LILLIAN GISH in WAY DOWN EAST (1920) She is an expensive doll made of the best-quality porcelain. She, more than anyone, should have been painted by Ambrose McEvoy, for though she is an ethereal waif, there is great strength and firmness beneath her extreme fragility. She is a magnificent actress in spite of her frail delicacy, and we are amazed that this heavenly-looking wraith is made of flesh and blood and is capable of acting, and of great acting. - Cecil Beaton

Lillian Gish Promotional for Way Down East - Anna Moore

Lillian Gish in Way Down East (1920)

Lillian Gish in Way Down East (D.W. Griffith, 1920)

Cast: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Mrs. David Landau, Lowell Sherman, Burr McIntosh, George Neville, Edgar Nelson. Screenplay: Anthony Paul Kelly, based on a play by Lottie Blair Parker. Cinematography: G.W. Bitzer, Paul H. Allen, Charles Downs, Hendrik Sartov. Art direction: Clifford Pember, Charles O. Seessel. Film editing: James Smith, Rose Smith.

If Griffith's sententious title cards (e.g.,"Not by laws -- our Statutes are now overburdened by ignored laws -- but within the heart of man, the truth must bloom that his greatest happiness lies in his purity and constancy") don't have some viewers reaching for the remote, then the cornpone comic antics of his stereotypical rustics, such as the toothless constable (George Neville) and the hayseed Hi Holler (Edgar Nelson), certainly will. But stick with it to witness one of the greatest action sequences on film, Anna (Lillian Gish) adrift on the ice floe, as well as one of Gish's greatest moments as an actress, when she baptizes her dying baby. Yes, it's all hokum -- what do you expect from a melodrama more than a century old? But it's magnificent, enduring hokum, done brilliantly by a director who now seems more than just a pioneer but an artist of stature. And yes, that stature is tarnished by the man's racism in The Birth of a Nation (1915), but we don't have to endorse our artists to appreciate their artistry, and the great efficiency with which Griffith tells a story and keeps us on the edge of our seats -- even when we know that his sentimentality is antique and outworn -- is something to be appreciated. Credit, too, must go to G.W. Bitzer (known as Billy) and the other cinematographers (Paul H. Allen, Charles Downs, and Hendrik Sartov) who gave us images that seem well advanced beyond the years in which they were filmed. I do admit to some surprise that there are so many scenes in Way Down East that Griffith is content to film as if they were happening on a proscenium stage when one of his great contributions to the art of cinema is providing a fluidity and intimacy that are unavailable in the theater. Perhaps he was trying to do justice to his set designers, Clifford Pember and Charles O. Seessel, whose work is quite spectacular. But nothing before or since has quite equaled the ice floe sequence.

culture tips for writing asian settings: tea varieTEAs

atla's got major Tea Guy representation in iroh but let's be real, even non-tea guys are going to be drinking tea in an asian-inspired setting—you'd be served it instead of water most places. so, what kind of tea are you picking for them?

as an east asian reader, it can take me out of the setting to see the characters drink something like chamomile (from europe/west asia) or... most herbal teas, to be honest. ngl it was weird to see iroh in the show, characterised as a huuuuuuge tea snob, drink stuff like jasmine (it's fine it's just basic, is all! imo!) or like.... a random flower he encounters in the wild.

when we're talking tea, real asian tea, we're talking about the leaf of the camellia sinensis plant. the huge variety we have of tea is actually from the different ways of processing that exact same leaf. popular varieties include:

green: the leaf goes through minimal processing, can have a bright and even leafy/grassy flavour (examples: gunpowder, longjing aka dragon well, matcha, genmaicha)

white: also undergoes minimal processing, with a lighter flavour than even green (examples: silver needle, shou mei)

oolong: the leaf is semi-oxidised, curled, and twisted—can be characterised by a tanniny flavour with a bright aftertaste. my personal favourite! (examples: da hong pao, tieguanyin, dong ding, alishan)

dark (black): note this isn't the same as black tea as we think of it in english. the leaf is fermented to produce an earthy tea with a flavour like petrichor (examples: pu'er)

all the teas listed in the "examples" are fairly credible teas that i think a real tea snob like iroh would drink.

ok, but what about...

"black tea" as we know it in the west—assam and ceylon etc? this variety is actually called "red tea" in chinese. we don't drink it with milk but to be honest, i've just... never really heard of anyone drinking chinese red tea? which is why i've kept it off the list. (there's lapsang souchong, but i associate that with bri'ish people...) anyone who does drink it, let me know! on the other hand something like assam/ceylon, while extremely delicious and also asian, is a product of british colonialism and is consumed with milk. i think if you wanted to massage some of the traditions & have chai-drinking indian-influenced characters, though, that's cool!

do you actually not drink herbal tea? we do... but a lot of it is considered medicinal. we've got stuff like herbal "cooling tea" with ingredients like sour plum, mesona, or crysanthemum; tea that warms you up like ginseng or ginger. the whole concept of hot/cold in chinese medicine though... that deserves another culture post

camellia leaf murdered my family & i have a grudge against it; what else can my blorbos drink? there'a some good, tasty stuff made of wheat, barley, buckwheat, even soybean. wouldn't be egregious for the characters to drink that!

is milk sacriligeous? a real tea snob would think so, but a lot of asians nowadays are chill about milk in tea—usually in western-influenced red tea. hong kong, thailand, india, taiwan, and malaysia (among others) have their own cultures of milk tea, which has even become a democratic rallying point.

what do you think of iroh inventing bubble tea? my main issue with it is it's anachronistic! it was invented in taiwan in the late 20th century, but atla's set in the equivalent of the mid-19th century... you could also make arguments about whether iroh's too snobby about tea to invent it LOL

there's soooo much more i can say about all this so: keep your eyes peeled! i'll talk about medicine & tea ceremony in the near future <3

disclaimer | more tips

ZoSan Week: 40 years old

When you are in desperate need of more 40 y/o ZoSan and you realise you have the power of art.

when ya wanna give blorbos new digs but ya don’t know a thing about fashion hhhh…

An weak for pleated fabrics smskkss …which lead to me wanting Narinder to have a robe + large cuffs silhouette

floppy sleeve holes lets gooo

Honestly there are so many ppl I know irl that I will never be able to look at the same again… If you can hear “11,500 children killed” “crushed and buried patients alive with bulldozers” if you can look at videos of children with their limbs amputated screaming and crying because there is no anesthesia and your response is still “free the hostages!” or “but Hamas!” or “Israel has the right to exist” then you simply do not see Arabs as people, you cannot look at brown children and be reminded of your own kids because you see them as Other, and whether subconsciously or not your perception of the Middle East is of an innately war-torn, inherently violent place, and you have conveniently and utterly failed to comprehend how much of that is due to Western savagery and puppeteering. Why do you think it’s in any way acceptable for the US to regularly bomb other countries, but it was considered a war crime to the utmost degree when they physically retaliated against us? Why do you think Hamas holding hostages is the height of brutality when Israel is publicly expressing glee over killing thousands upon thousands of Palestinian children? If you think any of these things, you do not think of Arabs as people, you think of them as Other, unworthy of the protections and freedoms you take for granted.

Just for fun I mapped the strawhats onto Brian David Gilbert's "Mortal Comfort" Ideal Cuddler Chart. I don't think i have them 100% right but i wanted to start the Discussion yk?

Here is my reasoning (sorta-ranked from most to least ideal according to BDG's criteria, though your personal preference may differ (as does mine)) :

MOST IDEAL STRAWHAT CUDDLER AWARD goes to Jinbe! He is big and soft and kind. I think he would be very good at it. He would take initiative to rub your back and have pleasant conversation, but he let you fall asleep if you wanted to.

Nami: Not a super adventurous cuddler, nor does she do it often. She WILL pickpocket you, so be ready for that. She's probably the closest to normal you're going to get.

Usopp: He needs to fidget with his hands and is happy to comb your hair or rub your back or massage your shoulders, but he's going to talk your ear off whether you like it or not, and he'll whine if you try to leave. Extremely clingy and needy in a cuddle, and his pockets are full of little gadgets and tools that are not super comfortable to lay against.

Luffy: Very enthusiastic but he will not sit still long enough, man is constantly adjusting or twitching. He's prone to squeeze too tight with the wrap-around rubber hugs, and if you aren't paying close attention he WILL put bugs and beetles on you. He's also the type to think it's funny to wipe boogers on you, or put his cold hands up your shirt. If your arm or leg fall asleep he's not gonna move for you, he's gonna think it's funny.

Chopper: He hasn't had enough practice yet, he mostly just wants to be held. Very enthusiastic though. Constantly making sure you're comfortable, to the point where it's distracting/a little annoying.

Brook: Bones are not extremely comfortable, but he is able to summon a cool/chilling wind so the temperature control will be ideal, and he's very polite and gentlemanly when he's not trying to see your underwear. As long as you stack some pillows around him to actually lean against, you're golden.

Robin: She will be up to some freak shit with her devil fruit I know it. Being cuddled by a dozen hands may sound very nice but she will turn them against you, either to tickle you right when you're falling asleep or grab your ankle and let you think it was a monster under the bed. She WILL be up to mischief.

Sanji: Also constantly making sure you're comfortable, much more than necessary, and will dote on you WAY too much while you're trying to sleep. He'll keep getting up to grab water or a snack or another blanket or something and won't just settle into the cuddle unless you make him. Also he is likely to either catch on fire or start violently bleeding from his nose depending on the circumstances.

Zoro: Very open to the idea of cuddling but not an active participant; he just falls asleep. He is essentially a very hard body pillow. (If he WAS actively participating he may match where Robin or Luffy is instead.)

Franky: Not a single part of his body is comfortable or free of hidden guns, but he will damn sure try his best!! He will also try and hold conversation and compliment you, but much too loudly. The enthusiasm is there, but...man he's struggling everywhere else.

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! It’s messy but. Ehh. I was just having a fun time.

EEEEEEvery so often Gaster gets a surge of confidence for this sort of thing. What’s he saying to her? Something lovey-dovey, obviously! You decide~

Here’s a couple alternate versions: no glasses, and one from before I remembered Gaster’s scar + Asteri’s wings:

sometimes i get very passionate about my job and how important it can be to give an accurate history of a moment in american history that's frequently referenced but which the general public in america has a lot of misconceptions about

and other times i spend an unproductive day trying to explain outdated tax law to a child who isn't equipped to understand, but who is very intent on asking "why?" repeatedly and i think maybe i understand why this protest specifically gets misrepresented and glossed over in schools.

Lillian Gish as Anna Moore in DW Griffith's ''Way Down East'' promotional photo

did u know

Thinking about Celegorm avenging Aredhel on Luthien got me thinking about… oh gosh. Somebody had a headcanon about Galadriel interacting with Aredhel. Them writing letters after Aredhel's marriage? Something like that. Sorry, I've forgotten who wrote it and most of the content. But it was interest to me, because...

At least to me, the Aredhel Situation only really works if nobody knows she's there. I mean. She's the daughter of the high king of the Noldor. The abduction/seduction only works in the first place because she vanished into Gondolin, and the people outside Gondolin don't know she's missing. I think this is why I don't think Turgon sent letters to his family on the outside until he shows up for the Union. If he was in touch with his dad, he would tell Fingolfin that Aredhel had gone missing, and approximately where-ish, and Fingolfin and Fingon and Aredhel's cousins would be posting rewards for information and organizing search parties. Fingon went into Angband for a cousin he was angry at, I'm pretty sure he'd spend at least a decade scouring the mountains of terror and surrounding territory for his little sister. I'm not sure they would have found her, but everybody would have raised too much of a ruckus for anyone associated with Eol to claim plausible deniability. (And abduction by an elf wouldn't have been on the list of possibilities! Realistically, the worries are that she's dead or that she's become Maedhros 2.0. And 'death' is only the first concern because Morgoth hasn't tried to ransom her.)

But see, the whole situation is extremely politically volatile and embarrassing, especially to Doriath. This isn't just a marriage scandal. This is, functionally, the same thing Celegorm did to Luthien. And this predates the Luthien Incident, so Doriath can't just throw this back on the Noldor. This is Doriath losing the moral high ground. This is Thingol's Family Wronging Finwe's Family in an extremely intimate way.

So if Eol tells Thingol, or lets Aredhel write to Galadriel... that puts everyone involved in a sticky situation. Now, I do not like Thingol, and I do not think highly of his politics, and I don't think he's altruistic at all. But I also don't think he'd be comfy with letting one of his kinsmen abduct the only daughter of the king of the people who are guarding his borders. The Noldor are his first defense against Morgoth, even if Melian is the more certain defense. At this point in the timeline he is still somewhat playing nice. He has no reason to think the situation will stay secret, and he only looks worse if he doesn't get in front of the issue. (And even if he's willing to do nothing, I feel like Melian would Take An Interest. Either way, that's not a scandal they can afford to go unmanaged if they want to keep the moral high ground.)

And if Galadriel knows.... very sincerely I think the situation becomes even more of a ticking political time bomb. Galadriel likes learning from Melian, and Doriath is safe, and the Iathrim haven't crossed her moral bottom line the way the kinslaying Noldor have. That last item? The moral bottom line? I'm pretty sure that goes violently out the window if a relative of Thingol's (and therefore presumably of Galadriel herself) has trapped her cousin in a questionable marriage and won't let her see or even write to her family. I'm not sure how that would shake out, but if Melian didn't respond to close door talks I can see her going nuclear and sending all the details to at least Finrod, and possibly Fingolfin.

Just. Politically, this is a powder keg, and if the full story was known outside Gondolin, then there are several political actors ( Fingolfin, Maedhros, possibly even Finrod if he's convinced it's for the greater good) who would use it to wring concessions out of Doriath, or as an excuse to cut any political obligations they had to Thingol. "Your cousin abducted and then murdered my daughter right under your nose" is a smaller scale than Alqualonde, but it's made powerful by the intimacy of the connections and by all the players being known in Beleriand.

what stuff can't you forgive batman beyond for? :o

Ugh OK. Disclaimer that none of these things make Batman Beyond bad. None of this is bad writing. I just don't like it. It's fine, actually, I just hate it.

I know Batman Beyond had to justify its existence somehow and answer the question "why is the ONLY PERSON who could become Batman a random teenager off the street?". There had to be some sort of reason why Bruce was completely isolated from Dick, Tim, and Barbara, and why Dick or Tim wasn't Batman.

The ways in which it got rid of them though!! Dick's like 60 and he hates Bruce and never speaks to him! Barbara's a cop, which she would never do, who had a thing with Bruce. Superman's infected by Starro so all of his friends at the League are out. And freaking Return of the Joker, oh my god. Putting aside the fucking sadness of Tim also never speaking to his dad and living an entire life pretending Batman and Robin never happened. COME ON. I really didn't like the "Terry is Bruce's secret kid" thing either, but that's less of a moral and more of a personal stance.

Sometimes a work is the most influential work in your writing completely against your will and without your permission. Return of the Joker traumatized me as a kid, and for some reason although I hate it SO FUCKING MUCH, it's permeated a lot of what I write with Tim. His death in the Reverse Robins thing was directly what happened in ROTJ, except he killed himself instead of the Joker. And I never even get into much detail on Tim's death there because it makes me sad.

Batman Beyond, you did not stop to consider those of you who were watching every DCAU cartoon sequentially, and who had come fresh off watching the most adorable small child run around doing Robin things in the final season of BTAS. You did not stop to wonder if he was a baby only a week before in my own mind. And now this.

DCAU!Batman had always been a lighthearted, kind person who had a robust support network. He had shipteasing. With Wonder Woman. It was really sad to see every good thing in his life stripped away and turn him withered, bitter, and old. Showing Batman in that light isn't bad in and of itself, but I was attached to this guy :c. Why hadn't they just set up another continuity where these characters didn't exist so they didn't have to worry about depressingly shoving them aside?

Oh, and. Just kidding. I can forgive them for all of this. I hate it, but it's fine. What I actually cannot forgive them for is for fucking Bruce and Barbara having an affair. Oh my god. Oh my god. Bad. So bad.