushing open the door and walking into the room.

Virgil was sitting up on his bed with his hood up, dark sunglasses on his face, leaning against his headboard.

“Sup?” He asked, completely nonchalantly. The room was completely dark, as was usual, beside the lamp on his bedside table so his sunglasses didn’t seem to make sense.

“Um, Virgil? Are you alright? Why are you wearing sunglasses in the dark? Is… Something unusual going on with you?” Logan asked, realizing Virgil probably could barely see them.

“I'm… Uhh.. Fine. Why?” He seemed nervous.

“Oh lets just get on with this!” Roman stamped his foot impatiently. The royal reached behind him and switched on the bright ceiling light, illuminating all three of them.

The anxious trait gasped in surprise, finally able to see the two monstrous traits in front of him. “Oh… That is comforting.” He said very quietly.

“Comforting?” Logan was surprised at his reaction.

“Well, yeah… I thought this was just another cruel anxiety thing I had developed. Like.. this is a much better thing than what I had thought.” Virgil explained.

Roman stepped forward. “You thought.. what was?” He asked, curiously. Virgil sighed and reached up, slowly removing his hood. Where his hair should have been, there was a mass of writing snakes. He continued to remove his hoodie entirely, revealing a faint scale pattern down his neck and arms.

“I’m.. a Gorgon.”

"Well.. It certainly explains the sunglasses.“ Logan finally said. Virgil chuckled darkly. They then took a moment to explain to Virgil the entire situation. Everything from the Dragon Witch to Patton mysteriously not being impacted like they were. Virgil took it in and thought for a moment.

"I bet you twenty bucks I can figure out what Patton is and prove it to you in less than a minute.” He finally said, smirking from behind his dark glasses.

“What?! How can you be that confident?!” Roman angrily shouted.

“I know monsters.” He said, even more confidently.

Roman began to shout another outburst but was cut off by Logan who held out his hand to Virgil to shake. “I’ll take that bet.”

The three of them traveled back downstairs, Virgil leading them now with his jacket back on and the hood back up. They found Patton, joyously laying on the floor playing with Logan’s puzzlebook.

“Hey Patton, would you come here for a second?” Virgil asked, stepping off the landing of the steps and leaving the other two behind him.

“Of course Virgil!” He popped up off the floor and bounded over to him. “What is it, Kiddo? Those are some cool shades by the way!” He beamed.

Virgil looked at Patton for about 2 seconds before turning behind him and mouthing to Logan, /Better get out your wallet./ He turned back to the emotional side and said.

“I just wanted to tell you… I’m worthless and I hate myself.” He said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Patton stared at him for a moment, suddenly his eyes turned red and his hands balled into fists.

“What did I say… ABOUT TALKING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF?! YOU ARE PERFECT AND SPECIAL!” He suddenly yelled, his voice sounding amplified and much larger than his small frame. He dropped to his knees and curled into a ball. They watched as he began to grow larger, his shirt ripping revealing his body underneath to be… coated in hair. His hands and feet also grew to be large, hairy, and clawed while his face elongated into a wolf’s snout.

Virgil crossed his arms in triumph as Patton stood, a massive werewolf in a tattered polo and a cardigan around his neck that somehow managed to stay on.

“Sorry dad, I didn’t mean to upset you. Let me make it up to you.” Virgil reached behind the wolf’s ear and began to scratch, effectively turning Patton into a happy puppy, pressing himself against the anxious side to give him better access to his new favorite scratch spot. Princey simply stood with his mouth hanging open, while Logan stood shocked next to him. He did, however, still manage to place a crisp twenty dollar bill into Virgil’s hand.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #dragon witch #fanfic #sanders fanfic #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #tsfic #halloween au #movie monster au #classic monster au

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joel-furniss-blog · 7 years

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Art and Ideas - 2

An understanding of a period must involve a subject of study, and if one is to be solely invested in the study, it must be an important period, one in which worn past ideals are replaced with freshly bred explorations into innovative opinions, literature and aesthetics. In general, a level of expansive thought that its predecessor lack, a valuable core of intellectual freedom that lays foundation for even more ideas to come. I personally believe that no better period of modern innovation represents a definitive change in ideals than the Romantic period.

The Romanticism was in many ways one of the most revolutionary periods of thought in history. From the broad binding of creative power into the first craftworks of the Greco-Roman period to the tributes of these classical antiquity’s present into the era of Neoclassicism, the periods prior to Romanticism have not left their field of overbearing rationality and rules of strict artistic proportion in centuries, and as a result they have produced stagnant paintings and sculpture, a seemingly never-ending series of crowded action-poised oil-on-canvas paintings or toga-draped marble maidens with little room for margin. In many ways the response of Romanticism was needed to shift the reflective spectrum and broaden horizons for the future, which is why Romanticism moved from the humble realism of many prior painters to study and produce pieces that stimulated the emotions to a point, rather than being plainly appreciated for their technical ability and lifelike visuals. This is not to say that the artwork of the Romantic period is not of particular photo-realistic merit as the focus on the Sublime lends itself to images of allure and awe rather than a focus on the immediate background and shallow depths of the neoclassical.

The Sublime as a concept is a difficult one to decipher at first glance, many may see it as simply an overwhelming sense of beauty, but as a philosophy it is built on much more. The original use of the Sublime was to describe a writing style of the ancient Greek epics, and was referred to as such by an unknown Roman-Era Greek author Longinus in his literary criticism On the Sublime, which defines the Sublime as:

“…a certain loftiness and excellence of language,” which “…takes the reader out of himself...”

Longinus saw the Sublime as a loss of rationality and a deep emotion mixed of pleasure and exaltation, which he criticised by saying:

"…the Sublime leads the listeners not to persuasion, but to ecstasy: for what is wonderful always goes together with a sense of dismay, and prevails over what is only convincing or delightful, since persuasion, as a rule, is within everyone's grasp: whereas, the Sublime, giving to speech an invincible power and [an invincible] strength, rises above every listener…"

The Sublime in this way is not a sense of very great excellence as a regular definition might put, but an uncapturable combination of multiple emotions, sometimes even conflicting ones. A sense of the Beautiful does play an important part in the Sublime, but there is also a key emotion that is completely necessary to the idea of the Sublime: Fear. The Sublime shows the incalculably massive and unconquerable by man, either literally out-of-touch or too large to fully understand. Examples of the Sublime could be seen in later Romatic artworks, seen in vast technicoloured sunsets of fading mountain ranges shrouded in fog. During the time of Longinus it was the dawn of the Roman Empire, where the unconquerable was destructive to their advances into the unknown, in which the sublime mountains proved impossible or terrifying to cross, or when raging seas took lives. In other words, they were scared of the Sublime, and this fear most likely spread to literature and spawned Longinus criticisms.

While the criticism is directed at the Sublime in Greek literature, it was also written to reference the art at the time, which is understandable. The Greeks were the intellectual force of the early aesthetic and scholarly reigns, it is only logical that they would only appreciate the beauty of the object represented; the beauty of the accuracy of the representation; and the beauty of the painting or sculpture itself, but after centuries of keeping to these ideals, they have lost their scientifically pinpoint polish and were in need of replacement. And in this prolonged period of production and the ensuing reproductions, the idea and subsequent view of the Sublime was altered once again. To now get a better understanding of the view of Sublime, the philosophical work of author and theorist Edmund Burke must be taken into account.

Burke’s concept of the sublime was born from the works of his literary predecessors Joseph Addison, John Dennis, and Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, who all saw the sublime as the regular definition, a mixture of beauty and fear, but Burke’s 1757 treatise A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful actually argued against the supposed inclusion of the Sublime with the beautiful, arguing a philosophical exposition on the two subjects completely separated.

“, it naturally occurs that we should compare it with the sublime; and in this comparison there appears a remarkable contrast. For sublime objects are vast in their dimensions, beautiful ones comparatively small; beauty should be smooth and polished; the great, rugged and negligent: beauty should shun the right line, yet deviate from it insensibly; the great in many cases loves the right line; and when it deviates, it often makes a strong deviation: beauty should not be obscure; the great ought to be dark and gloomy: beauty should be light and delicate; the great ought to be solid, and even massive.”

Burke argued that the beauty of an object is based purely on the aesthetics, a combination of well-formed smoothness, modest scale, and outstanding delicacy. In this way, Burke’s philosophical standings on beauty fully encompass the art object, the sculpture and the painting, specifically the Neoclassical collections present at his time. Compared to the Beauty, the Sublime shares the casual structure of the Beauty, but on a much larger scale, encompassing an imperfect ferocity, incalculable vastness level with infinity, and an uncontrollable power, all these qualities break it from the simply aesthetic and caused it to inhabit the mind. To fully understand the Sublime, an active mind is necessary to hypothesize all that is lost in the intense expanse, as well as to overcome the fear of the unknown, it is an idea for the individual artist rather than the tutored student. Burke’s interpretation of the Sublime versus the Beauty was the prefect breeding for the Romantic Movement, as Romantic work utilized the Sublime in its work as a combat against the much more conventionally beautiful Neoclassical.

The full embrace of the Sublime idea in the Romantic Movement was not the only significant aesthetic change present, the ideological progression of the Sublime spawned fear and awe and demonstrated the impossible significant aspects of an untameable nature. A main focus of Neoclassical art was the group, a collection of human beings set in a scene, present in naturalistic poses and expressions, an ideal present since the Renaissance, visible in works such as Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Socrates, 1787 or Maurycy Gottlieb’s Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, 1878. These works are bustling with life and present movement, while demonstrating a level of intimacy and raw humanity, showing weakness and sorrow in their visages. But as it seems, this open display of emotions are only shown when the subject is human, not when the focus of the piece is on the classical Greco-Roman Gods, an example lying within Jacques-Louis David’s final 1822 work Mars Being Disarmed by Venus, in which the Gods are seen not as symbols of common human emotion, but as either stoic figures of comfortable power in the case of the laying Mars, or flowing symbols of beauty in the form of the temptress Venus and the three Graces. This can even be noted not just for the mythical Gods, but other, much more realistic, supposed Übermensch. Even Socrates is seen as a unobtainable symbol to man in David’s previously mentioned Death of Socrates, in which even facing death, the genius Socrates bathes in radiant white flows of cloth, held in a stoic, even heroic pose whereas his nameless pupils and onlookers cower in their much more neutral colours.

Romanticism set to represent the everyman with a specific emphasis on individualism and theological realism, rather than the more over exaggerated emotion of Neoclassical, in which man was not only represented as being low in comparison to their supposed superiors, but cutting their own destiny, working towards glory or facing great danger. Instead of revering and appearing servile to the mythical or physical deities, it demonstrated the genius or the brave warrior as reflection of great triumphs or a goal for the average man to work towards. Some examples of this are the Eugène Delacroix’s famous 1830 Liberty Leading the People, in which the warriors seen brandishing pistols and swords are much more a broad representation of the French people than accurate representations, showing to the far left the rugged worker man clad in apron and next to him a finer nobleman complete with top hat and tailcoat and even the child leading the charge, representing the future generation carving its own path. The painting is not exclusive to a social sect but a binding one for all to enjoy and envision themselves in, demonstrating how the work of any man can change courses and breed greatness instead of heralding a single figure. Another example of this new level of immersive palpability in Romantic artwork is Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1819, a figurehead piece where a faceless and nameless figure dressed in gentleman’s attire and standing in a triumphant pose on a mountain, overlooking the namesake sea of fog. The evidence of the dampened, black rock demonstrates that the climb was taxing, yet he wears the constricting formal wear of a nobleman, suggesting that to him it was completed with ease and his raised pose suggest that he is a forerunner for man, a leader. He is a man facing the Sublime for unknown reasons, possibly to humble himself, for peaceful contemplation, or perhaps he seeks to conquer what is laid in front of him. The piece does not seek to lay out the obvious, historical figures, important landmarks, or the rest, it is wholly up for interpretation, designed to stimulate the emotions of the viewer and draw them to imagine.

This emphasis on these wider and wholly relatable ambitions was a significant change in the artworld, no longer a focus on the lower and higher man, but a strengthened sense of equality and enthusiasm for every man. In some ways it was one of the most visible changes on the artistic spectrum, moving away from the conventional ideas of beauty or dread and building towards new emotional fronts taken on by the Sublime or the later inclusion of the Gothic helped produce some of the boldest artworks of the time such as Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son, an entirely audacious and frankly horrifying work which if the movers of the Romantic art didn’t lay the foundation for, would never have been made. The Romaticism helped build art as the independent thinkers practice, rather than craft it was known as for centuries, it romanticised it for all. The artist was romanticised as being a free spirit, dabbling in the greatest philosophical luxuries and spreading their knowledge through their expertise, and thus spreading their influence to other would-be artists whereas previously art was reserved for the educated and elite. Romanticism helped define art within the newly forming modern world and because of this I believe it is the most significant artistic movement of its era.

Bibliography:

- Chase, C. (1993). Romanticism. New York: Longman Publishing, pp. 7-8

- Perry, S. (1999). Romanticism: The Brief History of a Concept. In: Wu, D ed. A Companion to Romanticism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 3-9

- Longinus. (1890). On The Sublime. Translated by Havell, H.L. London: Macmillan and Company, pp. 23

- Burke, E. (1757). A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. London: J.C. Nimmo and Bain, pp. 206

- Death of Socrates [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Socrates [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017]

- Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_Praying_in_the_Synagogue_on_Yom_Kippur [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017]

- Mars Being Disarmed by Venus [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Being_Disarmed_by_Venus [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017]

- Liberty Leading the People [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_People [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017]

- Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog [Accessed 22 Nov. 2017]

#art&ideas

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davidmann95 · 7 years

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Superman Starter Pack

First and most importantly, before we go into petty commercial concerns, let’s remember the meaning of the day I orginally posted this. Because friends, it was no ordinary day: it was Miracle Monday, the anniversary of Superman triumphing over no less than the biblical prince of darkness himself (or at least a respectable substitute), and it was so awesome that even though it was expunged from humanity’s collective consciousness, they still instinctively recognized the third Monday of May as a day of good cheer to be celebrated in Superman’s honor from now until the end of time.

I know I write plenty about Superman on here, but with as much as a pain as comics can be to get into, I’m sure at least some of those I’m lucky enough to have follow me haven’t been able to find an easy in for the character. Or maybe a follower-of-a-follower or friend-of-a-friend is looking for a reasonable place to start. So in the spirit of the season, I’ll toss on the (admittedly already pretty massive) pile of recommended starting points on Superman: ten stories in a recommended - but by no means strict - order that should, as a whole, give you a pretty decent idea of what Superman’s deal is and why you should care, all of which you should be able to find pretty easily on Comixology or a local bookstore/comic book shop.

1. Superman: Birthright

What it’s about: It’s his origin. He gets rocketed to Earth from the doomed planet Krypton, he gets raised by farmers, he puts on tights to fight crime, he meets Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, he deals with Kryptonite, all the standard-issue Superman business.

Why you should read it: It does all that stuff better than anyone else. He’s had a few different takes on his origins over the years due to a series of reboots, another of those tellings is even further down the list, but the first major modern one pretty much hit the nail on the head first try. It toes the tricky line of humanizing him without making you forget that hey, he’s Superman, it’s high-action fun without skimping on the character, and if there’s any one story that does the best job of conveying why you should look at an invincible man-god all but beyond sin or death with no major inciting incident in his background as a likable, relatable character, this is it. Add in some of the best Lane and Luthor material out there, and it’s a no-brainer.

Further recommendations if you liked it: About a decade before writing Birthright, its author Mark Waid worked with Alex Ross on what ended up one of DC’s biggest comics ever, Kingdom Come, the story of a brutal near-future of out-of-control superheroes that ultimately narrowed down to being about Superman above all else, and one of his most popular and influential stories of all time at that. Years after Birthright he created Irredeemable, the story of a Superman pastiche named Plutonian gone murderously rogue and how he reached his breaking point, illustrating a lot of what makes Superman special by way of contrast.

(Since Superman’s had so many notable homage/analogue/pastiche/rip-off/whatever-you-want-to-call-it characters compared to other superheroes, often in very good stories, there’ll be a number of those stories on this list.)

2. Superman: Up, Up and Away

What: Ever seen Superman Returns? That, but good. Clark Kent’s been living and loving a normal life as a reporter and husband after a cosmic dust-up in one of DC’s event comics took Superman off the board for a year, but mounting threats demand his return to save Metropolis again, if he still can.

Why: If you’d rather skip the origin, this is as a good a place as you’ll find to jump onboard. Clark and Lois both get some solid characterization, a number of classic villains have solid screentime, there’s some interesting Kryptonian mythology sticking its head in without being too intrusive, a great overarching threat to Metropolis, and it captures how Superman’s powers work in a visceral sense better than almost anything else. If you just want a classic, pick-it-up-and-go Fun Superman Story, this is where to go.

Recommendations: If you liked this, you’ll probably be inclined to enjoy the rest of co-writer Geoff Johns’ run on Action Comics, including most popularly Legion of Superheroes and Brainiac, both with artist Gary Frank. Another series tapping into that classic Superman feeling pretty well - regardless of whether you enjoyed the original show or not - is Smallville: Season 11, showing the adventures of that series’ young Clark Kent once he finally becomes Superman. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s run on the main Superman title under the banner of DC Rebirth tried to maintain that feeling, properly introducing Jon Kent, Lois and Clark’s 10-year-old-son, as Superboy in what seems to be a permanent addition to the cast and mythology; your mileage on its success may vary, but Volume 2, Trials of the Super Sons, represents the best of it. And the current Superman work by Brian Bendis - beginning with his The Man Of Steel miniseries and spinning off into both Superman and Action Comics - while controversial, presents a very similar take on Superman to the one seen in Up, Up and Away and a similar sensibility, to very positive results.

3. Superman: Secret Identity

What: He’s Clark Kent, an aspiring writer from a farm town in Kansas. Problem is he’s only named after the other guy, an ordinary teenager who’s put up with crap his whole life for being named after a comic book character in an ordinary world. But when he suddenly finds himself far closer to his namesake than he ever would have imagined, it becomes the journey of his life to find how to really be a Superman.

Why: The best ‘realistic’ Superman story by a long shot, this doesn’t sideline its heart in favor of pseudo-science justifications for what he can do, or the sociopolitical impact of his existence. He has the powers, he wears the costume to save people (though he never directly reveals himself to the world), and in-between he lives his life and learns what it means to be a good man. It’s quiet and sweet and deeply human, and probably one of the two or three best Superman comics period.

Recommendations: If you like the low-key, pastoral aesthetic, you might enjoy Superman for All Seasons, or Supergirl: Being Super, and the one-shot Man and Superman by Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini has something of a similar down-to-Earth feel. I’d also recommend Jeff Loveness and Tom Grummet’s Glasses in Mysteries Of Love In Space. If you’d like more of writer Kurt Busiek’s work, his much-beloved series Astro City - focusing on a different perspective in the superhero-stuffed metropolis in every story - opens with A Dream of Flying, set from the point of view of the Superman-like Samaritan, telling of his quiet sorrow of never being to fly simply for its own sake in a world of dangers demanding his attention.

4. Of Thee I Sing

What: Gotham hitman Tommy Monaghan heads to the roof of Noonan’s bar for a smoke. Superman happens to be there at the time. They talk.

Why: A lot of people call this the best Superman story of the 90s, and they’re not wrong. Writer Garth Ennis doesn’t make any bones about hating the superhero genre in general (as evidenced by their treatment in the rest of Hitman), but he has a sincere soft spot for Superman as an ideal of what we - and specifically Americans - are supposed to be, and he pours it all out here in a story of what it means for Superman to fail, and why he remains Superman regardless. It sells the idea that an unrepentant killer - even one only targeting ‘bad guys’ like Tommy - would unabashedly consider Superman his hero, and that’s no small feat.

Recommendations: If you read Hitman #34 and love it but don’t intend to check out the rest of the series (why? It’s amazing), go ahead and read JLA/Hitman, a coda to the book showing the one time Tommy got caught up in the Justice League’s orbit, and what happens when Superman learns the truth about his profession, culminating in a scene that sums up What Superman Is All About better than maybe any other story. Tom King and Andy Kubert’s Superman: Up In The Sky, while not without blemish (there’s a rightly-controversial chapter involving Lois that precludes universal recommendation), is a similarly humane look at Superman and the clash of his iconic power and mortal limitations. If you appreciated the idea of a classically decent Superman in an indecent world, you might enjoy Al Ewing’s novel Gods of Manhattan (the middle of a loose pulp adventure trilogy with El Sombra and Pax Omega, which I’ve discussed in the past), starring Doc Savage and Superman analogue Doc Thunder warring with a fascistic new vigilante in a far different New York City.

5. Superman: Camelot Falls

What: On top of a number of other threats hitting Superman from all sides, he receives a prophecy from the wizard Arion, warning of a devastating future when mankind is faced with its ultimate threat; a threat it will be too weak to overcome due to Superman’s protection over the years, but will still only just barely survive without him. Will he abandon humanity to a new age of darkness, or try and fight fate to save them knowing it could lead to their ultimate extinction?

Why: From the writer of Secret Identity and co-writer of Up, Up and Away!, this is probably the best crack at the often-attempted “Would having Superman be around actually be a good thing for humanity in the long term?” story. Beyond having the courtesy of wrapping that idea up in a really solid adventure rather than having everyone solemnly ruminate for the better part of a year, it comes at it from an angle that doesn’t feel like cheating either logically or in terms of the characters, and it’s an extremely underrated gem.

Recommendations: For the same idea tackled in a very different way, there’s the much better-known Superman: Red Son, showing the hero he would have become growing up in the Soviet Union rather than the United States; going after similar ideas is the heartfelt Superman: Peace on Earth. The rest of Kurt Busiek’s time on the main Superman title was great too, even if this stood easily as the centerpiece; his other trades were Back In Action, Redemption, The Third Kryptonian, and Shadows Linger. Speaking of underrated gems, Gail Simone’s run on Action Comics from around the same time with John Byrne was also great, collected in Strange Attractors. And since the story opens with an excellent one-shot centered around his marriage to Lois, I have to recommend From Krypton With Love if you can track it down in Superman 80-Page Giant #2, and Thom Zahler’s fun Lois-and-Clark style webcomic Love and Capes.

6. Superman Adventures

What: A spinoff of Superman: The Animated Series, this quietly chugged along throughout the latter half of the 90s as the best of the Superman books at the time.

Why: Much as stories defining his character and world are important, the bread and butter of Superman is just regular old fun comics, and there’s no better place to go than here for fans of any and all ages. Almost all of its 66 issues were at least pretty fun, but by far most notable were two runs in particular - Scott McCloud, the guy who would go on to literally write the book on the entire medium in Understanding Comics, handled the first year, and Mark Millar prior to his breakout success wrote a number of incredibly charming and sincere Superman stories here, including arguably the best Luthor story in How Much Can One Man Hate?, and a full comic on every page in 22 Stories In A Single Bound.

Recommendations: Superman has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to runs of just plain fun comics. For the youngest in your family, Superman Family Adventures might just be what you’re looking for. Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade would fit on your shelf very well next to Superman Adventures. Superman: Secret Origin, while not the absolute best take on his early days, has some real charm and would be an ideal introduction for younger readers that won’t talk down to them in the slightest, and that you’ll probably like yourself (especially since it seems to be the ‘canon’ Superman origin again). If you’re interested in something retro, The Superman Chronicles cover his earliest stories from the 30s and 40s, and Showcase Presents: Superman collects many of his most classic adventures from the height of his popularity in the 50s and 60s. Age of the Sentry and Alan Moore’s Supreme would also work well. For slightly older kids (i.e. middle school), they might get a kick out of Mark Millar and Lenil Yu’s Superior, or What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way? And finally, for just plain fun Superman runs, I can’t ignore the last year of Joe Casey’s much-overlooked time on The Adventures of Superman.

7. Superman vs. Lex Luthor

What: Exactly what it says on the tin: a collection of 12 Luthor stories from his first appearance to the early 21st century.

Why: Well, he’s Superman’s biggest enemy, that’s why, and even on his own is one of the best villains of all time. Thankfully, this is an exceptionally well-curated collection of his greatest hits; pouring through this should give you more than a good idea of what makes him tick.

Recommendations: While he has a number of great showings in Superman-centric comics, his two biggest solo acts outside of this would be Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Luthor (originally titled Lex Luthor: Man of Steel) and Paul Cornell’s run on Action Comics, where Lex took over the book for about a year. Also, one of Superman’s best writers, Elliot S! Maggin, contributed a few stories here - he’s best known for his brilliant Superman novels Last Son of Krypton and the aforementioned Miracle Monday, and he wrote a number of other great tales I picked some highlights from in another article.

8. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

What: Spanning years, it begins in a different version of Superman’s early days, where an as-yet-flightless Clark Kent in a t-shirt and jeans challenged corrupt politicians, grappling with the public’s reaction to its first superhero even as his first true menace approaches from the stars. Showing his growth over time into the hero he becomes, he slowly realizes that his life has been subtly influenced by an unseen but all-powerful threat, one that in the climax will set Superman’s greatest enemies’ against him in a battle not just for his life, but for all of reality.

Why: The New 52 period for Superman was a controversial one at best, and I’d be the last to deny it went down ill-advised roads and made outright bone-stupid decisions. But I hope if nothing else this run is evaluated in the long run the way it deserves; while the first arc is framed as something of a Superman origin story, it becomes clear quickly that this is about his life as a whole, and his journey from a cocksure young champion of the oppressed in way over his head, to a self-questioning godling unsure of the limits of his responsibilities as his powers increase, and finally an assured, unstoppable Superman fighting on the grandest cosmic scale possible against the same old bullies. It gives him a true character arc without undermining his essential Superman-ness, and by the end it’s a contender for the title of the biggest Superman story of all.

Recommendations: Most directly, Morrison did a one-off mini-sequel to this run in Sideways Annual #1, where he gets to give his creation of t-shirt Superman a proper sendoff after he was quickly retconned out of the main line. Outside of this, Greg Pak’s runs on Action Comics and Batman/Superman, and Tom Taylor/Robson Rocha’s 3-issue Batman/Superman stint, as well as Scott Snyder, Jim Lee and Dustin Nguyen’s blockbuster mini Superman Unchained, are the best of the New 52 era. If you’re looking for more wild cosmic Superman adventure stories, Grant Morrison’s Superman Beyond is a beautiful two-part adventure (it ties in to his event comic Final Crisis but largely works standalone), and Joe Casey’s Mr. Majestic was a largely great set of often trippy cosmic-scale adventure comics with its Superman-esque lead. For something a little more gonzo, maybe try the hilariously bizarre Coming of the Supermen by Neal Adams. And while his role in it is relatively minor, if we’re talking cosmic Superman-related epics, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World has to be mentioned - it’s soon being reisssued once again in omnibus format.

9. Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

What: More than just the title story, DC issued a collection of all three of Watchmen writer Alan Moore’s Superman stories: For The Man Who Has Everything, where Superman finds himself trapped in his idea of his ideal life while Batman, Wonder Woman and Robin are in deadly danger in the real world, Jungle Line, where a deliriously ill and seemingly terminal Superman finds help in the most unexpected place, and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Moore’s version of the final Superman story.

Why: Dark Superman stories are a tricky tightrope to walk - go too far and you invalidate the core his world is built around - but Moore’s pretty dang good at his job. Whatever Happened you should wait to read until you’ve checked out some Superman stories from the 1960s first since it’s very much meant as a contrast to those, but For The Man Who Has Everything is an interesting look at Superman’s basic alienation (especially in regards to his characterization in that period of his publication history) with a gangbuster final fight, and Jungle Line is a phenomenal Superman horror story that uncovers some of his rawest, most deeply buried fears.

Recommendations: There are precious few other dark Superman stories that can be considered any real successes outside a few mentioned among other recommendations; the closest I can think of is Superman: For Tomorrow, which poses some interesting questions framed by gorgeous art, but has a reach tremendously exceeding its grasp. Among similar characters though, there are some real winners; Moore’s own time on Miracleman was one of the first and still one of the most effective looks at what it would mean for a Superman-like being to exist in the real world, and the seminal novel Superfolks, while in many ways of its time, was tremendously and deservedly influential on generations of creators. Moore had another crack at the end of a Superman-like figure in his Majestic one-shot, and the Change or Die arc of Warren Ellis’ run on Stormwatch (all of which is worth reading) presented a powerful, bittersweet look at a superman’s attempt at truly changing the world for the better.

10. All-Star Superman

What: Superman rescues the first manned mission to the sun, sabotaged by Lex Luthor. His powers have reached greater heights than ever from the solar overexposure, but it’s more than his cells can handle: he’s dying, and Lex has won at last. This is what Superman does with his last year of life.

Why: I put this at the bottom since it works better the more you like Superman, but if you’re only going to read one story on this list, this one has to be it. It’s one of the best superhero stories period, and it’s everything that’s wistful and playful and sad and magical and wonderful about Superman in one book.

Recommendations: If you’re interested in the other great “Death of Superman” story, skip the 90s book and go to co-creator Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan’s 60s ‘Imaginary Story’, also one of the best Superman stories ever, and particularly one of Luthor’s best showings. If you got a kick out of the utopian ‘Superman fixes everything’ feel of a lot of it, try The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue! The Supergirl run of Steve Orlando tries to operate on a pretty similar wavelength, and was definitely the best thing coming out of the Superman family of books at the time. The recent Adventures of Superman anthology series has a number of creators try and do their own ‘definitive’ Superman stories, often to great results. Help, ostensibly a Lex Luthor story by Jeff Loveness and David Williams in DC’s Beach Blanket Bad Guy’s Special, is in fact as feel-good a take on Superman’s relevancy as there is. And Avengers 34.1 starring Hyperion by Al Ewing and Dale Keown taps into All-Star’s sense of an elevated alien perspective paired with a deep well of humanity to different but still moving results.

#Superman #Opinion

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biofunmy · 5 years

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The New Spiritual Consumerism – The New York Times

How did you spend your summer vacation? I spent mine in a dissociative fugue of materialist excess, lying prone on my couch and watching all four seasons of “Queer Eye,” the Netflix makeover show reboot. Once an hour, I briefly regained consciousness to feverishly click the “next episode” button so that I wouldn’t have to wait five seconds for it to play automatically. Even when I closed my laptop, the theme song played on endless loop as Jonathan Van Ness vogued through my subconscious. The show is a triumph of consumer spectacle, and now it has consumed me, too.

Every episode is the same. Five queer experts in various aesthetic practices conspire to make over some helpless individual. Tan France (fashion) teaches him to tuck the front of his shirt into his pants; Bobby Berk (design) paints his walls black and plants a fiddle-leaf fig; Antoni Porowski (food) shows him how to cut an avocado; Jonathan Van Ness (grooming) shouts personal affirmations while shaping his beard; and Karamo Brown (“culture”) stages some kind of trust-building exercise that doubles as an amateur therapy session. Then, they retreat to a chic loft, pass around celebratory cocktails and watch a video of their subject attempting to maintain his new and superior lifestyle. The makeover squad cries, and if you are human, you cry too.

Because “Queer Eye” is not just a makeover. As its gurus lead the men (and occasionally, women) in dabbing on eye cream, selecting West Elm furniture, preparing squid-ink risotto and acquiring gym memberships, they are building the metaphorical framework for an internal transformation. Their salves penetrate the skin barrier to soothe loneliness, anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem, absentee parenting and hoarding tendencies. The makeover is styled as an almost spiritual conversion. It’s the meaning of life as divined through upgraded consumer choices.

Just a few years ago, American culture was embracing its surface delights with a nihilistic zeal. Its reality queens were the Kardashians, a family that became rich and famous through branding its own wealth and fame. “Generation Wealth,” Lauren Greenfield’s 2018 documentary on American excess, captured portraits of people who crave luxury, beauty and cash as ends in and of themselves. Donald Trump, the king of 1980s extravagance, was elected president.

But lately American materialism is debuting a new look. Shopping, decorating, grooming and sculpting are now jumping with meaning. And a purchase need not have any explicit social byproduct — the materials eco-friendly, or the proceeds donated to charity — to be weighted with significance. Pampering itself has taken on a spiritual urgency.

Practitioners of this new style often locate its intellectual underpinnings in the work of Audre Lorde. But when Lorde wrote, in her 1988 essay “A Burst of Light,” that “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,” she was speaking in the context of managing her liver cancer — and doing it as a black lesbian whose health and well-being were not prioritized in America.

Now the ethos of “self-care” has infiltrated every consumer category. The logic of GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow’s luxury brand that sells skin serums infused with the branding of intuition, karma and healing, is being reproduced on an enormous scale.

Women’s shoes, bras, razors, tampons and exclusive private clubs are stamped with the language of empowerment. SoulCycle and Equinox conceive of exercise as not just a lifestyle but a closely held identity, which backfired when some members were aggrieved by the news that the chairman of the brands’ parent company is a financial supporter of President Trump. Therapy memes imagine mental health professionals prescribing consumerist fixes, which are then repurposed by beauty brands. Even Kim Kardashian West is pivoting to the soul: Her latest project is launching a celebrity church with her husband, Kanye West.

And through the cleaning guru Marie Kondo, who also became a Netflix personality this year, even tidying objects can be considered a spiritual calling. Her work suggests that objects don’t just make us feel good — objects feel things, too. She writes of old books that must be woken up with a brush of the fingertips and socks that sigh with relief at being properly folded.

“Queer Eye” has further elevated material comforts into an almost political stance. When the reboot of the original — which ran on Bravo from 2003 to 2007, as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” — debuted last year, Netflix announced that it intended to “make America fabulous again” by sending its crew deep into the red states to “turn them pink.” By preaching self-care to the men of Middle America — it has so far plucked its makeover subjects from Georgia, Missouri and Kansas — the show would heal the nation itself through the power of stuff.

Is “Queer Eye” a political show? In a sense, yes. Van Ness, the show’s profoundly magnetic grooming expert, rocks a signature look of a Jesus beard, mermaid hair, painted nails and high-heeled booties. His fashion and grooming choices have an obvious political valence; he recently came out as non-binary. When he makes over some straight dude, it is as if he is imbuing the process with his own transgressive identity, even if he’s grooming the guy into a standard-issue cool dad.

Anyway, it’s wonderful to watch. In contrast, the original “Queer Eye” no longer goes down so easy. The show’s exclusive focus on providing men with physical upgrades now plays as cynical. The Fab Five ridicule their marks as much as they help them. More than a decade before same-sex marriage would be legalized across the United States, these five out gay men were quite obviously punching up.

But in the new version, the power dynamic has flipped. The difference between the Fab Five and their charges is no longer chiefly one of sexual orientation or gender identity. (This “Queer Eye” also provides makeovers to gay men and to women.) The clear but unspoken distinction is a class one.

The “Queer Eye” cast may come from humble beginnings, but they now reside in coastal cultural centers and hold fulfilling and lucrative jobs. Their makeover subjects are lower- and middle-class people who are, though it is rarely put this way, struggling financially. This “Queer Eye” handles them gently. As Van Ness puts it in one episode: “We’re nonjudgmental queens.”

It’s a little bit curious that as our political discourse is concerned with economic inequality — and the soaring costs of health care, education and homes — the cultural conversation is fixated on the healing powers of luxury items. What does it mean, that materialism is now so meaningful? “Generation Wealth” posits that extreme spending is a symptom of a civilization in decline. Americans may not have what they need, but at least they can get what they want, even if it’s on credit.

The writer and performer Amanda-Faye Jimenez recently posted a meme to Instagram of a child swinging blithely on the playground as a fire rages in the forest behind him. The forest is tagged: “My personal life and career.” The child: “The skincare routine.”

Material comforts are comforting: cooking a nice and interesting meal; living in a tidy and beautiful space; soothing tired eyes with a cool mask. And money helps you get money: The subjects of “Queer Eye” are typically made over in a standard professional style, as if they are being retrofitted for the work force. Surreptitiously, “Queer Eye” provides vacation time, too: Its subjects somehow receive a week off from work to focus on themselves.

The trouble is that when “Queer Eye” offers these comforts, the show implies that its subjects have previously lacked them because of some personal failure. They have been insufficiently confident, skilled, self-aware, dedicated or emotionally vulnerable. The spiritual conversion of the show occurs when the subject pledges a personal commitment to maintaining a new lifestyle going forward. But what these people need is not a new perspective. They need money, and they need time, which is money.

“Queer Eye” offers a kind of simulation of wealth redistribution. But every time the Fab Five retreats from the scene, I imagine the freshly-painted homes slowly falling into disrepair, the beards growing shaggy again, the refrigerators emptying.

In the fourth season, which dropped last month, the team makes over a single dad from Kansas City who is known as “the cat suit guy” because he wears feline print onesies to local sporting events. By the end, he gets a new corporate casual wardrobe, and a pop-up support network for his depression — he struggled to discuss it with anyone until the cast of “Queer Eye” broke through his shell.

As they prepare to leave, he tells them that he really needs them to stay in touch. “You’ve got to check on me,” he says. Absolutely, one of them says: “On Instagram.”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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#IFTTT #WordPress

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comicteaparty · 6 years

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May 3rd, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on May 3rd, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT. The chat focused on Suriska by Claire Burn.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY START!

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning~! Today we are discussing Suriska by Claire Burn~! (http://suriskacomic.com/) For those new or in need of a reminder, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer, and you can pay them no mind if you wish. If you miss out on any though, they’ll be pinned for the duration of the chat once they’re posted~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! As a bonus, each chat a top comment will be picked and featured in the archives and on an ad for CTP! All that being said, let’s get started and have a great discussion!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I really liked Freyja checking the stove multiple times, I laughed out loud since it's something I've always done when leaving the house.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes that was a moment i connected with too. not that ive really checked the stove but ive had to deal with other similar issues of checking things a dozen times. im glad for the timing of that too cause it really helped explained why corin going missing got to her so much

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hello there! I’ll be there in a bit, currently AFK for the time being!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

kay~!

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I've really enjoyed learning more about Freya as a character too, I feel like there's a lot of depth beneath her that we're just starting to uncover

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah. there are a lot of interesting elements to her character. mostly because i hmm why shes in the town. like corin is understandable because corin's anxiety is a bit more debilitating. whereas freya seems completely functional and yet somehow stuck

i think my favorite scene is less a scene is the one where freya busts into johann's place and just doesnt say anything. shows him the picture and hes like "well shit ive been found out."

🌟Draco Plato🌟

OH! I liked that too, it also added more layers to the story. And yeah, overall I find Corin a simpler character since it's pretty clear why he is the way he is and his debilitating anxiety, etc

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

another scene i like for its effect on the story itself is the story about the origin of the snow. i really liked that it gave the town a sort of history, even if it might be a fictional and fantastical one XD

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Yeah I did think that was really good for expanding the lore of the story~!

wishjacked

I have a really strong love/hate relationship with the scene where the old man at the train station recognizes Corin and asks about his parents. It's really funny in the most painful way imaginable

And I like Freya a lot!! I'm interested to see where her character goes-- I think there are a lot of hints that she's not as functional as she appears at first, and I'm interested to see where that goes haha

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Oh same!!

Omg that scene at the train station, that old man was ridiculously awful in his questions, from bad to worse

felt so bad for Corin

wishjacked

Like the oven thing was funny, but weirdly drawn out compared to a lot of other jokes, and she also has that scene in the bathroom where she has this weird, disjointed cause-and-effect logic that because she left the soap out, it caused something totally unrelated and bad to happen. I've wondered if those things have some deeper meaning to her character or world lol

Me too, I was dyyyyiiiiiing for that whole scene

🌟Draco Plato🌟

same, same, I feel like there's something to delve into there behind her little ticks

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

that is true. the stove thing i get, but the soap out did throw me for a loop. so its a good point that her problems may go a bit deeper. albeit shes at least not so tormented shes staying home all day. i imagine it takes her like an hour to actually leave her house though

that old man scene though, man, i erased that from my memory

it just made me so uncomfortable

like old man where is your human decency O_O

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeeeeah, like geezus 0 sympathy for the poor kid

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah. i mean youd think corin just told him the weather was not so great, not that his parents died tragically O_O

🌟Draco Plato🌟

altho there was a part of me that thought as a writing choice that was low hanging fruit for showing his anxiety heightened and why he has it and I thought that maybe it could have been added in more strategically than so forced

but that was more my thought on a writing analysis viewpoint

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

tbf i actually wondered if that was the true dialogue and if we were getting an unreliable narrator effect going. like the old man was actually being nicer but corin's anxiety translated the words to something else.

http://suriskacomic.com/62.html

especially after that scene it makes me feel that inclination stronger

wishjacked

oh, that's a very interesting thought!!

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I did wonder that too Rebel!

wishjacked

Honestly I took the scene at face value bc I straight up am that old man. and thaaaaaaaaaaaat's why I have no friends XD

🌟Draco Plato🌟

LOL!!!

wishjacked

there tends to be a really strong "unreliable narrator" feeling in general-- beyond Corin's anxiety rewriting speech bubbles, Freya's narration is just snarky enough that I'm not quite sure exactly how biased she is in her representation of her town and etc

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hmm im not sure i got that representation from freya. her items i took more at face value. that being said, i do think shes suffers from a sort of complex in how she sees herself? like she got super pissed about johann not trusting her and thinking she couldnt handle the secret and what not, and something about it struck me as kind of odd. tho i couldnt put a finger on what

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I was surprised how agreeable she was to covering up for an affair

and how nonchalant she was about it, since that's a rather big deal

it made me wonder where she lies on a morality line

which i thought was intriguing

cause my first assumption is she'd be very anti it so it went against my expectations which i like

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

that is also true. not to mention its a very risky secret to keep. the about page says this towns population is 150. and small towns of that size generally make it hard to keep secrets of that level

🌟Draco Plato🌟

right! So I'm interested where that story route will go

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 2. Throughout the comic we see the portrayal of mental illnesses, from Corin’s anxiety to Freya’s OCD tendencies. Was there any aspect of their portrayal you particularly connected with? Why? Do you think Corin and Freya will be able to learn to cope with their illnesses better? If so, what do you think has to happen for them to be able to get a better handle on life? Particularly in the case of Corin, what do you foresee as potential conflicts he’ll have to face in regards to his anxiety, and do you think he’ll triumph over them?

as for the first question

once again http://suriskacomic.com/62.html

that page

ive been there. where no matter what people are actually telling you all you hear is how worthless you are. not fun times. and i thought that was really a lovely way to illustrate it. the sudden change in color schemes really sets the mood. and the messy handwriting for corin's added thoughts really i think emphasis the volitile nature of them

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah I felt that was relatable as well(edited)

to a much smaller degree than what Corin has though, but I've been there with crippling anxiety before

My hope is that by the end of the story he'll have learned to cope with it but I could see the creator not taking that direction as well

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

itd be a shame if corin didnt learn better coping mechanisms though. :< like, what a horrid life to live with such anxiety. not to mention from the sounds of it corin moved there to change himself, so hes not gonna be changing himself if that happens. granted i dont expect him to ever be fully "cured" (for lack of a better word). just still, itd be nice if he could go outside or open the door without thinking about how people secretly all hate him or something.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I do think he needs to change for it to be a compelling story arc for him

cause a lack of progression in his condition would just be overly sad especially with the background he came there to change

but if the change character is Freya and not Corin I could see the story not helping Corin in his condition

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah thats true. and tbh im not sure corin is in the right place to change as far as his anxiety goes. im really torn about that. cause on the one hand being able to go to a remote location could be a good mental break. but on the otherhand it can also worsen the anxiety. however corin progresses.

im interested to see how corin handles being on a train

cause thats not really a place where you can actively avoid people in super close proximity

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I think there's also a small chance Corin could be the "antagonist" of the story

if he flips out to such a degree

that it hurts those around him

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

alrighty, I'm here at last

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hi super~!

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hi Rebel! Thanks again for doing the CTP

Before I jump in I want to say I like the winter aesthetics of this comic.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

corin is kind of the antagonist. he did hide that letter. which is...like i get he doesnt want to go but he didnt need to deprive freya of the reunion. hes an adult so she technically cant tell him what to do.

yeah its really nice to see a winter setting, especially one where ppl are actively dressed for it

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah i like the winter aesthetic too, and yeah that really made me question Corin on the morality line, that he hid the letter from her just because he wasn't sure if he wanted to go or not. It made me feel he was super self absorbed and doesn't consider his actions and their affect on other people

also who was he mailing the letter to in the most recent page?

it had a sinister feel to it the way it was portrayed

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

considering he was looking at a magazine catalogue thing that had a thing that looked like a radio for 19.99, i assume he was mailing a letter that said "plz give me this product"

🌟Draco Plato🌟

oh! was that it, i didn't notice, I wonder why it was made to feel like such a big deal then panel and tone wise

I guess it could have been done that way because of him over hearing the conversation too

I just didn't think it was that relevant to him since he wouldn't have known the tickets were for him and Freya

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

well to be fair the next page may directly say "these are for the farthas so they can go to their reunion" and then corin may be all gasp

i kind of thought the tone was sinister too although i assumed that was an artistic choice to express corin's anxiety. cause when you arent a fan of people, going out where there are people is probably gonna be a sinister undertaking

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah, maybe the next page will piece it together better, that could change a lot. I think if his anxiety was the focus there'd have been more focus panel wise on his expressions and less on the letter and mail box

I was actually surprised it didn't focus on his anxiety more

since it seemed like him going there would be a big deal

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

thats true. on a side note and kind of off topic, i like the pattern on corin's hat. like i think its just a really nice detail.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

>On Page 59 >Chills at around -20 Is that in F or C

🌟Draco Plato🌟

probably F since the creator is from the US

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Holy Christ

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 3. Suriska may be a small town, but plenty trouble seems to be afoot even so. Do you think Corin will ever hear the end of the whole town going out to look for him? Do you think Corin will be able to maintain employment, or will his employer eventually let him go? In regards to Freya who discovered Johann’s affair, do you think she’ll actually be able to keep the secret? If so, do you think she might take advantage of knowing it since she already got free train tickets out of it? Do you think there are any other shadowy things happening within the town? Regardless, do you think being in the town will help Freya or Corin change perspectives on their life? If so, how can this particular town help? Alternatively, do you think the town is actually making their individual ruts worse?

well it is a winter town. those temps are expected

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

A part of me feels sorry for Corin.

also yea

He just looks like the guy that goes through a lot

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I bet something spooky happens because it's a small town, small town stories generally like to focus on the spooky

someone will die or something supernatural will happen

O_O

also it seems like the witches will be proven to be real or something since it had such a long introduction of importance

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

twist: the winter story was true and corin is gonna run into a fox and corin will bring more winter

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

omg Page 68 tho

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah, omg yeah that's probably it rebel

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

and the stuff about an affair

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I feel like the fox/witch story had such a long focus was because it's going to become a big part of the story

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Now that you mention it, maybe(edited)

🌟Draco Plato🌟

also the guy in the story looked a bit like Corin

so i feel there's a connection there

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

mmm

I smell foreshadowing

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i actually got the opposite impression. i cannot see the fox/witch story becoming part of this story in its current course. cause that was the only moment where anything remotely supernatural was even mentioned. and since the rest of this comic is so ingrained in real life issues, it would just be too out of the blue to me to bring it up again

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

what if that was only part of the story

and there's a continuation

of sorts later on(edited)

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I do think the supernatural turn would actually be unwelcomed since that's very common and I prefer it being rooted in reality for what it has been so far. Buuuut small town stories, they love to go into the supernatural and that was a long focus on the fox story

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

still would doubt that. cause again, its delving into the supernatural where 90% of the rest of the comic has nothing supernatural about it.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Maybe the story could have some kind of greater meaning

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I've read a lot of comics before that have turned supernatural though in the middle

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

rather than just connecting Corin to it

🌟Draco Plato🌟

so it wouldn't be that strange

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

also yea

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i did think the focus was long, but it can come up in other ways. like maybe corin will use the story as an inspiration to go on a journey. thats more realistic

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah it definitely could be used in other ways

I'd rather see the story be an emotional journey for the characters without the use of a supernatural trope

but again I don't think it'd be uncommon for it to go there

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I'll say I'm for the emotional journey part(edited)

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I mean Corin could also just flip out and start murdering people saying he is the fox or something

the story is pretty wide open atm

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

true. i mean maybe the supernatural will come up. i cant really even say this is the middle of the story cause who knows how long its going to be. for all i know were still technically in the beginning.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Maybe Corin doesn't want to go on the train so he runs away into the woods and he meets the fox

and then he goes on a journey with the fox

and freya has to find him

and then he gets over his anxiety by realizing he still has freya left or something

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes that could be a possibility. the story couldve just been there to be there. add to that winter lore

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Maybe the fox could be Corin hallucinating or imagining it(edited)

and it speaks with him

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Fox could be the manifestation of his anxiety

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

^^^

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i do think the story is going to go the route where corin has to leave the town. imho i dont think the town is helping him at all atm. especially freya cause shes kind of an enabler of just letting him laze about the home. like....hes 21 and she treats him like hes a teen or younger. and i personally think those conditions make it hard for him to grow.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah I agree, Freya is an enabler since she doesn't require him to do anything to help around the house or anything

so it breeds stagnation

He needs to make an emotional journey alone most likely

cause the demons are first and foremost inside himself

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes.

at the very least if he stays in town everyone will constantly remind him about how he ran away and the whole town searched

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

cause man did that town look excited about it XD

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I'm thinking he migrates to someplace a bit warmer

if I had anything to say

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah, omg Like geezus this town(edited)

he'd be lucky to go somewhere warmer, lolol

oh you asked about if he'd lose his job or not, I actually thought it was amazing he even had a job with his level anxiety. Was legit shocked by that XD(edited)

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

lol

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

im confused a bit by the geography of this town. in the sense is this town just experiencing winter atm or is it like eternal winter.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

same

I couldn't tell if the curse made it an all year thing or just seasonal

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

which is what i thought the point of the fox/witch story was more. to create something about the seasons

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah if there was a concrete answer regarding it i missed it

but it makes a huge difference

cause if there really is a curse and it's an all year thing than that already puts the supernatural in

if it's related to the curse that is, and not just hey we're winter all year cause of geography, etc

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

for some reason the town really reminds me of alaska

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Me too

I thought it would be someplace in Canada

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I was thinking more of sweden or switzerland

based on their haircuts and clothes

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

but Alaska was what came into my mind first

the clothes looked more Russian to me

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

was skimming the beginning for clues, theres a magical thumb that covers the location

so im gonna assume it doesnt matter

maybe its symbolic

suriska the town is a state of mind

🌟Draco Plato🌟

lolol

i'mma assume it's fictional until otherwise stated

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea(edited)

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

(It might be estonian, based on the fact that they mention Kalavinski which... is a giant rubber boot in estonian apparently)

🌟Draco Plato🌟

a wild Kabo appears

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

Only briefly!

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

eey Kabo! o/

also lol, is that really a thing?

🌟Draco Plato🌟

okay yeah that adds up with their clothes

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

But yeah, I was figuring northwest Europe somewhere. Originally I'd thought Nordic, but Estonia makes sense too.

erm, northeast.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

norway would make sense too cause of her name

Kabocha, Marquess of ✨Sparkle✨

............ directions, man, what are they even

Right?!

🌟Draco Plato🌟

like duuur why didn't i connect that even thought it earlier

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

My mind will forever think

some kind of cross between Alaska and Russia(edited)

🌟Draco Plato🌟

so the name Corin is Irish

that doesn't help

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

fartha is also an irish name?

well assume europe

thats good enough

🌟Draco Plato🌟

somewhere in europe, yus

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea Europe sounds good

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

in regards to corin's job, it does sound like its a pity job so his performance may not matter

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah i like when that was brought up cause it made it make more sense to me

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

tho i wonder if he's 1) getting paid and 2) contributing to household utilities and such

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 4. At the beginning of the comic, Freya forcefully declares that she and Corin will be going to a family reunion, whether Corin actually wants to go or not. Do you think Freya will actually get Corin to go, or will Corin magically vanish come time to leave? If Corin doesn’t go, will Freya go alone? If they do both manage to go, do you think the reunion will go well? What do you think in general will happen at the reunion? Speaking of which, what do you think the other members of the family will think of Corin? Do you think something at the reunion will make Corin have a new perspective on his parents’ death? If there is no reunion, how do you think this will affect Freya and Corin’s relationship with their family?

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hmmm

I think Corin would make some excuse to go and just

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I bet we don't see the reunion, lolol

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

stay on the side

🌟Draco Plato🌟

and corin will run off and freya will have to find him

cause I think it's unlikely the story will shift away from the small town

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

idk i feel like the reunion is a potential future still. albeit i consider the liklihood of corin actually going to be slim

i could see freya just going "fine whatever stay here by yourself"

and then she goes to the reunion

🌟Draco Plato🌟

since the small town is mentioned so predominately in the about Is why i think they're going to stay there

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

unless his personality takes a full 180 by then

🌟Draco Plato🌟

cause the town is itself a character

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Is that so?

🌟Draco Plato🌟

"Suriska: population 150. It's neither Freya nor Corin's definition of paradise, but it is their home... if you could call it that. Apparently it's where you end up if you try to change your life for the better. What does it take to get out of this rut? It might take spite, it might take snowstorms, or it might just take a reevaluation of your morals."

ALTHOUGH

"A slice-of-life comic about trains, bad weather, and insecurities."

that's the tagline

which makes me think they'll get on the train and get in a bad snowstorm and get stranded, lolol

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hmm

Why do i keep thinking Corin should just do photos of the snow and mountains for a living

with a camera

and store all the photos somewhare

like to give people a taste of what life looks like up north(edited)

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i dont forsee that working. it doesnt look like the town really has many electronics of any sort. like theyre still using landlines

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

also yea

you do have a point

🌟Draco Plato🌟

plus making a living as an artist isn't the easiest thing, lol

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

double-point taken

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

just cause they go to a reunion doesnt mean they cant come back. and you can still make the town predominant if the characters talk about it. like i imagine freya's family has lots to ask about it. so in that context it still makes the story part of it. but man, i bet you if freya did go to the reunion she would tell her sister with the foot thing all about johann's affair. make it even thinking nobody will ever meet

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I wonder what time era this takes place in, or if the residents deliberately don't use much electricity in case the power goes out or something and it'd be hard to repair

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Personally I'd like them to go to the reunion, i think it'd be interesting,

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i assume its modern times but that their town is super remote. cause if you have a remote enough town you dont get a lot of stuff we consider common

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

🌟Draco Plato🌟

that's what i assumed too

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

ya know

theres a way for the reunion to happen and them to not leave

freya's family comes to them instead

and everyone has to cram into freya's tiny house

🌟Draco Plato🌟

hahah that's true

altho trains being in the tagline makes me think that's going to be a huge thing

so one way or another they're getting on a train

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

yea

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe. i mean the trains are already kind of a thing

cause it was part of corin's job

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah but then you'd say train stations

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

not necessarily? its a tagline. its supposed to entice not be 100% to the letter accurate

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah, I know

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i do think someone is getting on a train

cause now these tickets are a big deal too

🌟Draco Plato🌟

yeah that did increase the importance of the journey

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I always liked when stories go on trains IMO

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i wonder what freya would even do if corin just stayed in bed when theyre supposed to leave and said "nope not going"

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I'd be curious about that too

🌟Draco Plato🌟

I wondered that too, if she'd make him go forcibly, but there is a point I don't think she could physically make him go

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i actually kind of hope freya goes and corin doesnt to a degree. cause i think him having to be alone and take care of himself might be good for him. or more id just be interested to see how he copes for a weekend. cause im slightly worried about his eating habits XD

🌟Draco Plato🌟

oh you know what

corin could stay and freya goes but the train gets in an accident due to the storm and he'd have to deal with the loss of freya too potentially

but freya doesn't die, just has to deal with being stranded

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

although ya know, being so far from home might be hard for freya. cause she cant exactly check the stove while shes hundreds of miles away

tho led my mind to comedic routes. imagining her trek across the snow for miles to get home. corin is like "omg youre okay" and first thing freya does is check the stove and sighs in relief

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Hmm

That would be cool for a scene or two

Also I wonder what kind of foods they eat

prolly all warm stuff

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

well corin had a muffin. i assume its normal stuff that they eat. tho i imagine they do stick away from cold stuff just for matters of practicality

on a side note

im really impressed corin dresses so lightly

cause corin does not have any heat insulating body fat going on really O_O;;;

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I made it home before 10pm. ^_^;; Just wanted to say, I didn't have much free time this week, and so I didn't get far into the narrative, but that's partly because after I read the bit at the start with the kid and the teacher I thought if I don't stop now and do some marking, I'll read too far and be even more behind at work.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Oh hey Math! o/

Welcome to the final six minutes

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Enjoyed the start though! Curious to see what others have to say about it.

Better late than never?

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Also yea the beginning was cute

especially with the kids

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

hey math~!

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Apparently it goes to trains passing in the night.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

Hi Math~!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i did like the part where freya gave the kid coffee and then tricked her completely away from wanting to grow up so soon

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

^^^

That part got me especially

🌟Draco Plato🌟

hahah i liked that too, but didn't think it'd work in real life XD

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

We teachers can be tricky.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

also took offense since i don't drink coffee, gosh

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

aside from loading the kid up in caffeine

I don't drink it either

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I also don't drink coffee, wooo.

🌟Draco Plato🌟

i drank more coffee as a kid than an adult freya, gosh

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

I loved cappuchino growing up

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Anyway, I'll let you get final thoughts out.

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

(I don't like warm drinks)

Great comic overall, hope to see it continue.

Everything about it was really pleasant to read

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

my last thoughts are that i really like the patterns on all the clothing. its that little bit of extra detail that adds some character to the setting and people existing within it

Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

^^^

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Nice.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY END!

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party time is now up~! Thank you everyone so much for reading and joining this week’s chat~! We want to give a special thank you to Claire Burn, as well, for making Suriska and volunteering it for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support Claire Burn’s efforts however you’re able to. All that being said, if you would like to continue discussing this week’s comic, we highly encourage you to do so~!

For next week, Comic Tea Party will focus on Linked by Kabocha. As always, please use the next several days to read as much of the comic as you would like. We hope to see you next Thursday on May 10th from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat~! Until then, happy reading~! Comic: http://linkedcomic.com/

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #bookclub #comic bookclub #webcomic bookclub #start faire #startfaire #comic tea party #ctp #suriska #claire burn

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biofunmy · 5 years

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