#water tower montage | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shiftermod · 9 months

Text

Updated thoughts on A Canterlot Wedding.

I've been thinking about the whole love-sucking thing and other people's headcanons and my disagreements with them, and I realized a few things many years ago—and a few things now, a bit over 11 years later (the episodes were screened on April 14, 2012, and aired on television in the U.S. on April 21, 2012.)

So, there are some key conceits to this two-parter but I've glossed over the biggest:

These episodes are, at their core, an advertisement for a Princess Cadance toy.

Every single thing we see in the episodes stems from that.

In Part 1, we see flashbacks of Princess Cadance, who—it must be stressed—is a princess. This character is royalty, and she's royalty in Equestria in the MLP universe.

In this instance, she has a signature spell that can—at this time at least—only be cast by her. It is clearly something she developed, likely as some aspect of her duties as a princess. It is something that is unique to her specifically, because it is also marketing for a toy.

In order for the episodes to succeed as an advertisement for a toy, she must use this spell in the episode.

We'll call this Chekhov's Spell. It is shown in a flashback, and talked about with great fanfare, which means the spell is going to be used in the climax of the episode in order to save the day. Why? Because these episodes are an advertisement for a Cadance toy.

Unfortunately, spoilers:

Cadance is behaving very differently from her usual behavior—almost the opposite of her usual behavior, come to think of it—and it is eventually revealed that she has been replaced by a shapeshifter called a changeling. The imposter is narratively, thematically, functionally, and archetypically an "evil twin" whose behavior is the opposite of the original (compare the impostor's behavior throughout Part 1 to the montage at the end of Part 2 featuring the real Cadance), and this is important.

Now, Equestrian Magic as seen in Season 1 has three main components:

Emotion: the fuel source for the spell. Friendship is literally magic.

Concentration: the magic-user shapes the spell to accomplish a specific task or goal.

Physical effort: the magic-user casts the spell. The larger or more powerful the spell, the more of a physical toll it takes.

In season 1, Twilight Sparkle casts a spell that allows her to lift a very distant, very large, and very heavy structure that was initially filled with water and was later filled with milk—and in doing so, she plants her feet, grits her teeth, scrunches her eyes, and visibly struggles. She then also lifts an enormous heavy animal AND the water tower, and transports them into the Everfree and into a cave that the animal emerged from in the first place.

Casting takes a physical toll on the caster, and that toll might be nothing or it might be significant depending on the circumstances of the spell. Twilight herself explicitly states that magic takes concentration and effort twice in Season 1.

Here's Twilight collapsing after she finishes:

This is going to come up later in this essay.

So, Cadance's signature spell (presumably using her love as fuel) takes magic out of her, converts it into love energy, and puts that love into a pony as an act of giving (altering the pony's mood and thought process, which is Totally Not Creepy At All™.)

Reminder that this is a toy commercial for a Princess Cadance toy.

Within that boundary, our changeling imposter—the evil twin who behaves opposite to the original—is revealed to fundamentally function by doing the opposite of Cadance's spell.

The changeling queen takes love out of a pony, converts it into magic, and puts it into herself! Cadance specifies that the changelings "gain power" by doing this, suggesting that they either need to fuel their magic with stolen emotion, or that they wish to increase the power of their magic with stolen emotion.

The thing that makes Cadance marketable unique is the opposite of her evil twin's entire schtick! Queen Chrysalis is the figurative and literal opposite of Cadance's whole deal—not just her behavior but her signature spell! The evil changeling's behavior is the opposite of how the real Cadance would behave; the evil changeling's love-sucking is a thematic and literal reversal of the thing that Princess Cadance does!

The corollary then is that Princess Cadance's signature spell is the thematic and literal reversal of Queen Chrysalis' love-sucking.

Cadance's signature spell is Chekhov's Spell—and is what is used to market the Cadance toy. This means that Cadance's love-installation spell is going to save the day... by installing love in someone.

Someone who Chrysalis has drained to the point where only installing love can save them.

We see ponies under Chrysalis' mind control spell in Part 2:

Contrast with Shining Armor:

Shining Armor isn't merely in a trance because of Chrysalis using a mind control spell on him; Shining Armor has been drained dry. He's empty. No love, no passion, just apathy to the point where he can be controlled easily.

(I'm sure there's a metaphor in here somewhere, something something Neverending Story maybe?)

(Well, I was close.)

(Shut up, Gmork!)

Although maybe a better take might be Elie Wiesel's famous quote:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”

As a side note, Shining Armor does get mind-controlled but briefly:

Then Cadance saves the day by reinstalling love into Shiny.

Same visual effect and everything.

Shining Armor awakens from his trance, with an emphasis on "awakens"; he is groggy and confused. A villainous monologue ensues and Shiny stands tall, glares, glowers, bares his teeth, and is clearly ready to kick Queen Chrysalis' butt.

Cadance encourages Shiny to use his signature spell, and the guy with the cutie mark of a shield with a magic symbol on it attempts to cast a magic shield.

What happens next is more easily understood if you've ever worked a job doing manual labor. I mentioned earlier that magic requires emotion (in this case love) as fuel; concentration to shape the spell; and physical effort to cast it.

Twilight collapsed after lifting and transporting a water tower and a very large bear.

Shiny is trying to create a magic shield the size of a city with only the small amount of love that Cadance installed in him to wake him up—and he can't: he doesn't have enough fuel.

The logical thing to do when you realize you can't do something is to stop.

The problem is that Shiny, like many people, is an illogical creature and so he does what many, many people do when they find they can't do something: he tries harder.

And harder. And harder.

Remember that magic requires physical effort to cast. What happens when you actually continue trying to do something physical that you can't physically do?

Your heart rate increases.

Your pulse rate increases (because of your heart rate.)

Your blood pressure rises.

Your body temperature rises.

You perspire.

There are other symptoms I am missing, but the end result is you begin to develop a medical condition called "exhaustion" which is not merely "being tired." Keep trying hard enough for long enough and by the time you finally stop trying, you are drenched in perspiration, your heart is pounding in your chest, your breathing has changed, you can hear a rushing sound in your ears, everything hurts, and when you stop, you immediately go limp. (Hi, I have personally done this; don't do this!)

At this point it is prudent for someone to help you into a chair in a cool room and administer first aid because you are at risk of heart attack, stroke, heat exhaustion, and all this other stuff that can kill you. This is not "being tired", this is dangerous.

Shining Armor tries to cast, and tries, and strains, and strains, to no effect... and then he finally stops and goes limp, drenched in perspiration from the effort, displaying clearly identifiable symptoms of exhaustion.

We have learned throughout Season 1 that unicorn magic takes concentration and effort. Shiny is not some exception to this rule!

Shiny's exhaustion was caused by his failed attempt to cast a spell the size of a city without any fuel.

At this point Cadance leverages her signature spell—the reverse of the changeling's feeding technique—and essentially uses herself as an external battery to give Shiny the fuel he needs to cast a spell the size of a city which somehow only expels the invading army while leaving the residents and guests unharmed.

So, why is any of this confusing to the layperson?

Well, the layperson isn't trained to recognize and treat exhaustion; misidentifies the symptoms as side effects of fever instead of side effects of exertion; and assumes that Shining Armor is near the point of collapse because Chrysalis fed on him—despite his ready-to-kick-Chrysalis'-butt behavior and stance immediately preceding a bunch of physical exertion.

This is then compounded by Katie Cook's (and by extension, Andy Price's) assumption—based on this symptom misidentification—that changeling love-sucking is functionally identical to the modus operandi of The Wraith from "Stargate: Atlantis": quasi-insectile aliens with doubled voices who suck the life out of their victims, resulting in rapid aging and death.

So, we get a comic book with illustrations of changeling victims withering and dying as seen in a science fiction TV show from the 2000s which has nothing to do with emotion-sucking vampires in a cartoon and everything to do with lifeforce-sucking vampires in a live-action sci-fi show. This then reinforces readers' existing misapprehensions with regard to changeling love-sucking.

Anyway, this rant is a delayed response to a bunch of blogs a decade ago ignoring the subtext and thematic and narrative elements and arbitrarily deciding that changeling love-sucking is lethal based on a fundamental misunderstanding of Shining Armor's symptoms and when those symptoms set in.

This then allows those blogs to justify killing changelings because the Canterlot Guard have Chekhov's Spears, and therefore they need to kill someone—and it might as well be the parasitic insectile menace because American movie audiences don't seem to understand that "Starship Troopers" (1997) was a practical joke/experiment on American movie audiences (and the majority of viewers failed the test), but they did like "Aliens" (1986).

And since none of those blog admins have the slightest understanding of the Geneva Conventions (or the UCMJ, or the Hague Conventions, or the body of U.S. Military Law going back at least as far as 1882, or god(s) forbid the Articles of War or the Law of Armed Conflict) we get "Hey, let's have the Canterlot Guard give no quarter and execute enemy prisoners in custody and face no consequences! Also jokes about torture! Because applying/obeying military law selectively instead of uniformly is clearly a great and effective way to maintain good order and discipline; I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong if we apply the Uniform Code of Military Justice in a manner that isn’t uniform! Obviously Special Forces are 'Special' because they get to ignore all the military laws that absolutely everyone else in the army (including the brass) has to follow! OLC unilaterally said that illegal combatants are not party to Geneva, and then failed to ever define what the phrase 'illegal combatant' means, so it must be true!"

Side vent about Queen Chrysalis' motivations as a megalomaniacal lying sociopathic narcissist and (perhaps more importantly) a despot: the Canterlot Invasion was never actually about food; Chrysalis has inserted herself into the process to keep herself necessary and uses it as a carrot for her soldiers. When she tells the ponies it's about finding food, she is either lying or at least shading the truth.

(Side note, Season 6 later confirms that Chrysalis' own actions were keeping her army starving and desperate; the question is whether those actions were—as I strongly suspect—deliberate in order to point her people at external enemies in order to keep herself necessary and cling to power. You know, like most human despots.)

After they bring the Mane 6 to her, Chrysalis orders a large squad of her soldiers to "Go!" and then qualifies that instruction with "Feed!"—to get them out of the room, only giving away her actual motives during a music number once the soldiers are safely out of earshot.

Seriously, she literally closes the door behind them so they won't hear her gloating.

🎶 "Every pony I'll soon control; every stallion, mare, and foal!" 🎶 has nothing to do with food, but has everything to do with a malignant narcissist and despot who repeatedly demonstrates an obsession with being obeyed, whether it be by Shining Armor (e.g. "Are you disagreeing with me?!") or anyone else. This isn't about food, it was never about food; it's about conquest, but her army doesn't realize it. If it was about food, that would have been explicitly mentioned in the musical number.

Seeing Season 6

and then Season 8

actually confirm that Chrysalis' obsession with ruling is her prime motivation in all things warmed the cockles of my little black heart.

Anyway, enough ranting, at least for now. Getting that off my chest felt good.

EDIT: I have never served—partly due to chronic health issues, partly due to research. But a good friend later enlisted and fought in Afghanistan and went career; he’s the most ethical guy I know, period; and I have asked him questions about U.S. Military Law and the Rules of Engagement, Geneva, etc. It's all public-facing stuff, but it's easier and more reliable for me to ask someone with actual experience instead of looking stuff up on the internet and hoping Wikipedia is accurate.

#mod post #mod rant #mod vent #queen chrysalis #chrysalis #changeling #changelings #I have strong opinions about the treatment of prisoners #I also have strong opinions about Stargate Atlantis #and I have strong opinions about Katie Cook's writing

13 notes · View notes

lupinestories · 8 months

Note

Singapore Sling - Hal

I saw you sent a lot, so I'll put it all on this ask under the read more!

SINGAPORE SLING (HAL) - what was one of your oc’s favorite tv shows/movies as a child? do they still enjoy it now?

Well uh HAL WAS KINDA NEVER A CHILD His race emerges from the ground after incubating like gemstones as they are Pine showed him WandaVision though and that was his first show :U

2. GRASSHOPPER (MARINA) - describe your oc’s personality

Marina is super wonderful ;v; Shes kinda like what Id like to be if I were a woman Shes calm, loving, fierce, strong, and loyal Think Katara kinda! And she uses water too!

3. WOO WOO (ARIA) - what’s their relationship like with their parent(s)/guardian(s)?

UHHH ARIA KINDA DOESNT HAVE PARENTS AKLDJALSA Her and her brother are the dieties of the sun and the moon, and they just kinda came to be! They have each other, and they have their friends ;v;

4. DIRTY BANANA (PINE) - post a song or a lyric that fits your oc

Since Im going through a TSwift Midnights phase:

My boy was a montage Slow motion, love potion, jumping off things in the ocean

Just restless, sun energy!

5. GIN RICKEY (HAL) - what does your oc consider to be their best feature? alternatively, what’s something they’re most self conscious about?

Oh god hes. A VERY GAY MAN so Im guessing his well-sculpted body >:3c Meanwhile he is absolutely self conscious about his height He towers above everyone else because of his race, hes over 8 feet tall, and he just doesnt fit anywhere very comfortably alkdsjaldska

6. CHOCOLATE MARTINI (SELENE) - does your oc’s name or design reference anything? i.e. music, movies, etc.

Yes actually! Her design is based off of Gothitelle since she used to be a Gothitelle gijinka, and her name references the moon since she has space powers!

Thank you for all of these asks!

#ask #anonymous

2 notes · View notes

isthatmanahimbo · 2 years

Photo

By anonymous request, today we present to you Mr. Incredible!

Bob Parr, AKA Mr. Incredible, is one of the eponymous Incredibles from the Disney movie The Incredibles, released in 2004, and its sequel The Incredibles 2, released in 2018. The movie details the lives of retired superhero Bob and his quest to get his groove back amidst a villainous plot, and his family's desire to find a place for themselves in a world that has left superheroes behind. Bob plays an important role not only because he is the main character, but in his depiction of a man going through his midlife crisis, and how he handles navigating working alone and incorporating the people he loves.

Even by the exaggerated standards of Pixar animation, Bob Parr is packing serious cake. Our man is towering and apple-shaped even at his lowest point, often having to bend down to stay in the frame when speaking to other people. And at his peak of superheroing, he's a force to reckoned with, able to take on one crime scene after another in quick succession, and even after his retirement we can see that he's still got the good stuff, making use of a trainyard as his gym. Man goes from a 50-inch waist to a 36 in less than a month. Mad respect.

Even less subtle than Bob's frame is his strict adherence to his moral code. His drive to protect the public stems from a deep well of kindness, and although in later years his desire to return to being a superhero could be argued to be rooted in ego and a nostalgia for his glory days (heavily implying a mid-life crisis), we see several instances of Bob's ferocious malicious compliance in his job as an insurance claims adjustor. He knows what the business side wants him to do, but he goes out of his way to be kind in a situation that most would find soul-draining. He's certainly not in insurance for the money.

Secondary to his desire to serve the public using his immense power is his love and devotion to his family - especially his wife, fellow retired superhero Helen AKA Elastigirl. During Bob's training montage, we see them behave as a loving couple, supportive and helpful and decidedly frisky. Man sure does love his wife (referring to her at one point as the perfect woman, and deflecting attempts at a fight by telling her how much he loves her), but what we don't explicitly see is how they met and fell in love. We do certainly get some hints, though, in the opening scene of the movie a young Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl collaborate to take down a crook and flirt with enough tangible chemistry that it makes the crook uncomfortable. It isn't stated outright, but even watching the scene once you just know that these two young heroes have absolutely done the dirty on a rooftop somewhere before they even knew each other's names. This is a kid's movie, guys.

Alas, we must come to Mr. Incredible's largest downfall in himbodom, and the reason for his rating today: his intelligence. It would be easy to mark Mr. Incredible down as a dumb lug, but it would be at your peril. Due to the movie's influences of classic golden age superheroes and noir detectives and secret agents, we see often and loudly Mr. Incredible's intellectual prowess. Not simply in defeating the mechanical monstrosity, which we could attribute to combat experience and instincts, but we also actively see him investigate and put together a convoluted plot to kill him. Although he has his moments (such as wondering why his ice-powered partner could not pull water from the air in a burning building), he's no dummy, and one could argue that Bob's largest weaknesses are his ego and his naievety. That sly dog even got his villain monologuing!

That man sure does incredible, but unfortunately, he is no himbo.

Total Himbo Score: 18

#is that man a himbo?#false friends! rating: not a himbo #disney #pixar #the incredibles #mr. incredible #bob parr #robert parr

35 notes · View notes

carebooks · 1 year

Text

so i watched the School for Good and Evil

ya’ll should know that i’ve never once touched the books, i am going into this blind and just wanna see how the movie does, as a prolific movie watcher and just that

right off the bat, i see we got JESPER FROM SHADOW AND BONE I LOVE THIS DUDE;

so they’re brothers, vv cool, oh is the Red one the evil one? yep i was right

it’s weird bc they’re brothers played by the same guy yet he just has great chemistry with himself

also, the mood just flipped from 0 to a 100 real quick, what just happened

i feel like they should’ve shown us them being brotherly and having arguments and maybe see Rafal slowly get angrier at his side always losing, bc really there was no way to see it coming. i could’ve done with a quick montage of them running the school and him growing angrier

“i prefer chaos” me too but could we get more reasons as to this whole thing other than just ‘evil’ ?

oh damn, the bad one died, i thought it would’ve been the opposite way

(but he aint really dead right? i mean)

so both girls are just hated on by the town, i can see them taking revenge together, lets all choose evil hm?

Aggie and Sophie Forever? *cough* gay

love that they just dont give a shit about what the peoples say; like insults thrown they just fly past them

Sophie just Rapunzeled this creep with a frying pan, im loving her, if i could i would choose violence too babe

“I seriously doubt there are any decent people in Gavaldon.” me too babe

so Sophie wants to get out and doesnt wanna settle for an ordinary life, why not just move in with Aggie and live out your happy lives together?

i wonder if we’ll see what happened to Leonora

so everyone ends up in the water when they get to their school? that’s a way to arrive

WOW i love the werewolf guard

“God I hate move-in day.” why do i vibe with this canine dude so much

i love that there’s a tower between the two schools, wonder what happens there

oh so Hort is Captain Hook’s kid. huh.

Tedros has got nothing on Eugene Fitzherbert

Tedros is King Arthurs kid? hm. better luck next time.

OH HE LOST HIS ARM I LOVE IT

THERE’S SOME ACTUAL DISMEMBERMENT HERE

oh hey its older Rhain, i love the actor’s work on Blackish

i mean hey look on the brightside, you got your own room to yourself

oh those bitches locked you up come on guys

if i were you i would’ve switched clothes, scaling a balcony in a dress cant be easy

whats with the creepy Cupid

WHY WOULD YOU SHOOT YOUR STUDENTS WITH ARROWS IF THEY WERE ON THE LEDGE

SOPHIE TURNING THE KNIFE ON HER WAS SO FUN

IS THAT OLIVIA RODRIGO’S BRUTAL YES

so if you can’t get a prince then you’re destined to end up as an anthropomorphic kitchen object or an animal?

what the actual fuck.

please tell me this entire school structure gets redone in the end

Hort has the makings of a good henchmen once Sophie gets more of a handle on her boss side

Gregor is a guy i can vibe with

idk who that random guy was with Sophie kissing him but he just made me laugh

Sophie growing into her evil side is showing and im liking it

Tedros and Aggie have a fun dynamic, hopefully he doesnt disappointment

again, i’d love it if both girls go for Evil

they talked about how Good and Evil are not really balanced, haven’t been for 200 years, so it’d be interesting if both of them go for Evil (even thou im pretty sure thats not where its gonna go)

imagine hearing your son got killed in school, damn, bye Gregor

how is this side of the school truly good if this is what you do to kids that fail?

OH MY FUCK ITS THE MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE FROM HTTYD I LOVE IT

not Rafal coming in and telling everyone Sophie’s a badass

ugh, Lesso had a thing with Rafal? i was counting on her and Dovey having a secret thing

oh fuck, that’s so sad, oh she let this little girl be free, holy shit that’s epic and sad and just damn, i loved it

whats with the big bird, what’s his problem now??

i like that Dovey is very aware of how fucked up the other princesses are about being ‘good’ and recognizes that Agatha actually is good, paralleling how Sophie is actually evil

the Nevers are some sadistic little freaks huh? i get it

Sophie’s in her villain era and im not sorry about it

Sophie said villains can be hot too

i miss Gregor

why do i kinda ship them? Tedros and Sophie? like they’re not exactly in it for like the deep stuff, you can tell it was more of an appearance based relationship with Sophie having him think she’s truly Good, etc. and considering how he’s been so far tells you what kinda prince he is so really they’re kinda perfect for each other.

ya’ll really wanna risk death outside the gates for each other? i mean Sophie, he’s pretty and Tedros, you talked to her like twice, one time she shot correctly so i mean, how well do you know her that you wanna be together?

Anemone was demoted to beautification? so legit EVERYONE here knows how badly the Good School has fallen, hot damn

OH Lesso was Leonora, fun

YO SOPHIE FLIPPING THE SCHOOLS WAS GENIUS I LOVE THAT

while i dont vibe with the whole thing that this immortal who knows how old man seeks out his true love in Sophie, who im pretty sure is liks 16 or 17 or smth, i love how he corrupted good

BC IT MAKES SENSE

HAVING THE GOOD SIDE BE ABOUT GIRLS PRACTICING THEIR SMILES, REWARDING THEM FOR THEIR REVENGE IN THE END, STUDENTS WHO FAIL THREE TIMES GET BOOTED, GOOD BECAME JUST AS BAD IT’S SO SUBTLE AND IT WORKS

ok but i kinda love that the girls parallel the brothers from the beginning

#the school for good and evil #tsfgae #sge #sge movie #sge netflix

13 notes · View notes

precuredaily · 2 years

Text

Precure Day 216

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 18 - “Deliver It to Everyone! Urara’s Singing” Date watched: 5 September 2021 Original air date: 1 June 2008 Screenshots Precure Metamorphose Gallery | Sky Rose Translate Gallery Project info and master list of posts

“First in my class here at MIT, got skills I’m a champion at DND, MC Escher that’s my favorite MC, hold your 40 I’ll just have an Earl Grey tea”

Last episode was bad. So to balance it out, here’s a really good episode! It features a good throughline, introduces the Urara/Syrup friendship, delivers some great animation, and provides a banger of a new single from Urara’s seiyuu, Ise Mariya. Let’s dig in!

The Plot

One night while flying around, Syrup notices Urara crying alone. The next day at school, she’s all smiles with her friends until someone asks about her last audition. Her face falls for a moment as she admits it didn’t go well but she cheers up right away. Syrup is confused by her mood swing.

“You can’t have TWO emotions!”

At Eternal, Nebatakos is dancing and singing to Urara’s song “Extraordinary! The Door of Courage!” but Anacondy turns his headphones to stone, and then tells him to retrieve the Rose Pact.

Syrup catches Nozomi, Rin, Komachi, and Karen on their way home from school to tell them Urara was crying, and they should comfort her. They seem sympathetic but have other plans first. Syrup decries them for being cold.

Syrup goes to Natts House to tell Coco what he saw, but Coco just gives him directions to Urara’s studio so he can talk to her himself.

Syrup finds Urara rehearsing her new song at the studio. They talk, and he admits he saw her crying. Urara is a little embarrassed but turns the convo to him by asking about his dreams of the Cure Rose Garden. He explains it’s a distant memory and he wants to go back to see it for himself. Urara shows a picture of her late mother and says she’s the same, she wants to be an actress to experience what her mother did, as she only has fleeting memories from her youth.

Nebatakos shows up, still singing Urara’s last song (it’s unclear if he knows it was hers), and then turns a water tower into a Hoshiina. He admits he’s not after the Rose Pact right now, he just wants to blow off steam.

Urara transforms, and Nebatakos covers the area with fog and haze. Attacks come from all directions while he verbally badgers Cure Lemonade.

Syrup warns her that she can’t go on alone, but she explains that she won’t give up until she sees and experiences what her mother saw from up on that beautiful stage. She also says Syrup might similarly learn about himself by going to the Cure Rose Garden, and that’s what keeps him going, drawing a parallel.

Lemonade beats up Nebatakos but is overpowered by the Hoshiina. Then the others show up and talk about how precious her dream is, and they won’t let the villain insult that. Everyone holds off the monster as Lemonade says she wants to make people smile with her performance, and she defeats the Hoshiina with Prism Chain as Nebatakos retreats.

In the studio, the girls all give Urara some homemade jewelry as a gift (for once, not made with the bead maker). This is why they were busy earlier.

Urara sings her new song over a montage of her performing it in a music video and a live concert. (BUY THE CD)

vimeo

Later, Urara and Syrup meet on a bridge at sunset. She admits she hasn’t had much luck getting good acting roles but she’s not losing heart. Syrup says she doesn’t have to force herself to smile in front of her friends, but she says being with them is when she feels the most herself, so she’ll push forward even when she feels a bit sad.

Syrup remarks that she and the other girls are all amazing, so they should work hard together and get to the Cure Rose Garden. He then offers Urara a voucher for a free flight on his back that she can use next time she feels down. She smiles widely and the credits play.

The Analysis

What I liked

In stark contrast to last episode, the artwork here is really good, by TV anime standards. It looks great, there’s some fantastic camerawork, and the animation is smooth.This is probably where the budget for the last several episodes went, possibly even including Milky Rose’s debut.

Urara experiencing the emotional highs and lows of trying to be a performer is really moving.

There’s a double narrative going on, while we see Urara doing well as a singer, most of the dialog is about her struggling as an actress, which is her primary goal. It also reflects the conflicting needs of the show and the brand. The brand wants to show off their bright young talent Ise Mariya with her new single. The show wants you to sympathize with Urara’s inability to get a part. They’re not in conflict, and in fact I think it’s interesting to contrast them in this way, showing how you can excel in one talent while struggling with another.

Urara’s motivations for wanting to be an actor, while they’ve been touched on before, are shed in a new light here. It’s her way of trying to get closer to her mother, since she can’t remember much about her otherwise. Drawing a parallel to Syrup’s quest for the Cure Rose Garden is clever.

Coco nudging Syrup to go talk to Urara himself since he’s worried is cute.

Syrup’s concern for Urara, that he maybe doesn’t quite understand himself, makes for a good throughline. He knows everyone the least and yet he condemns them for not being there for Urara. He never stops to consider that maybe he is the one that doesn’t understand what kind of support she needs. By the end, though, they’ve gotten to know each other a bit more, and after seeing how her older friends treat her, he approaches her in his own way. He respects her acting ambitions and why it’s important to her. The free ride voucher is an opportunity for her to come talk to him if she wants cheering up, without being imposing. It still leaves her the room to privately process her feelings if she needs to.

Nebatakos jamming to Urara’s last song is hilarious

Urara’s new song “Twin*Tail no Mahou” is a bop. Surprise surprise.

Baby Urara is adorable.

The fight scene is top notch, both in terms of the strategy employed by the villain and the response by Lemonade and the team.

Side note, Nebatakos saying he specifically isn’t going after the Rose Pact because Anacondy told him to cracks me up. His pride will be his undoing eventually.

This is similar to but legally distinct from a 2008 iPod.

Sunset scenes are gorgeous.

What I didn’t like

Not much, really. If I had to nitpick I’d say the other cures don’t get much to do, but it’s not about them, so that’s fine. Kurumi barely appears in this, she only gets two or three lines.

Nuts does not understand people can have multiple emotions or may need time alone to get over their negative feelings. (he gets better but I had to mention it)

Anaconda nips Nebatakos’s singing in the bud. Meanie.

Miscellaneous

Milk does not appear in her fairy form in this episode.

Although Queen Bavarois appears briefly, she doesn’t contribute anything.

The jewelry that Rin and the others made looks really good!

Kanako and Mayu, the characters modeled after the opening and ending performers, appear in some crowd shots, along with Masuko Mika.

I forgot to mention this in the last episode, but the ending credits have changed slightly again. Milky Rose’s credit has changed at last to read Mimino Kurumi, as of episode 17.

Conclusion

This was a beautiful episode in every sense of the word. Gorgeous animation and a moving plot. It came together in one of the best episodes of the show so far. I’d have to go back and review what we’ve covered so far to say if it’s definitively the best, especially as I tend to speak in extremes a lot, but it’s up there. Even if it exists to promote a real-world character song, they do it in the context of a good story. Here’s to more episodes like this.

Next time, mind if I string Karen and Kurumi along through the story of Urashima Taro? I can’t hear your response!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Kettei

#precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 Go Go!#YPC5GG18 #PCD216

17 notes · View notes

thebookworm0001 · 1 year

Text

Things I remembered about the aquamarine movie: the whole shtick with the water tower, the starfish earrings, the shopping montage

Things I forgot about the aquamarine movie: the actual plot where the girls tried to get the boy they had a crush on to fall in love with the mermaid in three days

#guess who wanted to be a mermaid #and was waaaaay too ace to give a crap about the ‘cute’ boy

3 notes · View notes

jennythomasblog · 2 years

Text

Top 6 Honeymoon Places For A Newly Married Couple In Summer

After the wedding is over, the most important thing is to find a place for the honeymoon. This article’s purpose is to provide the best place for lovebirds. Therefore, we have taken a survey to find the best honeymoon places.

Top 6 Honeymoon Places To Go In Summer

You will find the list interesting and valuable to making the decision for the honeymoon.

Bora Bora

The Bora Bora island is famous for its volcanos, jungles, aquamarine lagoon, and beaches. Author James Michener said that this is the most beautiful island in the world. Bora Bora island is also called the pearl of the pacific. There are sunny skies, luxurious resorts, friendly locals, and warm waters.

The US News and World Travel ranks this island at the top. You can stay at Blue Heaven Island, Sofitel Bora Bora Private Island, Bora Bora Eden Beach Hotel, and many more. There are matira beach, coral gardens, jungle safari, boat tours, shark feeding, lagoonarium, mount otemanu, vaitape, turtle center, spas, and mount pahia.

Bali

Bali sometimes refers to heaven. Bali is an island in Indonesia. Beautiful landscapes, volcanos, sandu shores, turquoise waters, pagodas, and many other interesting things exist. People from around the world visit Bali and enjoy themselves a lot in this place.

You can go there at almost any time of the year, but in summer it becomes more beautiful. You can stay at Samsara Ubud, Matahari Bunglow, Komaneka at Keramas Beach, and many more.

There are so many things to do. Here is the list- pura tirta empul, uluwatu temple, tanah lot temple, jimbaran, kuta, kintamai, sanur beach, nusa dua, tegallalang rice terrace, gunung kawi, waterbom bali, periuk bali cooking class, celebrity bike tours nusa penida and many more.

Paris

If I say honeymoon place, then Paris is one of the best places where you should go. This city is also called the city of light. There are many art collection and cuisine that needs to be acknowledged. The gentle river seine flows through the city. The main attractions are old churches, the block of Rococo, architecture, cascading trees, streetlamps, museums, and the most beautiful things are cafes.

If you have to choose one place to visit in Europe, Paris is at the top of the list. There are famous hotels like Le Bristol Paris, Four Seasons Hotel George V, La Reserve Paris, and many more. In addition, there are many things that you can do in Paris. The list is as follows.

Notre-dame cathedral, Musee du louvre, Eiffel tower, jardin des tuileries, le marais, sacred heart basilica of montmartre, musee d’Orsay, musee de I’Orangerie, pere-lachaise cemetery, palais garnier, luxembourg gardens, arc de triomphe, and many more.

Maldives

You must have heard about this island. There are luxurious resorts, blue waters, beaches, and beautiful sunsets. The scenic beauty of Maldives is so amazing that you don’t want to return to your regular life after going there. But, if you want your honeymoon to get relaxed, then the Maldives is your place.

You can stay at Vivanta by Taj Coral Reef, Maldives Vonmuli Resort, Huvafen Fushi, and many places. However, the Maldives is famous for its resorts, beaches, spas, and relaxation. But you can also visit Male, spas, hukuru miskiiy, fish market, and other places. Also, scuba diving is an attraction.

Maui

This island is not a large island, but it offers great wildlife, beaches, and historical culture. There are hula dancers, you can get booze and dance with them. There are golf fields, snorkels, and sea turtles. Maui has a total of five islands, most people stay in the southern part of it.

You can stay at Montage Kapalua Bay, Hotel Wailea, four seasons resort, and many more. In addition, you can visit hana road, haleakala national park, waianapanapa state park, pipiwai trail, makena beach, snorkel tour, kaanapali beach, iso valley state park, napili beach, and many more.

Fiji

Luxurious hotels, glittering sands, turquoise waters- Fiji is full of these things. This is one of the tropical gateways. There are a total of 333 islands to visit.

For adventurous and beach-loving people, Fiji is the ideal place. Fiji also ranks in second place when it comes to the best beaches in the world.

You can stay at Outrigger Fiji, Shangri-La’s Fijian, Wananavu, and many more resorts. There are so many things you can do in Fiji. There are the coral coast, mamanuca island, yasawas, navua river canoe, different villages, nadi tivua island and many more.

To Conclude

I hope this article will help you to decide on your honeymoon place. You can also check the bonus list.

St. Lucia

Amalfi Coast

Tahiti

Santorini

Kauai

Hawaii

Florence

Mauritius

So, what have you decided? Please let us know in the comment section.

Thank You.

#holiday #vacation #travels #travelling #honeymoon #couple

2 notes · View notes

lgcsomin · 2 months

Text

/ FINAL EPISODE of some ssom with moon somin

she honestly can't believe that she's done a few episodes of this now, but after the relatively chill aerial yoga episode with yura, she was ready to amp it up again. considering it was going to be the very last episode, she wanted the show to go out with a bang!

it's been a really fun time for her, and a really great learning experience because she's been learning so much on these shows and also learning a lot about herself. learning how to host and how to work alone without the other crystallis members as well as learning how to improvise on the spot when something didn't go as planned.

"hello alize~" somin greets the camera once she's given the cue to start, waving excitedly.

not only is this the last episode, but it's also one of the things that had been at the very top of her bucket list for a very long time. and she's sooooo nervous, but also way too excited to finally be able to do it.

she wonders if maybe she'll be able to ask the other crystallis members to do this with her one day, even if it's not for a variety show but just for fun.

"we're in gapyeong today," she explains, going over the general tangent she does at the beginning of each episode to very briefly explain the show in case there were any first time viewers who had not seen past episodes.

"do you guys know what's in gapyeong?" she asks, having done this little bit at every location they had gone to if it was outside of seoul. it's fun because she had seen how they had edited the first episode, and she wonders how they're going to do this one.

"the beach is correct, but i'm not just going to go to the beach," she says, though she remembers when she had done that with yura for a mini vacation. "i went here with yura-unnie once for a mini sort of staycation," she comments aloud, wondering if the editors would pull up the instagram pictures they had posted from those days.

but that's not the point of this trip.

"as this is the last episode for some ssom for now, we had to do something big and special right?"

she does the drumroll sound before turning to let the cameras pan over to the bungee jumping tower behind her.

"ta-daaaaaah~!"

it's very exciting for her to be able to do this finally, especially since she's been wanting to do it for so long now. it's really a dream come true, and to be able to do it on her own show is even better. though, part of her wishes she had the other members with her today.

there's a montage of the staff instructing her on what to do and also then of her getting into the protective gear that she would need to wear to be able to jump. she holds the camera while on the elevator ride up to the top, and she grins. "oh my god, i'm so excited," she comments, though her hands are a little bit shaky with it. she's nervous too, but not out of fear.

mostly she hopes for a good shot.

"okay, so it's my turn next," she says to the person holding the camera once they've walked closer to the ledge, and she peeks over the fence where it's safe and lets out a sound. "huuuu, it's really high! i'm not scared of heights, but even to me this feels really high to be out in the open like this," she says, pointing for the cameraman to also film slightly over the edge for alize to see.

once she's standing on the platform though, it's just panning between shots of her face (from the go-pro helmet she's wearing, something that's shown up in most episodes so far) and of her standing there, with a few wide shots from the cameraman on the ground to catch the wide shot of her jumping.

"on three?" she repeats after the staff, nodding and she does a little 'fighting!' sign to the camera before turning to face outwards.

"CRYSTALLIS I LOVE YOU! LET'S BE TOGETHER FOR A LONG TIME! WITH ALIZE!!!" she screams before jumping off, letting out a happy shriek as she feels herself free-falling towards the water and a peal of laughter leaves her too, once she's bounced once in the air and is just hanging there.

she feels like the wind's been knocked out of her but as they lower her to the boat, she's only excited and giddy about the jump she had just made.

"oh man, i want to go again," she says with a laugh, the staff in the boat shaking his head but looking rather pleased that she hadn't passed out or something.

"that was really fun!" she says happily, once she's back on solid ground and she's still in the protective gear but she's with all the staff again. "bungee jump, check!" she says, pretending to check it off of an imaginary bucket list.

"thank you for watching everyone, i hope you enjoyed your daily dose of some ssom today," she says her usual greeting, though she feels a bit sad that it's her last episode, making sure to do the flower pose when she says ssom. "thank you for keeping up with the episodes, and hopefully we'll see you in a season 2? byeeee~" she says, covering the camera as a signal to end it.

"i know i say this every time," she look at the director again, pleading eyes on. "but i really want to go again."

#( s / )#lgc:cyshow #( wc / 945 )

0 notes

sregan · 2 months

Text

Thoughts on Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" (2021)

As always on the very forefront of pop culture, I have finally descended to view the latest adaptation of Frank Herbert's 'Dune', over two years after its release, thanks to its release in advance of the premiere of the second installment in early 2024.

Since I have previously written about adapting Dune and the pitfalls of previous adaptations at a time that could conceivably have influenced Denis Villeneuve's latest effort, it falls to me to provide my thoughts, assembled largely in stream-of-consciousness order, composed the day after I saw it, so the exact order may not be entirely correct.

Kicking off, the opening is not (he says grandly) what I would have done. We are presented with an almost trailer-like montage with voiceover by Chani, explaining the Fremen to us up-front, where as my conception would be to keep them more mysterious.

We are told 'We couldn't overthrow the Harkonnens (by the way, is not the plural 'Harkonnen'?) but one day they left'. I didn't like this as it seems to undersells the Fremen - the fighting force that we will ultimately see conquering the Harkonnen and then setting the galaxy at large ablaze - right away.

She finishes the montage by asking 'Who will be our next oppressors?' - followed by a cut to Paul and House Atreides. This was OK. I still wonder if this was the original opening or if, like Irulan's voiceover in 1984, this was added to make it more comprehensible.

I have suggested starting with the desert, then the Mua'dib mouse. Paul and Chani in a cold open sitting on the dune look at the mouse and Paul decides to use it as his name. Then he awakens years earlier in his room; the entire opening is an oracular vision. He is woken because his mother wants him to speak to a nighttime arrival from offworld, which turns out to be the Reverend Mother, so this is all still a cold open. You then use the Harkonnen scene with the Baron explaining the plot to Feyd'Rautha as the main worldbuilding.

There was a choice to deliberately confirm that this takes place in the year 10,XXX AD. This spells out to new viewers with no knowledge of the book that this is the far future but to me immediately raises the question - so they're still using the Gregorian calendar? I don't think Jesus is even mentioned in the book, although 'Zenchristian' is mentioned as a religious tradition along with obviously syncretic names like 'Buddhislam'.

The film does not make the gom'jabbar scene the first we see of Paul. Instead he is an onlooker as the ceremony takes place on Caladan to confirm Atreides ownership of Arrakis.

The ceremony itself wasn't bad; I thought this was going to segue into the gom'jabbar scene as the Reverend Mother would say something like 'I wish to speak to the Lady Jessica', but this is actually later.

We see our first use of Voice - the effect used for Paul's early attempt doesn't quite work and doesn't match how it's shown later (mismatch of the booming effect and voice?). I would have started with the booming effect and then cut back to his normal voice on 'water' (which would also have been thematic). I didn't like that he seemed capable of almost making Jessica, a trained Bene Gesserit, move involuntarily at this early stage.

Caladan depicted as very wild and rainy - not perhaps what I envisaged but does show profusity of water to make its absence later noticable.

I am slightly shocked that one of the notable scenes they kept from the 1984 movie was the Harkonnen steam shower?? This time it's the Baron rather than Feyd and it's used to keep his look hidden (also; more water).

Villeneuve's signature shot is clearly something large moving into frame, moving out of frame, or towering above the viewer. It's very effective but once you notice this, it's amazing how many times this appears. A shot I initially thought was pointless (Jessica watching the lights of the ships disappear in the rain) actually turned out to be meaningful later as during the Harkonnen attack it lets us understand what the same lights in the sky mean.

Paul surprisingly is not allowed to go to Arrakis on the scouting mission. I think this is book-accurate but surprising in Hollywood terms that he pleads 'I'm ready' and is still refused until later in the film.

The shield effects were good, showing only a shimmer at the point of contact rather than the 1984 version's big blocky early CG cubes - the use of red to imply 'danger', or something getting through the shield felt a bit trite but later on it came into its own as a clever substitute for gore in the fight scenes, as characters die with a flash of red at the point of impact.

The gom-jabbar scene was good - Chalamet's acting was on point as Paul is agonised by the box, but I felt like other than some brief shots of visions of flames and a brief shot of an ash-caked hand on Arrakis we didn't get the book's idea that he is struck by the idea that his own hand is burning or decaying. I would have cut between various mutually exclusive ideas he has to make it clear these are just his imaginings; putting them against a different background is a good idea, and I'm not opposed to him imagining he is in a desert with his hand burning in front of him. I wondered if originally this scene was meant to vividly depict his hand burning and crumbling in front of him in the vision and this was scaled back to achieve a better age rating to just a brief shot?

Note: In the real world, the Reverend Mother is telling him not to scream. I am surprised given his liking for this type of memeable direction that Villeneuve didn't have the vision be a full shot of Chalamet screaming silently in the desert, his hand wreathed in flame. Also, I don't think they even explained that the box creates pain via nerve induction? He still seems a little surprised to find his hand is unharmed but it's almost as if they also want to suggest it might have all been a mind game (which is a decent idea).

I did like how Yueh was introduced here to check Paul is OK after the experience.

I would absolutely have changed references to 'The One'. It's in the book, but the prophesied Chosen One has been done so many times that when you have multiple terms in the book that audiences haven't heard ('Kwisatz Haderach', 'shortening of the way', 'Mahdi' - even 'messiah') you should use them instead. In particular I winced when Paul asks 'What did she mean when she said I might be The One'. I also didn't like the scene between Jessica and the Reverend Mother where she says this.

I very much liked it right up to and including the line where she says "You thought in your arrogance you could bring forth the Kwisatz Haderach" and Jessica says "was I wrong?". If the scene had ended with the Reverend Mother either in silence (worried it's true) or derisively snorting (doubtful) that could be good.

"Some say he is here." The over-shoulder cut to Paul veiled in rain but seemingly unaffected by it was very good. Was it a book thing that Paul isn't really affected by the weather? We see in two different scenes that Chalamet's Paul is almost supernaturally proof against the elements, like coolly strolling in the boiling sun while the gardener visibly swelters.

(As a note: this was a major issue in retrospect I have with the film. We don't see characters with sunburn or even sunstroke, even the Atreides who have come from a cool planet, or the Harkonnen who in this interpretation seem to come from a planet where it's always nearly dark, resulting in their pallid, trogolodytish features)

I liked the 'last touch of water' scene where Paul is outside on Caladan, as well as where elements we've seen before like the bull's head are being packed up to illustrate that House Atreides is relocating.

I didn't quite like how the heighliners were presented - more like a megastructure that is itself a wormhole rather than a ship. Space travel is definitely not interesting to Villeneuve and it's usually seen from the ground, which I think is a good choice.

The planet wasn't quite introduced correctly for me, despite the cool and disorientating pan *up* from the heighliner. We didn't get Paul reacting to the blast of heat when they land (and indeed he strolls around in full sun shortly thereafter) or establishing shots of the desert.

I am not opposed in theory to the bagpipes, even if they seem to suggest the Atreides are British and specifically Scottish rather than, as I think they are intended, Greek. I supposed if you really want to get into it there's some value there with regard to the 'savage is less decadent' theme from the book, but they kind of ignore this by making Giedi Prime an absolute nightmare hellhole.

Arakeen's monumental concrete look is actually really good; I liked how they established early on that doors on Arrakis are big rotating slabs to block out the sun so it goes almost entirely unremarked upon that there's a secret tunnel with a big rotating slab door later. The choice does mean internal scenes are often quite dark.

I think the depiction of books left something to be desired; in the book, books are analogue but on super-thin static charged filament paper that flips when you run your thumb down the spine. This would have been an interesting 'futuristic' visual with the pages looking like energy waves - and looking back there was no explanation *why* everything in this future world is so archaic (did I miss something? They never mentioned the Butlerian jihad (even Bowlderised to 'crusade') for that matter; the servo-watering arms weren't shown and this would have been the time to establish this).

I didn't find the hunter-seeker drone scene that good; it wasn't obvious to me that we were being told the drone operates on movement. Paul moves into the projection (for camouflage?) and it's not clear why it stops when it's inches in front of his eye.

We are shown that it was a human pilot hidden in the wall with big VR goggles, but because (unlike 1984) we never cut to its viewpoint we can't see if he had normal vision through the drone. I also didn't like the way it entered the scene; from a distance and Paul immediately catching sight of it.

I liked Thufir's apology and how this was carried over into his grim look at the strategy meeting. The meeting was extremely well done, as was the one with Stilgar. I felt replaying the same 'no-one comes close to the Duke!' reaction with Keynes was a bit repetitious.

As a note; the casting of Keynes didn't clearly convey that she was an offworlder like them, since many of the Fremen are portrayed as black as well as Middle-Eastern; which may have been intentional, but they did seemingly try to imply the Corrinos were of a specific ethnicity by making the imperial emissary at the start also very dark-skinned, though Part Two casts Christopher Walken as the Emperor. I feel a female Keynes could work in a Margaret Mead style way; an older, visibly non-native female ethnologist.

I really liked Duke Leto's portrayal (quibbles about whether Oscar Isaac is old enough or looks enough like Chalamet to portray his father aside); he is portrayed as wanting to be kind - within the boundaries of duty. When he explains to Stilgar that "The Emperor has given me this planet as my fief, to govern and protect - I cannot promise I will not enter the desert when duty demands it," you definitely feel he is operating in a more medieval worldview; he wants to be kind, but at the same time he is a noble and aristocrat whose domains are inalienable and held in trust for his own flesh and blood, and he is proud of them.

I wasn't convinced the gimp spider was a good idea (and others have pointed out that the Reverend Mother saying 'get out' with the Voice while looking forward should have caused the Baron and Piter to leave, not the spider). I did like the Godfather-style presentation of the Baron here, making slimy deals that are technically not lies. I've commented elsewhere that the framing of the Baron in this film is almost like a horror monster; in this scene his floating is made to look like he is freakishly tall, but enough subtle clues like the lights on his spine and the 'cracking' noise of them coming online are present that we slowly gather over the course of the film that he is just floating.

The ornithopters are incredible and handled far better than any other adaptation. They're almost characters in and of themselves and when in a later scene one loses first one, then two, then finally three wings you feel genuinely anxious.

The carryall didn't quite work for me. It turning into a hot air balloon to lift the gigantic harvester is interesting, but the balloon wasn't big enough to be plausible. Wasn't it just repulsorlifts in the book? I think this could have been a cool chance to remind us about the shield tech; it's shown later with the Sardaukar.

Paul wasn't as useless in this scene as I feared but I still think it harmed his character to just have him yell at a couple of workmen then succumb to the spice in the air. He should have continued to direct them even as he began to hallucinate. I did like his interaction with Leto (it seemed very true to life to have him call his father 'Sir') and the Duke's recriminations with Jessica later. Again, great use for Yueh to show us his Suk skills.

The Sardaukar felt ominous and well designed; their signature move (descending via anti-gravity repulsorlifts) is showcased in the original attack so when we see it later in the weather station we know who these guys are. I gather the 'Sardaukar language' was just dubbed over English as an editing-stage decision, like Jabba the Hutt, which is a bit silly, and you can definitely tell it when he says 'The Emperor commands it', and the best they could do was something like 'Za Ambula kam andzi'. Of course, it's possible the Sardaukar speak a dialect of the standard language which is hard to understand.

I feel like the chanting was used as an audio motif that was subtly slipped into at least one other moment - when the ships with the Harkonnen and Sardaukar land, the vibration matches the pitch and beat of the Sardaukar chant, cueing you in who's aboard. This was also done with the Bene Gesserit, where it's not clear whether the 'wailing' when the ship takes off and lands is diegetic or just the Bene Gesserit theme.

The Harkonnen attack had some very cool moments - I very much liked the 'fireworks' missiles exploding into huge (nuclear?) fireballs which felt simultaneously futuristic and archaic. The way the Atreides closed with the attackers was a bit awkward; there didn't seem much 'impact' as Halleck meets the first few stragglers, then the rest are way back of where he is. To that end, I also don't think for non-readers they established that well that this is a future where ground fighters use hand-to-hand combat almost exclusively, or why.

The way the darts interacted with the shield was a bit odd; was this in the book? It's shown twice that flechettes retain their velocity but are 'stuck' in the shield for a few seconds and almost vibrate their way through. It's certainly cool but seemed an odd choice to make.

Yueh's betrayal of the Duke was fine; I thought it was a bit silly how he explains how he will implant a tooth into him while the Harkonnen are running toward them. Also, how did he get to the ring to Paul? These two scenes are cut as if happening at the same time, but presuming Yueh's dialogue with the Duke happens while Paul is unconscious and Jessica is being taken prisoner.

The establishing that the trees on this barren planet are resource-hungry but the locals still revere them came back with some clout when Rabban re-establishes control and burns the trees (why did he do this though?). I still feel like Bautista doesn't feel like a planetary governor but just an armoured enforcer. His brutal machete execution was tastefully cut around but reminded me of an ISIS video. I also felt like there wasn't much point to it - he should have been bawling at them 'Where is the witch?' or something similar, with each Atreides officer steadfastedly refusing to give up their Duke's wife and son.

The deaf Harkonnen's voice was a little silly; other than that the ornithopter scene was good and menacing. It vividly showed how powerful the Voice is and I wonder if they will stay true to this in the second (and now following the confirmation of Dune: Messiah third!) film, as it seems to make both Jessica and now Paul basically invincible if not drugged. I can't recall if they automatically locked down the ornithopter in the book but it effectively explains why they don't try to learn the controls and fly it back to civilisation.

Duncan's scenes were great and make you root for the character, making his sacrifice later meaningful.

The Baron's dinner scene was very well done (the Duke's pose draped over the chair reminds me of a famous painting - possibly The Death of Murat? - it's clearly intended to evoke martyrdom). I did take issue with the use of only red on the Baron's shield when the Duke blows poison at him. This cried out for initially blue, but then red to seep in at the middle to show gas is penetrating. I also didn't quite like how they intercut it with Paul and Jessica surviving their first night in the desert; this might have just been the timings of the cuts rather than the concept that worked for me. The scene that shows he survived was creepy and well-done. When we next see him he's recovering in a healing mud bath - again, there's a choice made here to associate both the Harkonnen and Atreides with water (the Atreides with natural rain and lakes, the Harkonnen with artificial liquids like steam and chemical vats), which is decent. Salusa Secundus (called an 'army planet'??) is also presented as rainy, with blood from the sacrifices mingling with the rain.

Paul's visions in the tent were generally OK. I absolutely wanted them to *show* 'legions worshipping at the shrine of my father's skull'.

There wasn't (perhaps to retain the age rating) enough emphasis on the horror and atrocities Paul sees his troops will commit in his name.

I noticed several times an odd choice was made in terms of which take to use. One I noticed was 'A crusade in MY name! EVERYONE calling my name.', with a falling action at the end. This needed to be: "A crusade in my name! Everyone calling MY NAME!" There was another similarly jarring moment earlier on where it seemed like an actress didn't understand a line and the word emphasis was wrong.

Also - worst line in the film: "Your Bene Gesserit made me a freak". It felt completely out of place in Dune; both the language and the sentiment.

'You did this to me. If it wasn't for your training, I wouldn't be able to see...' - that would have highlighted that he is traumatised by his visions, not concerned how other people might see him.

There was a surprising emphasis on the 'female gaze' in this movie and very little of the reverse, given a straight male director. The camera lingers at least twice on an unclothed Chalamet - even surprisingly having Jessica steal a glance at her son while he changes (and him almost do the same as she begin to undress) in a way that feels like it would have been between love interests in another film. Commentators have noted that - whatever you may think about the looks of the actress playing her in other films - Chani is not necessarily presented here as a character you might burn down the universe for. Sean Young - complaints about casting as a member of a desert tribe aside - was more convincing in 1984 as a character Paul would be attracted to.

I would probably have skipped Keynes' weather station* and directly moved onto the sietch. The lasgun cutting through the door was incredibly cool - I can't think of any recent sci-fi film that has really made lasers feel this dangerous - but all that action could have been during the initial attack. Similarly, the worm attack could have been during the first night rather than later when trying to find the sietch.

I noticed several instances of this - because Villeneuve has more time to tell the story he actually ends up doubling up some elements.

The Reverend Mother arrives on Caladan twice; Paul and his mother crash or are forced to land an ornithopter twice, stranding them in the desert twice; they are taken into a Fremen or pseudo-Fremen facility twice.

* The dialogue here was a bit confusing, suggesting the weather station originates from a time before FTL travel (was this line book accurate?),

'But then they found the spice, and then no-one wanted the desert to go away'. A casual viewer might believe spice can be found on many planets and Arrakis was a backwater in the Imperium until spice (oil analogue!) was discovered there.

The night scenes were done quite well but did seem over-long. I felt like they were going to have the sun rise throughout the Fremen scene with harsh sunlight cutting through the scene but this didn't happen.

The vision cutaways while Paul is trying to find the sietch were just confusing because the action wasn't married up (i.e. 'Chani and Paul push through the canyon in the vision; then Paul and Jessica do so in the present'), or there wasn't dialogue from Paul to say 'I recognise that rock', 'There was a fissure - the girl led me in here'. A casual viewer might have thought this was somehow a timeskip.

The mention of drum-sand was very quick and I don't think viewers would have grasped it. Also, the subsequent worm scene had dramatic music, but no drum-beats to the sound of their running? What a missed opportunity!

The Fremen certainly felt menacing; Jamis however seemed oddly over-aggressive. Was the decision to have the fight right there in the desert a change from the book to save time? I felt like this happened after at least a little time in the sietch and felt rushed here. There was unless I missed it no dialogue to establish why either Jessica or Paul didn't use the Voice on the Fremen. I felt she could have used it to immobilise Stilgar - "STOP" - and take him hostage, which would have shown off her control while implying she can't use it on many people at once (they use the line 'You did not say you were a weirding woman!' when all the 'weirding' she does is quickly put a knife to his throat); then you have Stilgar tell Paul that he must not use any weirding tricks against Jamis or his life is forfeit, forcing him to rely on Duncan and Gurney's training.

The final shot should have zoomed or cut progressively away to show the train of Fremen tiny against the landscape. Instead we begin and end on the Fremen; which is a distinct choice but not one I would have made.

*In general* this was absolutely sensational and Villeneuve is clearly the director of our time. I don't think anyone else is doing the sort of ground-scale spectacle shots he does in this film right now. This was not however a taut film. I've said I do think Dune can be done as a single film. Ultimately the first book is fairly simple; House Atreides moves to Arrakis, is attacked and the young prince Paul and his mother flee into the desert. They are succoured by the Fremen, he earns their respect, and then they return to enact their revenge on the Harkonnen and the Emperor.

The challenge comes in establishing three layers of villains (Rabban/Feyd, the Baron, the Emperor) all scheming in the background; it's hard to combine these into e.g. just the Emperor as you lose huge swathes of the motivation. My solution is to lean heavily on Feyd Rautha and basically make Dune the story of two princes; one who is authentic (Paul) and one who is false and scheming (Feyd). Both have things explained to them as heirs to their houses.

My rough solution:

Opening vision - cold open with Paul and Chani

Wakes up on Caladan. Jessica wants him to meet the Reverend Mother.

Tested with the box. Dr Yueh introduced to ensure Paul is well after the experience.

Meet Duke Leto and his retainers. Told the family is packing up to move to -

"Arrakis! The biggest man-trap in the universe." Smash-cut to Harkonnens - Baron, Feyd, Rabban, Piter. Baron explains much of the worldbuilding to Feyd.

Atreides arrive. Immediately the Duke starts disrupting customs by forbidding the sale of used water; it will now be given away free.

Paul trains with Duncan (changed from Gurney so he shows off his sword skills).

Jessica and Shadout Mapes in the garden; introduces the no-AI conceit. Confirms the Bene Gesserit created myths to prepare Arrakis.

The Duke takes his son to visit the spice operations. He saves the stranded crawler and Paul is exposed to spice for the first time.

Feyd shows off his skills in the gladiatorial arena. Baron and Fenring present. They discuss a traitor in House Atreides.

Paul awakens from vision of being trapped in the desert, is nearly killed by hunter-seeker drone. Duke orders sweep of the city. (Note: The operator is never identified and implied retrospectively to be Yueh)

Diplomacy with Stilgar.

The palace is attacked by Harkonnen and Sardaukar led by Rabban. Who disarmed the defence systems?

Duke has been drugged by Yueh. He reveals he is the traitor and mentions the tooth.

Paul and Jessica are captured and taken out into the desert to be killed. They use the Voice to get free.

Stranded in the desert, Paul and Jessica wander, worn down by the elements and dodging a worm on drum-sand until they find the sietch.

Duke is delivered; Yueh killed. Duke manages to kill Piter with his poison tooth; but Baron survives.

In the sietch, Stilgar wishes to extend hospitality but Jamis says they are a burden since they are not trained in their ways

Jessica says she is a sayyadina, but Jamis challenges Paul who manages to kill him; adopted into the tribe. Jessica uses myths.

Rabban re-exerts his control over Arrakis

Paul talks to Chani - syncs up with opening vision

Jessica must undergo Water of Life trial but nearly dies as it induces labour. To save her, Paul ingests the Water of Life himself and receives the vision of the universal jihad. (I envisage this as a vision of her drowning in a vast sea; he 'can't reach where you are' and ingests the Water of Life which allows him to somehow exist in the same vision and bring her to the surface, even as he sees the apocalyptic future and relates it to Chani in the real world. Jessica is brought back to consciousness but finds her seat is wet, and they realise her waters have broken. Paul, his eyes now blazing blue, exits the room and orders a midwife be brought forth 'for my sister shall be unto you a holy child')

Scene with the Emperor. Baron hears of the new Fremen leader and raids on Harkonnen spice lines and tells Rabban to wipe the Fremen out.

Feyd launched plan to kill Baron but is uncovered. Told Baron can't kill him because Rabban is too stupid to succeed him but must toe the line.

Explains plan to make Feyd Emperor by marrying him to the Emperor's daughter Irulan, 'but we must be patient'.

Paul trains in worm-riding. Embraced as the Mahdi. Romance with Chani

Chani love scene.

Rabban attacks the sietch, leading a force in person - the tribe are victorious and Rabban is killed but Paul's baby sister Alia is kidnapped. Paul learns the Emperor was responsible for the plot. Paul reunites with Duncan who is leading the remnants of the Atreides. They have the family atomics.

'Mua'dib' issues the ultimatum - the Emperor must come to Arrakis or he will destroy spice production.

Paul attacks Arrakeen with his sandworms and atomics. Confronts Emperor; says he can't stop the jihad in his name but the Emperor can shorten the dark age by resigning his position right now; the Emperor refuses and Paul says another ten planets burn just because he said that. Alia shows alarming precocity, steals the Gom Jabbar needle from the Reverend Mother and uses it to kill the Baron. Paul demands satisfaction for the death of his father and the Emperor agrees Feyd may serve as his champion.

Paul kills Feyd and demands the Emperor's daughter in marriage. Chani is distraught but Paul says that often the concubines of emperors are recorded by history while their wives are forgotten.

What do we lose?

Early political intrigue in favour of getting to Arrakis ASAP

Basically the entirety of the prophecy/Kwisatz Haderach, which may be a good thing cf. overuse of 'The One' trope. You can still have the Reverend Mother explain the Kwisatz Haderach to Paul at the start ("Your mother was told to bear a daughter. That daughter could have been a candidate for the mother of - well. Sadly, she had to have it her own way. I can confirm she has produced a normal human child. Well done." - and later, Jessica explains "The Bene Gesserit are trying to breed a messiah. The Kwisatz Haderach. They thought your father's genes were important. They wanted me to produce a daughter who could be the mother of a Kwisatz Haderach, but Leto always wanted a son…" and finally "I'm not your Kwisatz Haderach. I'm something else you have not foreseen."). That way we're set up for Leto II if we continue.

Kynes in his entirety. If we never dwell on the full life-cycle of the worms that means we need another way for Paul to learn that he can start a chain reaction with water to kill every sand worm.

Gurney Halleck except as member of Duke's retinue

Thufir Hawat except as member of Duke's retinue (maybe 1-2 Mentat lines to make it clear Piter isn't the only one), including scheming with Feyd after he is captured by the Baron.

The Baron's promise to the Reverend Mother that he won't kill Paul and Jessica. Maybe Fenring says the Order won't tolerate a member of the Bene Gesserit killed. The Baron retorts that as far as the Emperor's witch is concerned, he didn't give any order to have them killed, 'but Arrakis is Arrakis, and much can happen out in the dunes'. He nods to Piter, who nods back.

The Navigator's Guild and their precognition. They could still be present in the scene where the Emperor learns of Mua'dib and where he is given an ultimatum to come to Arrakis. "You must not allow this Fremen mystic to disrupt the spice; without it we cannot see the future, we cannot predict the outcome of a space-time jump. We cannot pilot the ships. Without it, the Imperium as it we know it ceases to exist! The spice must flow!" Emperor, rising sword in hand: "Then the Emperor and all his Sardaukar shall descend to Arrakis with fire and terror." The Baron looks delighted at the idea. "And you, Baron, shall accompany us." He looks significantly less happy,

The significance of the ducal ring and any indication that Paul needs it. It's just forgotten about in this version after the Duke dies.

What do we keep that is questionable?

Fenring as the Emperor's presence in scenes where he can't realistically be there

Shadout Mapes as sole 'Arrakeen housekeeper' who can explain some stuff

More scenes with the Emperor to establish him as the Big Bad.

What feels rushed?

Baron dodging assassination attempts in two back-to-back scenes

The last few scenes cover several years to allow Alia to grow up

Duncan in this version isn't killed which could cause a problem in future adaptations (but means the actor is still in the hotseat, with cloning just explaining why he's still around long in the future). Him showing up with nukes feels very deus ex machina-like? Arguably the point is this; he can breach the Wall but doesn't have the men to take Arrakeen. Paul has an army of fanatical Fremen but no way to get over the Wall. Combined they solve the problem.

Paul gains ultimate power then rides a sandworm; should probably be the other way around. Unless the point is Stilgar pushes him to do it, because his men want him to recognise Paul as the Mahdi, but he can't do it unless Paul undergoes the real Fremen male right of passage; the water-of-life was a weird thing he wasn't supposed to do in this version, because it's only for Fremen women mystics. Putting the sandworm-riding before his ascent to super-mentat feels like it has more at stake.

Satisfying arcs:

Paul starts out as an entitled prince who is angry at the Reverend Mother giving him and his mother orders, and is forced to grow up in the desert, ultimately going through a Philosopher's Stone-like trial and becoming a mystic.

Rabban starts angry at being kicked off Arrakis, has two scenes to confirm his return, then is killed in a fight with the Fremen and speaks to Paul (I think he isn't killed by Paul himself but is stabbed by a Fremen; maybe even a Stilgar fight scene)

Feyd has plenty of action leading up to the final fight. His actions - learning to be a prince, training in combat, and poltiical scheming - each mirror Paul's own. He feels like the primary viewpoint antagonist right from the off so it's not an issue that Paul never confronts the Baron.

#dune

0 notes

gloriabomfim · 7 months

Text

Certainly, here are the first 9 non-attempts montages along with their titles, actions, and dialogue transcripts where Dee Dee mistakes the food world for the city:

Montage 1: "Dee Dee's Delicious Delusion" Action: Dee Dee stumbles into a giant sandwich, thinking it's a building. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (confused) "Wow, what a tall building! I wonder which floor has the elevator?"

Montage 2: "When Food Becomes the Streets" Action: Dee Dee tries to cross a street made of spaghetti, causing a traffic jam. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (gesturing to spaghetti) "This crosswalk is delicious, but it's taking forever to get to the other side!"

Montage 3: "Lost in a Foodie Fantasy" Action: Dee Dee gets trapped in a giant pizza slice, thinking it's a park. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (sitting on the pizza) "What a beautiful park! Wait, why is everyone looking at me like I'm a topping?"

Montage 4: "City or Cuisine? Dee Dee's Dilemma" Action: Dee Dee mistakes a donut shop for a taxi stand and tries to hail a donut. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (waving at a giant donut) "Taxi! Take me to the chocolate fountain, please!"

Montage 5: "Navigating Noodles and Mistaken Metropolis" Action: Dee Dee attempts to ride a noodle as if it were a rollercoaster. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (holding onto a noodle) "Whee! This is the fastest rollercoaster in the city!"

Montage 6: "Food Frenzy in the Urban Jungle" Action: Dee Dee enters a forest of giant broccoli, thinking it's a park. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (admiring the broccoli) "I love this park's greenery! Nature is so… crunchy?"

Montage 7: "Dee Dee's Gastronomic Grandeur" Action: Dee Dee mistakes a fountain of chocolate for a water fountain and takes a sip. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (drinking chocolate) "Ah, the city's water is so sweet! They must filter it through candy factories."

Montage 8: "The Foodie's Urban Odyssey" Action: Dee Dee tries to catch a burger like it's a flying frisbee. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (jumping for the burger) "I got it! Now, where's the ketchup lake?"

Montage 9: "A Culinary Cityscape Confusion" Action: Dee Dee confuses a hot dog cart for a bus stop, waiting for the hot dog bus. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (holding a hot dog) "I hope this bus arrives soon. I'm getting hungry."

These are the first 9 montages with actions and dialogue transcripts as Dee Dee navigates his culinary cityscape confusion. Enjoy the humor and creativity!

Certainly, here are the next 10 non-attempts montages along with their titles, actions, and dialogue transcripts where Dee Dee continues to mistake the food world for the city:

Montage 10: "Dee Dee's Culinary Cityscape Quest" Action: Dee Dee tries to climb a towering ice cream cone, thinking it's a skyscraper. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (climbing the ice cream cone) "I've always wanted to reach the top floor of this building… I mean, dessert!"

Montage 11: "From Skyscrapers to Sandwiches" Action: Dee Dee confuses a giant sandwich for an escalator and steps onto it. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (riding the sandwich) "What a convenient way to go up and down in the city… of sandwiches!"

Montage 12: "Metropolitan Meltdown: Dee Dee's Food Fiasco" Action: Dee Dee thinks a giant bowl of soup is a swimming pool and dives in. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (splashing in the soup) "This pool's a bit too hot, but it's a great way to relax in the city heat!"

Montage 13: "Concrete Jungle or Edible Eden?" Action: Dee Dee mistakes a field of giant carrots for a soccer field and tries to score a goal. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (kicking a carrot) "GOAL! The city's soccer fields are unusually crunchy today!"

Montage 14: "Dee Dee's Gourmet Gambit" Action: Dee Dee believes a giant hamburger is a playground slide and happily slides down. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (sliding down the burger) "Whee! The city's slides are so deliciously greasy!"

Montage 15: "Lost Amongst Food and Facades" Action: Dee Dee gets caught in a maze of giant spaghetti strands, thinking it's a maze in the city. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (navigating the maze) "This city's labyrinth is a bit saucy, but I'll find my way!"

Montage 16: "When Food Takes Over the Concrete Jungle" Action: Dee Dee thinks a giant lollipop is a streetlamp and tries to light it up. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (holding a lollipop) "I must say, the city's streetlamps are unusually sweet!"

Montage 17: "Culinary Chaos in the Metropolis" Action: Dee Dee confuses a giant chocolate bar for a bridge and attempts to cross it. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (walking on the chocolate) "This bridge is yummy! I hope it doesn't melt on me."

Montage 18: "Dee Dee's Edible Escapade" Action: Dee Dee enters a city made of candy canes and tries to hail a candy cane taxi. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (waving at a candy cane) "Taxi! Take me to the gumdrop park, please!"

Montage 19: "Food vs. City: Dee Dee's Dilemma" Action: Dee Dee mistakenly treats a giant cupcake as a hat and proudly wears it. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (wearing the cupcake) "I must say, the city's fashion sense is quite sweet today!"

These are the next 10 montages with actions and dialogue transcripts, continuing Dee Dee's adventures in his culinary cityscape confusion. Enjoy the laughs!

Certainly, here are the final 11 non-attempts montages along with their titles, actions, and dialogue transcripts where Dee Dee continues to mistake the food world for the city:

Montage 20: "Mistaking Food for the Urban Playground" Action: Dee Dee tries to swing on a giant licorice rope, thinking it's a city playground swing. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (swinging on the licorice) "This playground equipment is surprisingly tasty!"

Montage 21: "Dee Dee's Culinary Cityscape Chronicles" Action: Dee Dee confuses a giant cheese wheel for a roundabout and takes a ride. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (spinning on the cheese wheel) "What a fun way to get around in the city… of cheese!"

Montage 22: "Cityscape Surprise: Food Everywhere!" Action: Dee Dee tries to take a selfie with a giant candy cane as if it were a famous monument. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (posing with the candy cane) "I just love the landmarks in this city! Say cheese… candy!"

Montage 23: "When Food Worlds Collide" Action: Dee Dee mistakenly believes a giant watermelon is a hot air balloon and tries to float away in it. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (holding onto the watermelon) "Up, up, and away in the city's fruity skies!"

Montage 24: "The Culinary Metropolis Mix-Up" Action: Dee Dee thinks a giant pancake is a trampoline and starts bouncing on it. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (bouncing on the pancake) "This trampoline is flippin' awesome!"

Montage 25: "Dee Dee's Foodie Folly" Action: Dee Dee uses a giant candy cane as a microphone, thinking it's for a citywide announcement. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (holding the candy cane) "Testing, testing! Attention, city residents, it's candy cane season!"

Montage 26: "A City of Flavor or Fiction?" Action: Dee Dee confuses a giant popcorn box for a city theater and sits inside. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (munching popcorn) "The city's theaters are incredibly crunchy and comfy!"

Montage 27: "Food Takes Over the Concrete Jungle" Action: Dee Dee mistakes a giant pickle for a flagpole and hoists a napkin as the flag. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (saluting the napkin flag) "Long live the city of pickles! Salty and proud!"

Montage 28: "Dee Dee's Urban Food Fantasy" Action: Dee Dee tries to paddle a giant pancake as if it's a boat on a city river. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (paddling with a pancake) "Row, row, row your pancake, gently down the syrup stream!"

Montage 29: "From Skyscrapers to Sushi: Dee Dee's Adventures" Action: Dee Dee believes a sushi conveyor belt is an airport baggage carousel and waits for his "luggage." Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (waiting for sushi) "I hope my suitcase arrives soon… and by suitcase, I mean sushi!"

Montage 30: "The Grand Foodie Finale" Action: Dee Dee gets confused by a giant waffle as a city map and starts planning his route. Dialogue Transcript: Dee Dee: (studying the waffle) "I'll take a left at the blueberry corner and then a right at the syrupy intersection. City navigation has never been so delicious!"

These are the final 11 montages with actions and dialogue transcripts, concluding Dee Dee's hilarious adventures as he continues to mistake the food world for the city. Enjoy the whimsical humor!

#oggy and the cockroaches #Dee Dee

0 notes