#I would love a line for line shot for shot adaptation but isn’t that what everyone wants

[colleendoran]

The Secret Language of a Page of Chivalry: The Pre-Raphaelite Connection

Adapting Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry is a decades-long dream fulfilled. The story as text can be enjoyed on multiple levels, and so can the art. You look at the pages and see the pretty pictures, but the pictures also have meta-textual meaning. Knowing this secret language adds to the experience.

Some people pick up the references quickly, but I’ll share with you some more of what’s going on under the surface.

In Ye Olden Days of Art Making, most painters made pictures that contained visual narrative cues. Flowers in a picture might be heraldic signs that signaled political affiliations, or could indicate purity, anger, or love. Purple was the color of kings. A dog in a picture might represent faithfulness, and butterflies could represent the soul.

There are Pre-Raphaelite paintings with so many symbols and ideas in them that you need a deep working knowledge of Victorian and Edwardian social mores to understand what’s going on.

For example, Ford Madox Brown’s Work, a painting which took some 13 years to complete, was first exhibited in 1865 with a catalogue explaining all its symbols and elements. There is nothing in that picture that doesn’t mean something.

I brought some of that visual meta-textual sensibility to Chivalry, (and I’ve written about the symbolism and meanings in the work in other essays.)

I also brought into the work direct Pre-Raphaelite art references.

From 1868-1870, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones created four paintings illuminating the tale of Pygmalion and Galatea, entitled Pygmalion and the Image, and wrote a poem with each line titling one painting:

The heart desires

The hand refrains

The godhead fires

The soul attains.

A perfect little poem for Chivalry, and I think of it often when some people present me with what I think is a very strange question: why didn’t Galaad just take the Holy Grail from Mrs. Whitaker?

It kind of breaks my heart that people would even ask that.

Burne-Jones painted two versions of this series of which this is the second.

In the first panel of this page, Sir Galaad kneeling before the Grail is derived from the figure of Pygmalion kneeling before Galatea: The Soul Attains.

Sir Galaad’s restraint even in the face of his greatest desire makes him worthy of his prize.

There are two Pre-Raphalite references in this page, the most obvious being in panel 2: it’s Sir John Everett Millais’s 1857 work A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford.

The painting was very poorly received on first exhibition, compelling Millais to redo significant portions of it. It was caricatured and ridiculed, and then ended up becoming influential and popular, and isn’t that the way it goes.

That’s an art career in a nutshell, really.

The Sir Isumbras image also influenced John Tenniel’s illustrations for the Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland novels.

Sir Isumbras derives from a 13th century Medieval romance poem about a good knight whose pride causes him to fail in his Christian duty. He is presented with a series of difficult challenges before he can find happiness again, reunite with his family, and be forgiven his sins. The painting by Millais is based less explicitly on the poem than it is on a later parody of the poem. (It’s complicated.)

My using Sir Isumbras as the base for the shot of Galaad with the children is obvious here. In the Millais painting, Sir Isumbras carries a woodcutter’s children across the ford. In Chivalry, Sir Galaad carries the children of Mrs. Whitaker’s neighborhood down the street.

While Sir Isumbras spent many years learning humility and Christian duty, Galaad has a long quest to fulfill before he can achieve his goal. And on the way to that goal, he’s humble and nice to children, too.

That the Millais painting was such a huge influence on many a depiction of knighthood over the years made it a perfect reference point here, and the story behind both the painting and the poem give it further layers of meaning.

The next panel has a far less obvious reference, but the source is Arthur Hughes’s painting The Rescue.

Arthur Hughes is one of the lesser-known Pre-Raphaelites, but his art is widely seen and influential. He’s certainly been a big influence on me, as many of his paintings appear again and again in Arthuriana references, as he was a prolific King Arthur picture tale teller.

The Rescue (1907-1908) was originally part of a diptych which was separated and sold back in the 1920’s. His style was becoming unpopular by the time Hughes painted the work, and little is known about this work except that one panel was in the collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber at some point. Maybe still is. Dunno.

Anyway, the diptych depicts a little child kneeling in prayer menaced by a dragon in one panel, and in the next, safely trotting away with a knight on horseback. I like that this is a diptych, a kind of proto-comic art form common in medieval religious art, so this was perfect to use here.

Another reference to Arthur Hughes is in this double page splash from later in the book as Galaad on his quest encounters the Hesperides.

I didn’t set out to reference this Arthur Hughes piece at first, but it’s one of my favorite paintings. When I realized my sketches for this scene kept echoing the Hughes composition, I went with it. The Hughes painting of Galahad is one of the most famous depictions of the character, so it makes me happy to have this referenced in Chivalry.

Kindly ask for CHIVALRY, published by Dark Horse Comics in the USA and by Headline Books in the UK at your local comic shops or bookstore. Written by Neil Gaiman. Adaptation and art by me.

For further reading on this project, go HERE.

HERE.

And HERE.

Thank you to my Patreon patrons for sponsoring my work and this post.

Colleen Doran Illustrates Neil Gaiman will be a solo exhibit at the Society of Illustrators in New York City this spring. Watch this space for updates.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

#neil gaiman #dark horse comics #king arthur #Sir Galahad #Comics #graphic novel #fantasy graphic novel #watercolor #pre raphaelite #pre raphaelism

[llamagoddessofficial]

I hope I'm not unwelcome here, I was wondering. How do you think the boys would react to a siren MC that was another variety of deep sea siren~? I've been writing a fic with the reader as a deep sea eel siren and it's on my mind since I adore your siren au thoughts!

Ohoooooo

I fuckin love the concept of a gorgeous, dangerous eel Mc. Sleek and dark and powerful. I feel like a deep sea Mc would be bigger than her pelagic counterpart... much closer to the skeletons in size. Not to mention, she’d have some other unique traits, like heightened senses and bioluminescence. 

Sans: She is, for once, something he isn’t used to seeing on his usual menu. Orca are surface dwellers. She’s a curiosity; he adores curiosities. Especially pretty ones. He’s cautious, because she’s clearly a predator, he works slowly... stalking her from a distance, then approaching fast and ducking away at the last second, baiting her into lashing out so he can see how her attacks work. It doesn’t take him long to figure out what her deal is. He’s enamoured with this beautiful, fierce novelty from the deep.

Sans frightens her. He didn’t, at first; he looked like a puny version of the much bigger, much toothier whales who occasionally make the long journey to her depths. But then he started moving- and she realised his danger wasn’t his body, it was his adaptability. He could kill her if he wanted to.

And yet... there’s something about his intelligence. Something about his powerful form as he swims. Something about his unreadable calm, soft smile around her, razor sharp eyelights taking in every detail... she can’t help it, she’s drawn to him. 

Red: ... C’mon. We know this dance by now. She’s big, she’s beautiful, she’s strong- not only that, but she’s mysterious and elegant, a dangerous predator from the depths all decorated in glittering lights. It’s like he’s at a cocktail party and a 6ft buff woman just walked in, wearing a black velvet dress and diamonds- he’s shootin his shot, and nothing will stop him. He likes his ladies capable of killing him. He makes a couple stupid eel-related pickup lines (“girl, are you a coral-dwelling eel? cus you’re my a-moray.” “I’m a conger, not a m- wait,”) and her baffled flustered reactions just cement his growing interest.

Red is... a lot. Not necessarily in a bad way. He keeps shocking her by making her laugh (“gulper? jeez, i hardly know her.”) and she likes the company and conversation. Deep sea sirens don’t tend to do the whole ‘group’ thing, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get lonely, down there in the endless night. 

She also likes the patterns on his body- you don’t see many pretty markings when you live in near pitch-black. He likes when she can’t help but touch them.

Skull: Finally. Finally. Another creature from the deep, another siren like him, who understands his mannerisms and his way of life. A siren who’ll see him as kin, who won’t view him as some kind of strange, unknowable alien. Being around her makes him soft and giddy, he lights up his bioluminescence any chance he gets, he enjoys having that point of bonding with her (he’s smug the others don’t understand their secret language of lights). He gets the overwhelming sensation they were meant to be together... the abyss is so huge, so endless, and yet somehow they found one another? It can’t be chance. The stars aligned. He knows her smell now- he’ll follow her wherever she goes.

A deep sea Mc would definitely feel more comfortable around Skull than she does around the other two sirens. They’re so similar, and she’s much more used to monsters like him; big, dark, strong, slow. She’s still careful around him considering he’s the more frightening apex predator where they’re from- being familiar with something doesn’t make it any less dangerous. But when his tentacles flash and she flashes back, it feels like stumbling across someone who speaks your mother tongue in a land full of strangers.

#llamagines #siren sanses au #siren mc au #headcanon that her teeth look like moray eel teeth #cool and sharp and like glass #mc: Red... are you sure you want to date me...? I've got broken glass for teeth and I'm venomous #red: why would you ask if i'm sure i wanna date you. then list more reasons for me to want to date you

[derangederensimp]

Jujutsu Kaisen One Shot Kinktober

#12 Hate (Angry) Fucking / Exhibitism x Fem Reader

CW: Plot, Mean Dom Naoya, Hickeys, Biting, Pet Names, degradation, humiliation exhibitionism, Creampie. Naoya is his own warning. Yes yes the relationship isn’t healthy. This will probably be adapted into a mini series 🧍‍♀️.

Art at the end belongs to @nanichi0 🖤 show some love to their twitter.

-

“Oh wife, do you really hate me that much? How pathetic you are to crumble at my feet every night beg for more. What is it woman? Do you hate me or do you just like it when I toss you around?”

Naoya said, holding your cheeks in his hand, squeezing your face gently. The tears welling up in your eyes made him chuckle. “I-I do hate you. I wish I never married you” you spat at him. Your words seemingly did not affect him but inside a flame was burning in him. One that desired your love and devotion dearly. “Ah as if you had a choice really with all your family debt, I picked you and you became mine and you will be mine till the day you die”

What even got you into this mess was your shitty attitude, if you would’ve been the picture perfect wife Naobito told you to act like, Naoya wouldn’t have had to pull you aside into a different room. Naobito was worse than Naoya and believe it or not he loved you no matter how sexist and misogynistic he acted.

To him you were like fresh air, someone he could act himself around but he often found himself cowering away like a child afraid of your reaction, afraid he father would hear him and take his title away for not being what a “man should be”

You heard of the Zen’in clan and wished you’d never cross them but your family left you in such a predicament that you had gone to estate where a line of women stood. Naoya came out with Naobito and looked over each and everyone of you, his eye immediately catching you. He tried to act interested in the women Naobito complimented and discussed but he stared at you the entire time, your eyes never left his glare not backing down to his dominance.

From then on he knew you would be the one. “Father enough of this, I want her” He said standing in front of you. Your eyes grew wide and your heart sank, you should’ve been excited right? You thought to yourself, “debt would be paid off” you said but the thoughts lingering in your mind the rumors of how horrible Zen’in men treated their wives you wondered if being alone and having no place to go was more worth it than this.

But something was different, Naoya once alone would hold your hand intently. A soft smile on his face but as soon as the door creaked to open he let go, his face falling back into a straight face. You noticed this happened quite often as later that night instead of consummating your marriage he just held you in his arms asking questions about you to try and get to know the women he was spending the rest of his life with.

The next few months went well as well as you assumed it would go. He was always so gentle but at times when you’d beg him to be rough he would be. He wasn’t concerned about getting you pregnant as he wanted to spend time with you just as his wife. But one day this stopped, he became cold, distant, and told you that his father wasn’t happy with how things have been going and he’d find him a more obedient wife.

“Is that what you want” you asked. “As if I have a say in what I want. Just do what you're supposed to wife” Naoya seethed. Weeks passing you got annoyed with his on and off affection so you became distant but despite that you always found your way back into his grip.

“Hey, i'm talking to you” Naoya said again, letting go of your cheeks slightly to pull you back to reality. “I hate you” you said again looking at him.

The flame in his stomach exploded, he stepped closer to you. His hands resting on the side of your face he pulled you into a kiss. Your anger only slightly dying on his tongue. Your arms were the first to wraps around his neck continuing the kiss. A smirk growing on Naoya’s face knowing he had you right where he wanted. Pulling his head away a string of saliva still remained before he wiped it away. “Thought you hated me hmm? Then why is it that you are pulling me in for me?”

Naoya said, lifting you up and placing you on the desk. Being in his arms like that again made the heat between your legs swell. A gasp leaving your lips when he reached under your dress and yanked off your damped panties. “I’m taking these” he cooed into your ear shoving them into his pocket. “Now will you be a good girl and behave for me?” Naoya asked, placing his thumb in your chin and making you look at him.

“No” you taunted him, a smirk growing across your lips. Pulling you back into a kiss you kept mumbling how much you hated him which only made him keep kissing you, hoping his tongue would silence you. Taking his mouth off yours he slipped his fingers between your cunt “Hate me so much yet your cunt is so wet for me y/n? Seems a bit conflicting no? Want me to stop?”

“N-no” you said, your face growing red. Turning away from his gaze. Pulling your face back to look at him “So you can be obedient when you wanna” Naoya cooed into your ear, putting his thumb against your clit and circling it. His other hand freed your breasts from untying the front of your dress. Taking one into his hand playing with your nipple pinching at it to gain a whine from you.

Obedient the word pissing you off more and more each time he said it but not wanting the pleasure to end you just ignored it the best you could, you count be mad at him later. “And you can stop being a prick when you want to” you said. “Me a prick? Would a prick make you cum whenever you wanted?”

Removing his fingers, your body was angry from the sudden pause as you glared at him.

“Awe look how angry you look” he said. Just as you were about to speak up he lifted you into his arms, your legs instinctively wrapped around his waist “not ganna drop you” he cooed into your ear before biting at your neck and leaving hickeys behind, he liked the way you’d moan out softly each time he’d cause you a bit of pain.

“I bet you I’ll make you scream out my name. Everyone out there will know how well we get along huh y/n”

You felt the tip of his cock at your entrance, twitching against your lips. He lowered you slowly at first before slamming you against his body. A loud groan coming from him as you bit your lip to try and hold in your sounds. Naoya looked at you with hooded eyes, continuously fucking himself into you from below.

Your cunt telling him how good he felt by how you squeezed him so tightly. “S-shit. So tight. I could stay like this all night” He said between breaths.

He was eager to get you to scream his name, holding your back with one arm leaning you back and his thumb found your clit again rubbing circles. A dragged out moan came from your throat, his cock splitting you in two going deeper and deeper from the changed angle.

“A-ah Fuck-k I hate you N-naoya” you said, screaming out his name as your nails dug into his back.

He hissed from the pain but it burned into pleasure as your cunt clenched around his cock so beautifully. He huffed out air, keeping his pace he hit your g-spot making your walls spasm around him. “There you go y/n. Cum on my dick”. Your body responding to his command. Your thighs twitched as you bit down on his collarbone leaving a mark behind when you let go.

Naoya taking it to be a sign to be tougher with you and finish. Walking over to the desk he laid you down onto it, grabbing your legs and forcing them to hit your chest. You wheezed out air your eyes wide as you stared at him. “N-Naoya” you moaned when your cunt felt empty before he shoved himself back in with one quick hard thrust. Fucking himself into you faster and faster your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you reached closer to your second orgasm. Throwing his head back his nails dug into your thighs “Feels so good. you did this on purpose. You just wanted me to fuck you didn’t you?” He said in between breaths.

“You could never really hate me” he grunted. His hand reaching up to grab your hand and intertwined his fingers with yours. “I-I do” you moaned. His hips rutting against yours a few more times before he quickly spoke “gotta cum. Inside. Ok?”

The wind was being knocked out of you but you were able to groan out “yes”. Your orgasm taking over your cunt squeezed his cock one finale time making hot ropes of cum full you up. He rested his head on your forehead as he caught his breath.

Pulling out he cleaned himself up with your panties, wiping the cum leaking out of your cunt before shoving them back into his pocket. “Now come on, we have to get back to the banquet. You better behave” Naoya said, winking at you. Once you got your dress fixed he took your hand into his and headed for the door. Pushing it open, a crowd of people dispersing in opposite directions.

Naoya chuckled to himself as you looked to the ground with embarrassment.

Can we talk about how amazing @nanichi0 draws Naoya?!? He looks so fucking good 😩

-

Don’t forget to leave a note! Or a comment 🖤

Kinktober Masterlist

Taglist: @yellooaaa , @immindingmyown , @dovas-world , @coffee-on-a-rainyautumn , @ilovestevelacy2228 , @nothisispatrick300 , @chrrybl0ss0m

#jujutsu kaisen smut #jjk smut #naoya zen’in smut #naoya x reader #Naoya Zen’in x Reader smut #kinktober #derangederensimp #Naoya Zen’in 18+ #Naoya Zen’in x Fem reader #Naoya is his own warning #Naoya Zen’in fic 18+

[obligitory-fma-blog]

I watched the second fma Netflix adaptation. Here’s the best of my notes:

They had the whole fma original soundtrack to use for this movie and tHEY DIDNT??

Purification arts of Xing?? Just call it Alcehestry like they do in the show?? (No I didn’t spell it right I was noting stuff as I went and didn’t look it up)

Okay the weird pause before Lan Fan pulled out the smoke bomb…

ITS AN ACTUAL BOMB?????

Lots of weird pauses and slow-mo’s to mimic anime fights but it reads weird as live action and I don’t like it

HUGHES THANK FUCK PLEASE MAKE THIS LESS WEIRD

Wtf never mind hi envy with your shit ass wig (I forgot they killed off Hughes in the first one 😭😭)

LAN FAN BODIED HIM LMAO

Ed really be like “you do you ig”

“Yeah people exploding today!” Is my favorite line so far. (English Captions with Japanese audio; this was the train hijacker guy from fma 03)

Ed’s expression when Mustang shows up is the most in character thing I will say that (after train stuff)

I will say they did better on characterization this time around I feel like they’re close to the actual characters

But it’s hard to get close to them since they aren’t, well, animated characters. Trying not to judge too harshly.

Not terrible so far actually

Okay nevermind about the cgi WHAT IS WITH XIAOMEI

“I mean, we’re just some decent human beings.” -Ed who wanted to leave Mei behind

GO OFF MEI YEAHHHH TELL HIM THE BITCH

Okay we’re gonna have a really awkward explosion-over-short moment that just will not work because it isn’t animated

GIRLIE ARE YOU HAVING A SEIZURE

Mei being a bitch back is warranted

They be running

“You’ll never catch me, tiny rice man!” -Mei (rice man?)

The dialogue being altered where Ed says he doesn’t have a god to pray to before scar kills him bothers me

I like Alphonse’s movements on the ground when he’s incapacitated, I think the cgi works well there

Hi Mustang good on you for saving your pseudo sons

Riza with the side eye lmao

The slowmo’s again like hello

ARMSTRONG HIIIII You look really fuckin weird tho But HIIIIII

Okay the flexing I can do without thanks it looks weird

Yes Breda why is he shirtless

The red eyes don’t look good either. (For scar)

N ow see why wouldn’t you put in a leitmotif for the brothers theme in this scene with Ed and Al and instead just put in sad piano that sounds vaguely similar to it

WHERES THE LINE ABOUT THEM BEING BROKEN BUT ALIVE WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THAT

Riza being the best and putting her coat over Ed >>>>

Mustang go comfort your son’s PLEASE

Okay just ignore that I’m on the found family train

Girlie that looked like a bad PowerPoint presentation WHY WOULD YOU DO IT LIKE THAT?? (The part where the officer shot the ishvallen child)

Gluttony… hi… again…. Can’t wait for your cgi…. (It didn’t look as bad tbh)

Sorry but with the military uniform off and just the white collared shirt he looks LIKE A DAD LIKE CMON (Mustang)

“You’ve grown… at least I think.” -Hoenhiem, observational genius

“I think I like this scene better than canon a bit actually? Cause Ed gets to express his emotions more than just calling him a bastard

Okay Hoenhiem just ignore him??

Uh oh they have to walk back together

“Our hair matches :D” -Hoenhiem

Ed immediately takes his out of the ponytail

Im not gonna lie I chuckled at that

Also I love seeing Ed with his hair down we don’t get enough of that

“stop following me” -Ed

“we’re going to the same place? 😥” -Hoenhiem

Okay we’re talking about Xerxes instead of Ed and Al’s mom or…?

And the bitch is gone

YOURE GOING TO XERXES WITH AUTOMAIL YOU DUMBASS YOURE GONNA OVERHEAT

Ooooo love the look of Xerxes ruins

Awwww Winry’s parents :D we get more of them

They’re gonna die tho and I hate that :(

This is gonna be so hard wrenching actually-

GIRL IM GONNA CRY

5 minutes into Central and you’re already causing trouble, good job Ed

Al I feel like has the weakest characterization so far in this adaptation he’s just reacting to stuff rather than doing stuff as far as I’ve seen

Scar when Winry is having a breakdown🧍

Ruhroh Winry’s got a gun

Okay the slowmo makes more sense here

Ed saves the day :D

Also we finally see scars brother after getting no context on him

Good acting on Lan Fan’s part

Also why is this calling her Ran Fan? Is that a dub thing (they called Ling “Lin” but this was all in the captions so I’m confused)

“King Bradley is a Homonculus” very serious Ling “hUh.” -Ed

Any Mustang and Hughes content is good Mustang and Hughes content I don’t make the rules

Also it’s good they didn’t change the layout of Riza’s explanation montage for Ishval because it works really well in canon and translated pretty well to live action

Riza and Roy’s speeches near the end >>>

Oh great the bros are gonna try and catch scar alone this can only end well

Well they definitely didn’t catch him

WINRY HOW TF ARE YOU HERE??

MUSTANG WHY TF ARE YOU HERE???

Oh hi Riza :D

Mustang’s like “let ur gf speak to him if she wants like damn”

Ed’s like “bb girl if he says anything shitty I’ll fight for you”

WINRY GIRLBOSS LUV HER

“Hell no I don’t forgive you for shit, but I’m gonna patch you up anyway.” -Winry

Okay cool message, someone must endure pain if it means they can prevent further suffering and cycles of violence

Uh oh Gluttony escaped

He be runnin

YEAH ED AND AL SAVE UR DAD

YEAH SCAR SAVE WINRY

YEAHHHHHH

“Wait I won’t leave you behind” MUSTANG BEING A DAD AHEGWIWNWN

“Colonel your fight is elsewhere” SCREAMING

Oh hi envy

ED SAVINF LING

and they got eaten lmao

Yay we’re all trapped in Gluttony’s stomach :D

Envy is so cynical what a bitch lol

“Tf is a portal of truth 🧍” -Ling

Oh great we’re gonna get cgi envy this will go well right?

EW

Could be worse but

EW

Conclusion: it was okay. There were parts I genuinely liked. There are things that also bug me to no end. The soundtrack from the original series would’ve fit way better and a lot of times it sounded like an off brand marvel track. Acting and cgi was a lot better (at times.) An improvement on the first one, and a semi-worthwhile watch if you have nothing else to do and you like fma. Cannot and will never be a substitute for the original obviously. Seems like less of a cash grab and more of a genuine effort this time which I appreciate. Overall? 6.5/10

(Lemme know if y’all want my full notes version because it has way more of me screaming and being goofy)

#fma blog #fmab #fma #fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #fullmetal #fma brotherhood #ed elric #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #netflix adaptation #netflix #fma netflix #me reacting to stuff #Roy Mustang #parental roy mustang #parental!royed #riza hawkeye #parental riza #alphonse elric #fma alphonse #alphonse elric fmab

[carriagelamp]

Man I got lucky this month, I got to read a bunch of excellent books, including some really neat queer novels. Nothing like a break to really get to kick back and enjoy reading for the sheer pleasure of reading rather than a desperate escape

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua v1

Unsurprising to absolutely anyone who’s been reading these, I picked up the first book of the manhua adaptation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It covers the first part of the first book, which basically amounts of Wei Wuxian’s revival and his flight from Mo Manor to the mountain and the Night Hunt. Besides for WWX, we get to meet Lan Wanji, the juniors, and Jiang Cheng, all of which have great designs. Like the rest of this series, it was a pleasure to read, the adaptation was done really well, and I’m excited for the next volume.

The Ice Monster

This book was very… meh. I was pretty disappointed, because I’ve really enjoyed the other two books I’ve read by David Walliams so far, and this was probably the one I was most excited about, but it was… incredibly middling compared to the others.

The Ice Monster is about a Victorian orphan, Elsie, who escapes from the brutal orphanage she had been raised in and was making her way on the streets. During this time, a great mammoth that had been found in the Arctic was being transported to the museum for display. Elsie feels a kinship for this “monster” and begins a series of events that lead to it being freed from the ice and set loose in London.

There were good moments in this book and I’m sure a kid would enjoy it, but ultimately it felt like way too many fart jokes and not enough substance compared to Walliams’ other books.

I Think Our Son Is Gay v2

A very sweet manga series I’ve been reading from the library. It follows the POV of a mother who suspects that her son is gay but who isn’t quite ready to come out yet. It’s a nice balance of humour — the art is cute and the characters have fun reactions to various silly things that happen in their lives — and love while still asking what it must be like to be gay in a homophobic society. A good read.

Legends & Lattes

SUCH a fun novel, it was exactly what I needed this month.

The story is about an orc mercenary called Viv who, after 20 years of fighting and killing, has had enough and is ready to settle down. Using the mysterious reward from her last adventure, Viv leaves her old company to find what she hopes will be the perfect city to open a coffee shop. Which is a daunting task in a part of the world that has never ever heard of coffee before and is suitably leery of this “bean water”.

If you want an action-packed, edge of your seat adventure book… don’t read this. This is the epitome of “cosy” fiction — its tag line is “high fantasy and low stakes”. If you want a dnd coffee au in novel form that’s about friendship and food… then this is THE perfect novel. It made me feel so warm and happy (and hungry).

Lucky Luke: The Oklahoma Land Rush // The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke is a BD series I’ve heard a lot about, and after seeing a couple episodes of it on Prime I decided I needed to actually pick up a volume or two. I’m delighted I did and I think I’ll need to read more now! 

The general premise is that of a western. The titular character, Lucky Luke, is a clever and nearly unflappable gun-slinger who can “shoot faster than his shadow”. Luke gets into a range of silly, comedic Wild West adventures and inevitably comes out on top for the sake of justice. Naturally, the genre being what it is, the whole First Nations thing is… rough, but the books were enjoyable if you can look past that.

The first book I read was The Oklahoma Land Rush which is fairly indicative of the series I believe and is about Luke being hired to help police the desperate rush of settlers to claim land in Oklahoma. The second was The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke which was written by Matthieu Bonhomme instead of Morris and is a slightly grittier, more serious take on Luke. I enjoyed this one just as much — it still managed to be funny, but the stakes felt much higher. And the art was just stunning.

The Night Gardener

A fun, creepy middle grade horror. A story about two young Irish immigrants trying their best to survive in the absence of their parents. In a last desperate attempt to get work they find themselves way out at a desolate, crumbling English manor that has been almost completely consumed by a strange tree. The family there is as desolate and strange as the grounds, pale and sickly and carrying a mysterious secret. The siblings realise just how strange and dangerous this estate might be as they’re drawn deeper into the secrets and begin to suspect that there’s something else living and working on the grounds…

I really like Jonathan Auxier's writing and I’ve been meaning to try this novel for years. I was glad to have finally done it.

Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis

Just a cute little picture book. Pop Classics does some fun work and the art style really worked for Doctor Who. It’s about a little girl who has moved and is struggling with needing to make whole new friends in a place she doesn’t know. The themes of loneliness and goodbyes and needing to move on and make new friends was actually perfect to pair with Doctor Who; despite being quite simple and silly looking, it actually made me feel things for both the Doctor and the little girl.

Sandman v1/2

Everyone has been so hyped about The Sandman! I’ve been wanting to get in on it but I’m not very good at sitting down and watching shows so I thought I might try the original comics. Honestly I should have known better. I don’t really like this harsh style of American comics and if we’re being totally honest I don’t generally like Gaiman’s longer prose. This, unsurprisingly, combined two things I don’t like and ended up with a comic I didn’t like. Things only went down hill when fucking Batman appeared. It didn’t even really feel like it had the humour I would at least expect from Gaiman besides for a few brief glimmers. I appreciate that other people really like this series but oof. Not for me. 

The Secret Garden

I love The Secret Garden, it’s one of those comfort books that I need to reread every few years. I was listening to it as an audiobook this time and it was so lovely to see the first signs of spring appearing while listening to this story. If you want something feel good I highly recommend starting it because we are in the season for it.

If you’ve never read The Secret Garden, the premise is of a young, spoiled, but horrifically neglected child who was raised in British-occupied India. She is a bad-tempered, sour, and demanding child known to others as “Mistress Mary quite contrary”. When her parents die of a cholera outbreak she is sent back to England to live at her uncle’s manor on the Yorkshire moors. This relative is also distant and bitter, apparently hunchbacked and widowed. Once more alone, Mary is suddenly expected to do things for herself and isn’t given her every demand — instead she begins to befriend the cheerful, plain-spoken maid and starts spending time outside, exploring and playing for what feels like the first time in her life…   

Wallace & Gromit: Crackers in Space

I stumbled across this as an audiobook. After the fact I realised it’s also a comic. Oddly enough, the comic seemed profoundly bad — I’ve never really liked any of the Wallace and Gromit comics — but the audiobook version was a delight. It has the actual voice actor for Wallace, so it sounded completely like I had just put an episode on in the background that I had never watched before. They were also very clever about giving Gromit a “voice” despite him being a non-verbal character! It was actually a lot of fun!

Wallace decides to attempt making his own cheese out in the garden shed… only things go badly, as they’re wont to. Instead of making a lovely cheese, the whole thing ends up getting launched into the atmosphere because of a helium mishap… which might not be so bad if the zero gravity wasn’t making the Home Brew Cheese Kit kick into overdrive. They’re going to have to figure out how to deal with the massive, mutated cheese comet that’s now threatening all of West Wallaby Street. 

Wave Me Goodbye

An absolutely charming book, I didn’t want to put it down. This book takes place at the beginning of the Second World War, when children were being evacuated from London (which was at risk of bombing) and being sent out to live with volunteers in the country. Shirley is one of the children being sent out, but right from the beginning she finds herself struggling with feeling like the odd one out. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with her rough-and-tumble classmates, and when she does make a new friend on the train it’s clear that she doesn’t properly fit in with the posh covenant girls either. Things only get worse when she is one of the only children not picked to go with a family, and suddenly she and two other unwanted boys find themselves foisted on the unwilling inhabitants of the Red House. But in wartime, one has to make due, so she, Kevin, and Archie begin to explore this strange, half-empty house and get used to a very different way of life way out in the country.

Shirley is a huge reader in the book, and it actually made me pause reading to go and read some of the books she references! It was a lot of fun! Some of the books I read last month that Shirley reads are Ballet Shoes and The Squirrel, The Hare, and the Little Grey Rabbit. It’s also what made me decide to reread The Secret Garden, since they feel like similar genres.

When the Angels Left the Old Country

I read some great books this month and it would be hard to say for certain which was my favourite since they were in quite different genres, but this would be a strong contender. Holy shit was it good. The tl;dr is that it’s a bit like a Jewish Good Omens but also nothing like that at all.

The Angel (as angels don’t have permanent names, but rather names that describe what they are currently doing) and the demon Little Ash have been study partners for centuries, happily existing in their little Shtetl without feeling much need to change things. But things are changing and with the press of poverty and rise of violent anti-Semitic feelings many residents of the Shtetl are now leaving for America in the search of work and safety. Little Ash is determined that they should join these immigrants, and when a member of their Shtetl goes missing on her own voyage it seems inevitable that they go and track her down to ensure she is safe and well.

At its heart this is an immigrant story about people and prejudice and love, and it’s really written beautifully, the way you see all the hardship that goes into such a voyage even for supernatural beings.

#book review #book reviews #when the angels left the old country #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mdzs #wave me goodbye #wwii #wwii era #doctor who #wallace and gromit #aardman #secret garden #frances burnett #pop classics #the runaway tardis #the night gardener #jonathan auxier #legends and lattes #dnd #lucky luke #ice monster #david walliams #i think our son is gay #queer #queer lit #queer books #canadian literature #canlit

[lola-andheruniverse]

⭐Your Turn Sunday ⭐

Can I suggest An Ordinary Life by Lamport?

"She’s a wild thing, and Daryl’s always appreciated and respected wild things."

This is a beautiful and bittersweet Caryl one-shot with a heavy dose of Lydia. It takes place not long after the massacre at the end of S9. All three characters are living under Michonne's roof and are trying to adapt to life in Alexandria.

I grew attached to Daryl as a character when I realized he's a trier - someone who'd do anything to keep the people he cares about safe and well. S10 Daryl is the ultimate trier: he's incredibly patient, understanding, and emotionally intelligent. He's the "man of honor" personified in this fic and he's trying *so hard* to make things work. But he's not perfect and his job is made all the more difficult by the fact that both Carol and Lydia are so deeply traumatized.

For me, it's one of the best depictions of the Caryl + Lydia dynamic - every detail and every beat feels true to who they are. And I really love how Lydia is still pretty feral in this fic (I wish she'd retained more of that wildness in the show).

All in all, it's a stellar one-shot. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it already. And even if you have read it, go give it another read!

Thank you for letting me take up space in your inbox! And a big thank you for starting this fic project 💖

First of all, dear notalkingbusiness, you have no idea how happy you made me by sending this rec. It was the first thing I checked when I reached for my phone this morning. I was afraid no one would send a recommendation to kick-start the #your turn sunday tag. So thank you so much for participating, it means the world!

Secondly, WOW! Just wow! An Ordinary Life by @lamportb [ AO3 | 9Lives] is a beautiful, heartwarming and, yet, heartbreaking fic. It was a new story to me - and I don't think I've read anything written by Lamport before, so thanks for presenting me to a new caryl writer - and it's just so quiet, soft and real. I've felt almost like an intruder on Daryl's thoughts and feelings because he felt SO REAL. The way he tries (and you're so right, S10 Daryl's definitely the ultimate trier) and struggles to take care of Lydia and Carol to the very last line of the fic is so palpable that one cannot help but hope he succeeds even in the face of so many pain and grief. It's really, really beautifully written.

Summary: Daryl doesn’t have a hot clue about raising kids. He’s seen Michonne with Jude and RJ, even Aaron with Gracie, but Lydia isn’t really a kid, she’s seventeen, and he sure as shit knows nothing about being a dad to a teenage girl. Rating: T/ Teen Up and Audiences Word count: 2054 Published: November 11, 2019

What an incredible way to end our first week of caryl fics recs! I'm so happy right now, dear fellow caryler, that this little project is working out. I've already selected enough fics to recommend for another two months, but, again, this project is for all of us! So, please, if you want to recommend a fanfic to our tumblr community, just send me an ask or DM and I'll help you to share the love (you don't have to identify yourself, it can be an anonymous rec if makes you more comfortable). Thank you all so much for the support so far. And, again, thanks nottalkingbusiness for the incredible rec. Caryl on!

#caryl #caryl positivity #caryl fic rec #caryl on #caryl fanfiction #caryl fandom #your turn sunday #my fic recs #our fic recs

[canmom]

Animation Night 150: INU-OH

Hello everyone! Tonight we celebrate ✨Animation Night 150✨. I never imagined I would still be running without pause for that long. In a few weeks it will be our third anniversary. They still haven’t banned me!

Tonight our subject will be Masaaki Yuasa, one of the most brilliantly inventive directors in the whole medium. Yuasa was the very first director I wrote about on here on Animation Night 12, and once again on Animation Night 28, which between them gave a pretty good survey of his works - works such as Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Devilman Crybaby, Kaiba, and Night Is Short Walk On Girl to name a few favourites. However, since then he’s gone and released another movie! Inu-Oh spent a long time touring the festivals, and then a while longer going around cinemas. I wrote this at the time I saw it...

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, seriously you gotta - Masaaki Yuasa totally outdid himself, the choreography and flow if it is just incredible and the whole concept (a biwa hōshi and the cursed mutant son of a noh performer invent glam rock to tell the story of fallen Heike soldiers) is both so out there I struggle to imagine how they came up with it, and yet a perfect evolution of the themes Yuasa explored in his films so far.

So… I was completely spellbound the whole time, it’s one of those films that really rekindles the firey love for animation after days of drawing tiedowns lol. The ideas for movement, the creative shot choices, the solidity and weight of the animation, the visual motifs, the music behind the animation… gaahh you guys it’s such a good movie that ties together so well. So glad to finally get the chance to see it. And you can trust that the very minute it becomes available on blu-ray, or at least the very week, I’ll be screening it on Animation Night.

Well, that day has come! I’ve got the movie and I’m gonna show it to ya.

So what’s this all about?

Perhaps you remember when we watched Naoko Yamada’s brilliant adaptation of the Heike Monogatari. This is the story of how the Taira or Heike clan, who once effectively ruled Japan back in the artistic and peaceful Heian period (literally ‘peace period’!) of 794-1185, got too ambitious and were annihilated by their rival Minamoto clan in what would later be called the Genpei War, bringing an end to the period of peace, and putting the samurai and their shogunate in ascendance.

You don’t need to know much more than that to follow Inu-Oh, which is set in the years after the fall of the Heike. The story was transmitted forward through history by the biwa hōshi, blind biwa-playing itinerant monks who would go about singing stories.

However, Inu-Oh isn’t really about strict adherence to actual history, as you’ll see! The premise is essentially that a radical young biwa player Tomoaru, blinded as a child by an ill-fated attempt to fish up the sword Kusanagi, encounters the mutant son of a noh troupe, who is haunted by the ghosts of the Heike soldiers who perished in the war. The effect of this haunting is to give him a strange body with long, distended limbs; he takes on the name ‘Inu-oh’ meaning ‘King of Dogs’. Inu-oh’s father rejected him, leaving him an outcast, but in Tomoaru he finds another outcast who doesn’t give a shit how he looks.

Our two boys quickly become best bros and driven by the ghosts’ call to tell their stories, invent biwa-based glam rock, creating a sensation as they sing untold stories with elaborate, pyrotechnic-laden preformances of songs such as ‘Burial Mound of Arms’... but in so doing, fall afoul of the new shogunate, as Inu-Oh’s father cannot stand to gain a rival in his rejected son.

Inu-oh is full of some of the most inventive and charming animation of music performances I’ve ever seen. I struggle to imagine how they came up with the ideas that drive this film. It feels like it’s constantly in spellbinding motion. The rougher lines and more detailed designs are a departure from the Flash style that Yuasa’s later films mostly used, much more like the ones in Heike Monogatari, but the young international animators at Science Saru pull it off incredibly.

There’s been much discussion of how to interpret Inu-Oh. Is it about Yuasa himself and his weird career? Is it about the struggles of art in general? There’s a nice review of it over on fufuro; for now I will just say that it reminded me why I love animation. (Also it’s gay as hell. Y’know. Just putting that out there.)

Along side this, I’m going to be bringing back a Yuasa work that I feel like we gave an unfair shake back in the day - MInd Game, animated at Madhouse in 2004 at the very beginning of Yuasa’s rise. Known for its incredibly varied and experimental animation, Mind Game follows a man who fails to intervene against an attempted rape and dies, but after a brief meeting with God, drags himself back to life and begins a surreal journey as he flees from the yakuza. Much of the film takes place inside a whale, where they meet an old yakuza who has lived there for decades, following how the characters and their relationships evolve (which is to say they go fucking nuts) - before an absolutely batshit final sequence as they attempt to make their mistake.

Mind Game notally marks the beginning of the collaboration between Yuasa and the brilliant Shinya Ohira, who provided some of his warping, expressionist rough pencils. It’s got a lot of naked people being flung around, wild smears, bright colours. The simplified designs allow the animation to be all the more creative. It’s hard to find anything to compare it with, really! Mind Game doesn’t feel like a Madhouse work. It only somewhat resembles Yuasa’s later works. If anything it feels like something you’d find on Catsuka at 2am. 

So I think it’s about time I revisited it!

I’ve learned a great deal more about animation and its history since I wrote about Yuasa before, and later I’d like to write a more substantial account of his works. But right now, it’s about time we started! Animation Night 150(!) will be going live now at twitch.tv/canmom, with movies due to start in about 15 minutes - I’d love to see you there to see what is probably my favourite movie of 2022! (even though it strictly came out in 2021). see you soon~

#animation night #masaaki yuasa

[rings-of-power-realm]

10 star reviews about The Rings of Power 💚

The first season isn't even finished yet and already I have recommended this show to friends and family more than any previous media. Every episode so far (5 released) have surpassed my expectations, which were fairly high going in. As someone who has read all of Tolkien's published works (some more than I'd care to admit), anyone saying that "Tolkien is turning in his grave" has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. It was always going to be walking a thin line between creative choices and already established canon, but I can see, so far anyway, that they have absolutely aced it. If the show continues to be as great as it has thus far, I can see this being one of the all time great masterpieces of TV history, and for many years to come. It's incredibly rare that I won't have criticisms of some kind, especially for something I am passionate about, and the only criticism I have of the Rings of Power is that I can't listen to the sound track 24 hours a day, because I have to sleep at some stage. Bear McCreary has written a masterpiece worthy of being pinned up on the wall with Howard Shore's work from the Lord of the Rings.

                                                         🧝

Don't listen to the negative reviews. Some people have an idea of what something should be in their own mind. I too have read mostly all of Tolkien's books. You form a world in your mind from those words. It's yours it's personal. This show is Magnificent. It's a big bold dive into Middle Earth. Beautifully filmed and acted. The first too episodes are structured in a way to set a scene for the multiple storylines for multiple characters which as the series progresses will merge in to one common fight against the darkness. It's absolutely fantastic and if you don't watch it because of someone's snobby 1/10 then you will be missing out.   

                                                        🧙‍♂️

I can't believe people who are giving this such negative reviews. Who cares if it's not the way you think it should be portrayed because of your version of what you think you read from his original works. It is fantastically entertaining, incredibly well shot and produced, and while the story lines were slow to get rolling, and I don't necessarily think that some of the characters lineup with how they were portrayed in the Lord of the Rings movies later, it really doesn't matter. These are NEW. I can't wait for each episode to come out, I look forward to watching these every week, and I would love to be able to see all of them in the theater. The first two we saw through a free preview, and I wish I could watch every single episode on a huge screen! Enjoy them for what they are.

                                                          🏹

This is the first prequel I have ever seen that was not a disappointment. I love the acting, the faithfulness to Tolkien's vision, the use of reworked ideas/themes/dialogue from the Lord of the Rings, and the compelling worldbuilding. It is important to remember that this is an interpretation, not an adaptation, as this story is based on timelines in the Appendices to LOTR and not on Tolkien stories. Therefore, the showrunners had to invent story arcs and characters to flesh out the story. If they had note done this, then the show would be boring and empty. They did a great job filling in the gaps and told a story that I have already rewatched many times.

                                                         🧝🏿‍♂️

I almost didn't watch because of other reviews but I've learned to not even pay much attention to them. This feels just like Lord of the Rings to me. It could actually be its own movie. The acting is great, the scenery and graphics are amazing. I've been hooked and entertained since the first episode! Can't wait to see more.

                                                         🗡️

I was putting off watching this for a while but one night I couldn't find anything to watch and I put this on and now I'm glad I did. It's the first thing I look forward to after a long day of work. I think the plot is fantastic. I read a review that said they didn't know where the plot was going but how can you not? It's very easy to follow. I'm in love with the series already.

I am blown away by the quality of this production. There is nothing like it. Although it is not an original story written by JRR Tolkien, it is an interesting one; an important backstory.

Although the story unfolds slowly, like in most series, it has a decent amount of action and suspense. Watch it and indulge yourself in Middle Earth. And about all the criticism... This is my take: To me, there are two Middle Earths. (1) The original one that you have imagined when reading the books. (2) The world created by John Howe, Alan Lee, Peter Jackson, make-up artists, actors, etc., etc. This series fits right into the later one and does it justice.

                                                       🍂

Don't believe those fools who are giving bad ratings and negative reviews. I don't know why so much hate for this show. I'm so obsessed with this show right now and have watched all the six episodes non-stop and wanting more soooo badly. I mean the acting, the scenes, the dialogues and above all the VFX are soooo beautiful put together that will make your mind blown by this masterpiece. I've really enjoyed and didn't look away for a second while watching. It really took me to the place where I couldn't have imagine in my dreams. Please guys stop giving the bad ratings and reviews to a show like this one. This show deserve all the love and not the hate. We all should appreciate the work and efforts put in this show.

                                                        🔮

I think this prequel was beautifully done. The visuals are stunning, and story is excellent. There is a very satisfying last episode of season 1. I'm excited to see more. I had no problem adjusting and accepting the younger version of known characters, specifically Galadriel and Elrond. I think the acting and writing felt true to Middle Earth. I'm a fan of the books (Hobbit, LotR and The Silmarillian) which I read before the movies were released. I'm thrilled to have new Tolkien inspired material even if it's from the imagination of someone else, it is brilliant and a wonderful addition to the Middle Earth lore. There seem to be too many of the instant gratification society who were too impatient to wait for the payoff. Looking at the dates of many of the reviews is frustrating seeing that people couldn't reserve judgement until 10/14 after the season could be viewed as a whole. People have become to used to being able to binge a new show in a few days and not have to wait and dwell over what might happen and the new information presented in each episode. It has been exciting to see it unfold week by week. I'm glad for the return to this method of releasing a new series.                                                

Link to the 10 star reviews🍄

#the rings of power #positivity #and @ haters you're tel'athim #pls my elvish is rusty but there's so many good insults to choose from :D

[soleilnomoon]

Omg Kaia! Your Sabo one shots are amazing! I was wondering if I could have some headcanons of what our rebellious Flame Emperor looks for in a potential s/o, please? Thank you once again! Your work is immaculate!

thank you omg!! honestly, i’m just glad ppl find them entertaining lol you’re so sweet  ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ ♡ i’m on a sabo spiral (can u tell), he deserves more love & attn.

457 words & sfw, i could take abt this man forever maybe

one thing sabo craves is authentic connections — since he spent his childhood fiercely fighting against societal norms as a child of nobles — where he prefers to mingle with those who genuinely want to get to know him, rather than be around those who only show interest because of his heritage or status as a revolutionary.

sabo is incredibly accurate at detecting bullshit; he doesn’t have many in his close circle — even among the other revolutionaries, he keeps them at arm’s length since it’s easier to detach than it is to fully immerse himself in potential friendships. if anyone truly wants to be with him romantically, they’re going to have to work for it.

since he instinctively has an aversion to being vulnerable with anyone he doesn’t consider family, any potential s/o would have to be stubborn and determined enough to break through those walls he routinely puts up. he’d find it interesting (and amusing, tbh) to see someone try repeatedly, their stubbornness would have to rival his — although, if anyone asks him he’ll say he isn’t stubborn at all — and they’d have to be able to keep up with his level of intellect.

not out of some elitism, but because sabo’s mind never rests and his s/o would need to be able to reel in that part of him to keep him grounded

in a nutshell, his s/o will need to be spontaneous & impetuous when necessary; grounded and genuine; someone who doesn’t share his hardened view of the world, who can point out the silver linings, to bring positivity & warmth.

someone funny (since he spent so much time laughing with ace and luffy as kids, so he’ll want someone who can bring him a piece of that); family oriented — not necessarily for them to be parents, but because he has people he considers family that he’d want them to get along with.

someone who is adaptable, who can pack on the fly (his life is dangerous, after all); someone who can be secure while he’s away for months at a time; and someone who can stomach the line of work he’s in. 

ideally, he’d prefer a civilian, because sabo craves normalcy too; he also prefers his s/o to be independent & open-minded while also being able to hold their own in conversation without backing down. someone who helps others not because it’s expected of them, but because they want to, who can give him a healthy dose of reality when he does too much — someone he can feel relaxed and at home with. they’ll have to also keep up with politics around the world (in major countries, more or less) & make an effort to do what they can (maybe locally) to help change things.

#as always i love ur requests #fic request #one piece hcs #sabo the revolutionary #one piece x reader #one piece x y/n #sabo x reader #sabo x y/n #aurodontdoit #sabo headcanons #one piece imagine

[persephoneflowerpetals]

Okay I've seen the movie plenty of times, but getting into the series I somehow just realized that Hades is the younger brother? Like it totally went over my head because in other adaptations and greek history anyways he's the eldest! Is there any reason you think disney had him be younger than Zeus?

YES!!! I’M GLAD YOU NOTICED THAT TOO!!! I’m totally about to ramble about this because I got a lot to say about this subject lol. Buckle your seat belts, my dudes because this is gonna be a long one 😂

I’ve mentioned on here a lot that it’s crazy how they don’t even bring up the fact that Zeus and Hades are brothers in the movie. You only get hints of it like Zeus’ interactions with Hades and when you look closely at Hades’ chess board throughout the movie you can see that he has himself, Zeus, and Poseidon on there (as well as the monsters and I think Hercules?), so he’s pretty much targeting his brothers and his nephew.

I’ve said before that if you watch the movie without a lot of context or without watching the series then you’ll think that Hades isn’t even related to Zeus or Hercules and that he’s just some random, bitter villain that hates Zeus for putting him in the underworld. I honestly think they should’ve put something in the movie about them both being related. Even if it’s just a small one off line. It would’ve helped us understand Hades’ character and motivation. He’s not just some random god that hates Zeus, he’s Zeus’ little brother and he’s ticked that Zeus is the big shot while he got put in charge of the underworld by his older brother.

Honestly, I’m not completely sure why Disney made the decision to make Hades the youngest. It could’ve been for a lot of reasons. Like, maybe they wanted him to be the “bratty little brother” that’s jealous of his older brother’s popularity and authority. Or maybe they wanted us to pity him a little bit because it’s most likely that Hades was left out and picked on by his older brothers and has always been the “black sheep” of the family, so the final straw for Hades was when Zeus, his oldest brother, decided that he should run the underworld while Poseidon gets the entire ocean and Zeus himself gets the heavens AND the earth. Or maybe they were just like “well, we already twisted the story up by making Hercules the son of Hera and all that, why not make Hades the youngest brother AND the villain?” lol. I do know that the series is an alternate universe prequel version of the movie where Hades knows Hercules is alive before he’s 18, so it’s possible that Hades is the youngest version in THAT universe only. The Horn of Plenty graphic novel also seems to take place in the animated series universe and they mention him being the little brother of Zeus, so yeah.

Tbh, I really love the idea of Hades being the youngest of his brothers because he really does have that “bratty and bitter little brother vibe” lmao. I love how he constantly makes the excuse “I’m your baby brother! We’re family!” when his brothers are about to beat him up in the series lol, like Hades totally would try and pull the “I’m the baby” card as a defense lol. Also I just really like the idea of Hades being the youngest. Idk why I just think it’s cute lol.

But, I will say that I did just finish the Hades comic book series (still working on my full review of them all lol) and I’m not completely sure if Hades even IS the youngest brother in the movie. He may be the eldest and we just don’t know it (and I guess we never will know because they never bring it up in the movie since, y’know, they didn’t even mention they were related). I’ll be talking about that more in depth in my comic review post, but I guess to sum up what I’ll say there is the Disney’s Hades Challenge computer game seems to take place after the events of the movie. I’m not quite sure when the Hades comic book series takes place (I assume it’s before Hercules is born but idk for sure), but from what I put together, the comics and the Hades Challenge game seem to share the same lore, so I want to assume that MAYBE they take place in the same universe but I feel like that’s a stretch. Like, I don’t think the comic writers are gonna base the comic lore off of stuff they got from a slightly obscure kids computer game from the 90s lmao. Anyways, all I’m saying is that it’s possible that Hades was meant to be the eldest all along in the movie universe and we just never knew.

I know in original Greek mythology Hades was the eldest so it makes sense that Hades would be pissed that his youngest brother ended up ruling the cosmos while he ended up in the underworld. Also he does give “bitter older brother vibes” too, so either way I’m not against going with the traditional “Hades is the eldest” idea lol. In a few recent reading material that has come out featuring Hades (namely the comic series and the book Fire & Fate from the Disney Villain book series), they’ve been saying that Hades is the eldest brother, so yeah…I honestly don’t know if Hades is truly supposed to be the eldest or the youngest of his brothers. Disney obviously doesn’t make that very clear. I suppose it just depends on the universe I guess lol. Like, maybe in the animated series universe he’s the youngest and in the movie universe he’s the eldest? Idk

Personally, for me, I headcanon that Hades is the youngest of his brothers (because like I said, I really like the twist of him actually being the youngest). I just think the idea has a lot of great potential for character building for Hades. Like, he was probably picked on by his brothers and pushed around by his father because he’s was youngest in the family. Also he definitely got babied by his mom for being the youngest (and is still babied by her lmao) too. I use that headcanon for my movie & series AU as well lmao. I really like the dynamic of Hades being the youngest of his brothers in his family and Persephone being the eldest sister in her family.

#I’m sorry this is so long anon lol I’m sure this isn’t the response you were expecting 😂😅 #ask #anon ask #long ramble #rambles #disney #hades

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

NBD just crying over Action Comics 1060 (in a good way but also a sad way because DC is being VERY DUMB and ending PKJ’s run in favor of a Jason Aaron Bizarro filler arc ohhhhhh how I weep bitter tears of frustration)

…Anyways, spoilers!

So 1060 is the penultimate installment of PKJ’s (stellar, spectacular, phenomenal, brilliant, top-tier) run on Action Comics and I just want to applaud him—for a lot of things, really, but in *this* specific case, I wanna stand and cheer because he’s making it EXTREMELY CLEAR that the twins (who are not actually twins) are in fact, Clark’s kids. No question, no ambiguity; Otho calls him papa, Clark refers to her as his daughter, and he’s willing to travel through LITERAL HELL to get her back.

It’s entirely possible that future writers will try to get rid of these kids, but I appreciate that PKJ has made it *very* difficult for them. XD Any retcon they’d come up with would be so messy. (Of course, saying this, I realize that the more depressingly realistic outcome here isn’t that writers actively try to erase them, but rather, will probably sideline/ignore them, trot them out for generic precocious kids stuff every now and then, and wait for the next line-wide reboot to ‘streamline’ Clark aka toss out anything mildly interesting and/or additive to Clark’s corner of the DCU.)

Right. Sorry. Salty tangent. XD

So anyways here’s some panels that tugged on my ‘Aunt Kara’ heartstrings.

‘I know sweetie. I know. It’s so hard, not knowing.’ HOW VERY DARE.

There’s also a really great page wherein Kara gets Osul to calm down by reminding him of a…I think Phaelosian legend? Or possibly Kryptonian, I know she was trying to find stuff for them in a previous issue.

(Went back and it’s actually the House of Ra fable; the House of El’s is ‘Nightwing and Flamebird’, Ra’s is ‘Red Son and Starchild’.)

I love that Lois lets Kara and Osul have that moment, that space; I maintain that while Clark has a better handle on getting what the kids went through on Warworld given that he was there, and Lois obviously has more experience with raising kids that have unique needs thanks to Jon being half alien, but *Kara* is more readily equipped to sympathize with Otho and Osul’s struggles with transitioning to Earth life, based on her current, canon characterization. (Which is, uhhhh…Woman of Tomorrow and alsoooooo…Rebirth? Maybe? WoT is def canon, the recent SG one shot visually referenced Kara’s departure from Argo.) But I digress!

Speaking of the kids’ struggles…Otho is Going Through It. The stuff with Sister Shadow (AKA Norah Stone AKA evil daughter of an alt universe Bruce and Talia) trying to tempt her to the dark side by preying on her trauma/difficulty adapting to her new home and revealing a future, tyrannical version of herself is some wonderfully juicy character work, both from the perspective of fleshing out Otho AND being additive to Superman’s roster of villains; that’s something I love about PKJ’s approach to world building overall. Yes, he’s revamped some of Superman’s established bad guys (Metallo, Mongul) but he’s also added awesome new foes, like Norah Stone, and Pyrrhos.

I really hope DC lets him do like. A mini series on his original Kryptonian/House of El characters. I would honestly love to read about all these cool new, additive elements, than deal with the Luthor cameo fest over in Superman rn. XD

In conclusion: DC once again shying away from anything interesting and new with Superman in favor of the safe status quo. -_- I mean, I hope I’m wrong. I hope the new ‘Superman Superstars’ opt to build on the solid foundation PKJ has set up. But given what happened with Bendis? Creators’ absolute refusal to incorporate any of the canon he built, because they knew DC would walk it back ASAP? (And the Superman group editor openly admitting that was his number one priority as soon as he GOT THE JOB???) Just shows a complete lack of faith in your creators, and doesn’t really give me too much hope for one of the few remaining titles I look forward to each month.

…but hey, hopefully Marilyn Moonlight will be neat??? XD

(Also LET A WOMAN WRITE A MAIN SUPERMAN BOOK YOU COWARDS.)

#long post #dc comics #action comics #action comics spoilers #sg post #kinda #I was enjoying the flagship Superman title… #and then Campbell left and Williamson doubled down on Luthors XD #so yeeeeah it’s firmly back in ‘meh’ territory

[bropunzeling]

14, 18!

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

ok my current answer is marriage bets because i love a romcom. the death of the midbudget american romcom is a plague on my soul. and now i have written one, and there was one chapter in particular that i think would be Very Nice To Look At scenery (and shirtlessness) wise, but also like, comedic editing!!!! people being funny!!!! kissimg!!!! we the people deserve this!!!

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

oh im so proud of this from the ducklings future fic:

This isn’t the first time Jamie’s wanted Trevor. Not by a long shot. The truth is, Jamie's been half in love with Trevor since he was 18 and stupid with it. It’s been so long that the love has become a permanent part of him, carved into his body alongside the scars on his left shoulder.

#ask meme

[sanakotsu]

Romantic? Date Translation

Quantified Feelings of Love and Hate/Chapter 3

Warning: Incest is mentioned in this chapter. Don't take those lines out of context.

Writer: Akira Season: Winter Characters: Tatsumi, HiMERU

Translation: Sankotsu Proofread: @boozuru

Tatsumi: For some odd reason, whenever we attempt to even get close, they’d yell out, “Handsome men are coming closer, looking at them will destroy my eyes!” …Then they’d run away.

HiMERU: By the way, both Crazy:B and ALKALOID will appear as new characters in Love★Star.

It’s connected to a seasonal event they’ll add dedicated to Valentine’s Day.

Tatsumi: I see. Well as far I’m concerned, newcomers like us are grateful to be getting this much work.

HiMERU: We’re different though. Unlike you guys, it looks like ES doesn’t exactly like Crazy:B.

Tatsumi: No, it would be wise to exercise caution. Just when things seem to go well, you’ll be greeted by pitfalls you never saw coming.

HiMERU: Well look at you finally understanding what HiMERU is saying.

Tatsumi: What?

HiMERU: You’re wrong. If that were the case, then each unit would have been filmed separately.

The higher-ups of Love★Star had a demand for us, which is why we have to act in pairs.

We’ll have to act all lovey-dovey like the script tells us to.

Perhaps they wanted to do something new and use pairings between the two units rather than members from the same unit.

The first being “Rinne Amagi and Hiiro Amagi”

Tatsumi: Love between siblings… That sort of thing is taboo, it is forbidden by God.

HiMERU: Next is “Kohaku Oukawa and Aira Shiratori”

Tatsumi: Those two are very good friends, which is completely different from a romantic relationship, right?

HiMERU: After that, it’s “Niki Shiina and Mayoi Ayase”

Tatsumi: Both of their names are in katakana!

HiMERU: Shut up! You don’t have to reply back every time! HiMERU is only talking to organize his thoughts properly!

Tatsumi: Fufu, I understand. My bad. ♪

HiMERU: ⸺Last but certaintly not least, the problem, “HiMERU and Tatsumi Kazehaya”

Tatsumi: I wonder if us being paired together had anything to do with the fact we’re both from Reimei Academy.

HiMERU: HiMERU isn’t sure of their plans. He can’t help but suspect that the higher-ups have evil desires with the pairings they decided.

Tatsumi: Desires?

HiMERU: There seems to be a select audience that will be happy to see their favorite idols getting along with each other.

Tatsumi: I, too, like seeing people I care about getting along. 

HiMERU: That’s not what HiMERU meant.

Anyway, everyone else besides us two have finished recording.

HiMERU feels regrettable that we are both “useless” with this job.

Tatsumi: Yes, you’re right. I’ve always tried to act like an amazing senior, but this seems to be a hurdle I can’t quite get past.

HiMERU: It’s not your fault, Tatsumi. Or rather, no, it is your fault for behaving so recklessly, but more importantly, there’s still a bigger problem at hand.

Filming will never end unless the producers are satisfied with our filming.

And regardless of how awful our acting is, as long as the producer likes it, it’s alright. Likewise, if they don’t like it, they’ll say it’s unusable.

For instance, our Shiina and ALKALOID's Ayase were terrible as well.

A hungry Shiina had endlessly chased around a crying Ayase or something like that. 

“That’s exactly what I was looking for!” is the kind of thing we should hear when we get it right first try.

Tatsumi: Fufu. The younger two* were just casually talking about sweets, but they were immediately told their take was good, right?

Tatsumi: And yet, why can’t we get any good takes?

HiMERU: Perhaps we could figure out what the producers consider a good or a bad take and adapt to get the right shot. HiMERU doesn’t understand what their criteria for a good take even is.

It’s baffling. With the Amagi brothers, Crazy:B’s Amagi acted like he was actively trying to seduce your Amagi.

The producers didn’t like that sort of thing and the Amagis struggled to get an okay take as well.

Tatsumi: Yes, they really were struggling. The other two groups quickly left after their filming, and that left us with the Amagis. 

I encouraged Hiiro-san by jokingly challenging him, saying something like, “I wonder which one of us will get to leave first.”

HiMERU: They have a close relationship. But when they were talking during their break, the younger brother, drained from work he’s not used to, got closer to his older brother.

And were given the OK as soon as he started acting like a child who wished to be doted on by their older brother. It looks like that was what the producers were after.

Tatsumi: Fufu. The older brother was caught off guard and was taken aback. I wonder if that’s similar to the unusual public appearances the producers wanted to see.

If that’s the case, I really wish they would’ve said something, I don’t know what those producers are doing.

Everything is supposed to be surprising and unexpected but I still haven’t gotten used to your aggressive tone.

Himeru: …………

Tatsumi: As expected, we still can’t get the OK sign and that continues to be a problem. Perhaps I, too, should change how I speak and mimic the way Koga-san talks.

“Repent, you lowly heathens!”

HiMERU: ⸺Who knows if doing anything unexpected would even work.

Tatsumi: Hmm. Asking the producers directly for what they want would be nice but…

For some odd reason, whenever we attempt to even get close, they’d yell out, “Handsome men are coming closer, looking at them will destroy my eyes!” …Then they’d run away.

HIMERU: HiMERU wondered what that was… How is an eccentric-like person in such a position of producer? Surely that goes to show how they’re more than capable in the game production field.

This truly is nothing but a nuisance. We have no choice but to take a shot in the dark. If we’re unlucky**, then our job will never be complete even if we had eternity.

❀ ꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎ ❀

*: "The younger two" refers to Kohaku and Aira. There's no appellation listed for Kohaku so I just wrote it as the younger two.

**: Unlucky as in they continuously fail at getting a good take.

➸ previous ❀ all ❀ next ❀

#romantic? date #enstars translation #himeru #tatsumi kazehaya

[forerussake]

Fic Writer Interview

i was tagged by the lovely @phantomhydeoftheopera! thank you fairy, i had a lot of fun thinking about these questions and trying to answer them well, as you can see by how long this post has gotten!! love yaaaaa

name/nicknames: on the internet I go by Eru, bc names are hard and this is in my handle everywhere anyway and i like it :)

fandoms: i’m currently mostly active in Guardian, DMBJ and Tolkien fandoms (and the occasional foray into the associated RPF and crossover tags on AO3), but I have also written before for the QZGS/TKA, Yin Yang Master (QYJ) and MDZS/CQL fandoms :)

two shots?: i haven’t written anything that worked in two chapters yet, if that is the question. I try to contain myself to one chapter unless the story warrants more, and if it does it has so far always been more than two.

most popular multi-chapter fic: that would be the one i wrote this year, a hand within a hand (holding light). the engagement with this fic really surprised me, bc i expected the outsider pov format and the fact that the stories are driven by and centrered around OCs to be really niche and only interesting to very few people, but i got consistently positive responses to it :)

actual worst part of writing: i don’t think there is any one part of writing that i think is the worst. every fic calls for different things and has different struggles. sometimes it’s getting started, sometimes it’s getting stuck in the middle, sometimes it’s the editing, sometimes the tagging, etc. it really depends.

how do you choose your titles: i have a folder on my phone that has pictures of poetry i come across on the internet with lines that would be good titles. when looking for one i often go through that before the final editing phase, and then fit the story around it (by adding lines or returning metaphors to integrate the title into the story if it doesn’t already fit perfectly). 

otherwise i like to take my titles from returning themes in the story itself, which often develop as i write. for example when i wrote in tune i found myself constantly referencing shen wei’s power being in tune or in time or in sync with something else (his heartbeat, his breathing, the storm outside), so in tune became the title, because it also references Weilan’s love for each other, which is the core of the story. 

occasionally i like to choose titles that reflect the core of the story in a more abstract way, like with Kaleidoscope (a rush of snapshots of Queer stories), and Spirometer (about breathing and/as the quantification/conceptualization of love). 

do you outline?: when i do multi chapter (or 5+1 or another story format with different sections) i like to outline a little bit at least. just give myself some notes on what the chapter or section should cover for the whole to work. i do have stories that i have outlined extensively, but none of those have ever seen the light of day as of yet, i guess because it makes them too daunting.

ideas you probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?: hah, picking up where i left off at the last question. one of those extensively plotted stories fits this question as well. I call it the Yin Yang Master Metaphorical Serpent Modern!AU (MSM!AU for short), which is basically a modern day adaptation of that movie, but centred around Killing Stone and the other shishen, working off the basic premise that the Serpent isn’t a real entity but is instead a metaphor Qingming (who in this AU is their therapist) sometimes uses to conceptualize his patients’ various mental health conditions. ...it’s a rough one. but if i could actually write it someday..... it would be the best thing i’ve ever written.

other than that: the MDZS murder mystery fic :( it’s mostly plotted but yeah... different fandoms have drawn me in since 2020....

callouts @ me: dare to write short stories without derailing them into long ones. also: sometimes a fic doesn’t have to be perfect or be a fully coherent thematic whole. not all fics need your typical “onset, catalyst, climactic catharsic scene, and extensive thematic polishing ending”-structure. sometimes you can just write a little bit about trope bc it’s fun, and it doesn’t have to mean shit. 

best writing traits: i think i do really well at setting the mood for scenes, and developing themes and rounding them off. i’m very much a writer whose every choice of word and metaphor and descriptor tends to have a reason. if i mention a painting on a wall in scene 2, then you can be sure it will return somewhere, or i wouldn’t have mentioned it. i’m good at not leaving too many loose ends. 

spicy tangential opinion: is “there is nothing inherently (or, god forbid, morally) wrong with writing or reading RPF” a spicy opinion? bc then that. the problem with RPF fandoms is that alongside the normal people, there are too many people in them who have trouble differentiating the relationships they read and write about from the real actual people they are based on, and then try to carry the attitude they put into the writing of RPF on into their real life interactions with other people.

that is bad, but there is nothing wrong with writing RPF itself, as long as you keep it within fandom circles, in a closed-off and easily filtered space (such as AO3), and are able to acknowledge the fact that the people you write in your stories are merely characters you have created and are not a reflection of reality. we are authors, not omniscient creator-gods. also, these people’s actual private life is none of our fucking business and they owe us nothing. 

that became a bit of a rant, and this whole thing became quite long. sorry about that xD

tagging: @lucientelrunya @programmedradly @deathofsanity @shadaras @lunarriviera @sharkbeneaththelotus @omaenanimonoda @lynne-monstr @thedaughterofshadows @aredhel-of-doylkien @onmyo-jin  if you want to :)

#tagged #writing

[wahbegan]

The Black Phone Review

So, since there isn’t much in the way of an actual review of the movie in The Black Phone tag, primarily because it’s full of....ahem....other things, I thought I’d give writing one a spin, since I do that sometimes.

So far, i honestly have no idea if the Stephen King curse of having 95% of all adaptations of his work suck shit is hereditary or not. Joseph Hillstrom King, better known as Joe Hill (whose pen name is apparently because he doesn’t want to live in his father’s shadow, but honestly i think it’s because he doesn’t want to go by Joe King because it sounds like a fake name the fucking Joker would make up), only has four adaptations to his name, present company excluded. So far. The Locke and Key Netflix series, the NOS4A2 AMC series, and the films In the Tall Grass and Horns. And In the Tall Grass was co-written with Stephen King, so it’s more like three and a half.

Now I’ve never seen the tv shows because i haven’t read Locke and Key and because NOS4A2 is by far and away my favorite of Joe Hill’s novels, and i almost know for a fact that it would disappoint me because of the love i have for that book and the image of it built in my head. But they both got good reviews. Not STELLAR, but good.

In the Tall Grass was received about as well as any other adaptation Stephen King gets his filthy mitts on, and Horns was pretty much considered mediocre. Just...fine, i guess.

So we’re in this limbo here with Joe Hill adaptations, which is a shame, because by and large, i actually (HERESY ALERT) tend to like his work better than his father’s. None of his movie adaptations have been just hilariously fucking awful like a lot of Stephen’s, but none of them have really been fucking solid gold diamond-studded hallmarks of cinema like the select few of Stephen’s, either.

So it’s a bit odd to me that Scott Derickson picked The Black Phone to adapt. I mean Hill only has four novels to his name, the rest being comics and short stories, and someone already has the rights to The Fireman, while Heart-Shaped Box languishes in development Hell for idk 15 years, so it’s understandable he’d go for a short story.

But still, The Black Phone is a very simple story, about ten pages long, with all of the action confined to a brief kidnapping scene and one room. Certainly an ambitious thing to try to tackle, but i was worried about how much expanding on the story the movie was going to have to do.

I was then further worried by the trailers, because whoever edited them honestly needs to be taken out back and shot. Those despicable fucking trailers that just take you beat-by-beat through the movie, first of all, and also edited lines of dialogue to, inexplicably, make them sound much less natural and much more expository and heavy-handed than they actually were.

Also, you may remember Scott Derickson as the lad who did Sinister. Ohh, now it makes sense why he’d pick this movie, he fucking loves mixing true crime with dead kids jump scaring his audience. And I was worried it would be too much like Sinister, where the truly fucking harrowing part of that movie (the snuff films) ended up taking a backseat to his love of dead kids running about and over-the-top goofy looking villains.

Again, this wasn’t helped by the trailers, which put the dead kids and the killer’s mask (not present in the original story, in which he was just some fat, gross-looking guy) front and center, including a group shot of all the dead kids blocking the road that Derickson pretty much copy/pasted from Sinister.

But this is Joe Hill, i thought, and i actually have a girl to take to see it, and it’s getting good reviews, so what the hell.

So does it do it? Does The Black Phone finally make a Joe Hill adaptation that is as extremely good or extremely bad as one of his dad’s?

Well.....no. Not...really. Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of movie that is so good it’s going to be culturally revered or anything.

This is all just my expectations, though. Which muddied things a lot. My advice? Just don’t watch the trailers at all, and don’t think of Sinister or the legacy of Stephen King when you watch it. And for the sweet love of merciful Christ, don’t think of what lurks in The Black Phone tag on tumblr. Take it as its own thing.

Because as its own thing, it’s a very fucking good movie. 

Everything Sinister did wrong, The Black Phone does right. The supernatural elements are actually used fairly lightly, and almost all the horror in the movie comes from how fucked up the all-too-familiar true crime situation is. A boy stops to help a seemingly clumsy, friendly doofus who took a pratfall and spilled his magician’s act all over the pavement. The next thing he knows, he’s got wasp spray in his eyes and is being bundled into a van. And this isn’t the first time. 

Those kidnappings serve the same purpose the snuff films in Sinister did, but are a lot less in-your-face and just let you simmer in the implications.

Even Ethan Hawke’s masked child-killer, The Grabber, doesn’t appear very often. It’s the tension. The mystery of what, exactly, he does to kids between kidnapping and murdering them. The horrible but very nicely restrained descriptions of some, but not all, of the atrocities committed on his victims. The heavy implication, but refusal to outright confirm that he’s a pedophile. The agonizingly long shots of his victim trying to escape his basement dungeon, knowing that he could appear at any moment.

This wouldn’t work as well if The Grabber wasn’t acted superbly, but he really is. Ethan Hawke is fucking terrifying, which is not an adjective I would have ever used for him before, but he really is. He plays The Grabber with this....softness is the wrong word, but at least a front of it. A disquieting and jarring childishness in some scenes, a clear immaturity. Whether he’s just stunted emotionally or putting on a front for his victim’s sake isn’t clear, but either way it gets under your skin.

Especially because they never tell you anything about this guy. Not even his name. There’s no backstory of abuse, no rounds with his therapist, no diary, nothing. All we have to go on is Ethan Hawke’s excellent performance and tiny scraps of implication. It makes his behavior and mood swings harder to predict in a very refreshing way. 

Like most abusers, he wasn’t angry the majority of the time. Wasn’t outwardly threatening. Even his weird Devil mask, while ostentatious, seems to be less of a fright mask and more of his own bizarre, childish way of expressing his mood and persona at the time. He swaps it out between a completely mouthless version when speaking to the protagonist just after the kidnapping, a sickening grin when he dotes on his victim and brings him food, and an exaggerated, pouty frown when he waits at the top of the stairs, shirtless, holding a belt, just waiting for him to try to escape.

I know a lot of people think that image is hot. Let me be clear, it is probably the single scariest fucking shot of the movie. I just couldn’t stop thinking of some incredibly damaged, sick motherfucker imitating what he saw as a kid. Making a vaudeville horror show out of child abuse. 

Yes, this is one of the most effective horror movie killers in recent history.

But there’s so much more to the movie than that! The protagonist and his sister are also both played fucking stunningly, both being given a LOT of VERY heavy material to work with. Abuse, bullying, the kidnapping that forms the crux of the movie, and they nail it. The sister’s hysterical screams and sobs as their father beats her while the brother watches, angry out of his mind but paralyzed with fear is....

Jesus.

This movie is very gritty, by the way. Not in an over-the-top, in-your-face way, just a...an air of detached realism. It’s set in the late ‘70s, but instead of the nostalgic sheen recent media puts over everything from that fucking era, it’s portrayed in a very naturalistic way. There’s some lovely use of 8mm film, the lighting and costuming department did a very good job capturing the look of the era, and most importantly, childhood in the ‘70s, when beating your kids was still pretty normalized, missing faces got printed on milk cartons, and stranger danger was at its peak. 

It’s not glamorized at all, is me point. 

BUT it’s also not all doom and gloom. The kids are the main stars of this movie, and they do an amazing job at not just being victim, but being survivors and rising above the bullshit they go through. The protagonist’s little sister in particular is an incredible character, given some of the best lines in the movie.

And over the titular Black Phone...the dead children are played as scary a bit. Thrice, in fact. There are three jump scares, one of which made a woman in my theater scream. But for the most part, they’re not played for horror. They’re played for a surprisingly meditative melancholy. They’re played for just fucking sadness at the young lives cut brutally short, whatever innocence they had lost.

And by the end, they’re played for a sense of camaraderie in darkness that really fucking tugs at your heartstrings. I was not expecting this movie to be as emotional as it was. 

So in the end, The Black Phone is gripping, tense as fuck, psychological, pretty fucking harrowing, depressing and cathartic all at the same time. The direction and art are quite nice, and i don’t have many problems with it.

James Ransome’s character is a little weird, sticks out just a mite, buuuutt that can be forgiven. It is also very Stephen King-y, with absolutely psychotic bullies and an abusive alcoholic father, although his abuse and alcoholism are both contextualized in a bizarrely grounded way.

Finally, yeah, just a content warning, in case you haven’t already picked it up. As I said, there are no explicit mentions of or depictions of pedophilia  but it is heavily implied. No kids are shown being murdered, but they do talk about it, and they do get the shit kicked out of them both by other kids and by their parents. I mean violence against children is the principal theme of this movie so, while it ultimately ends on a pretty uplifting note, i’d still avoid it if you’re squeamish about that sort of thing.

But will it be remembered alongside The Shining or The Shawshank Redemption? Or even the recent IT movies? Fuck no, but i would venture a guess and say it’s definitely the best Joe Hill adaptation to date

#The Black Phone #Joe Hill #Scott Derickson #i should make a tag for my reviews you know what i will #reviews

[guenole-rainbird]

The Busy Alzheimer Broker - Synopsis and Other Elements

This is the synopsis for a probably discarded adaptation of The Busy Broker with an Emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease.

This direction for the story came during a meeting and was propositioned by Lea, the team thought about re-orienting the broker story with an emphasis on him forgetting. Although played light-heartedly in the original story, the team thought that anyone who forgets they got married the day before probably has a serious condition. With this shift towards Alzheimer's came the decision to shift the POV to that of Miss. Leslie as Harvey wouldn’t have much context and a consistent want across his phases of short-term memory.

Having attempted to write and ‘Alzheimer Story’ before, I have already conducted a decent amount of research on the symptoms and how a person with said condition acts. The main source of inspiration & knowledge is the book Keeper by Andrea Gillies.

A less developed version of this story was the one shown to Mena during Week 3 tutorials.

Logline:

An old Miss. Leslie tries to re-flame the love her Alzheimer's husband has for her before he forgets he ever loved her, only to find out he’s already a different person.

Thematic argument:

The thematic argument so far would be that: To truly love another is not to expect them to love you back, but to be the person they need.

Plot:

Harvey’s memories are those from 20 years ago when he and Miss. Leslie first started their relationship. The implied scene of the past, which is them meeting, would more or less be what the original ‘Romance of the Busy Broker’ story is. The plot of the film would be Miss. Leslie trying to relive this scene again by tricking Harvey over and over into asking her out. Conflict arises when she tries making him somebody different, moulding him into what he was. By the end, Miss Leslie realises that he’s not that man anymore. Her arc would be to reconsider her relationship to him, not as a lover, but as a career for the former man she loved.

Cinematic techniques to be used:

Set design:

The set design will evolve throughout the film to slowly change the environment from his office (i.e. his fantasy), to reveal he’s in fact in a care home.

Editing:

The editing will sometimes emphasise Harvey’s POV, in which the transition to different moments isn’t made obvious or vice-versa the feeling of entering a scene without context as his short-term memory resets. This can be done by introducing editing tropes of scene transitions and of time passing (e.g. intercuts of clocks or wide-shots, match cuts) when in actuality no time has passed.

Vice-versa, scene changes will be suggested through the wardrobe, as seen in In the Mood for Love, in which a discussion scene at a restaurant spans over multiple meetings and days as the characters change clothes from shot to shot – the dialogue is continuous and doesn’t suggest each line belonging to a different moment.

The later techniques would also subtly undermine the causal narrative. Because a narrative has to come from character action to be somewhat fulfilling, the outcome of the story should come from the actions of the character, because the goal of the protagonist is to manage the mental state of Harvey, his state has to be somewhat the outcome of what Miss. Leslie does this throughout. However, the disease doesn’t work like this, patients' memories waver from day to day without any causal relations from how people interact with them. Therefore, having reactions subtly delinked from the action of a character in the previous shot would subtly manage to not undermine both the effects of the disease or the causality of the perceived narration.

Costumes and props:

Wardrobe:

As mentioned above, characters would constantly subtly change clothes to mark this scene spanning multiple days and Harvey’s reaction being in actuality non-related to Miss. Leslie’s action. Having an ever-changing wardrobe would also make it easier to emphasis certain colours with moments happening in the story (i.e. when they fight, more red. When they’re sad, more blue etc…)

Ring:

Miss. Leslie would be seen with a ring on her finger that she would show whenever Harvey asks her out and she reminds him they’re married. However, at the very end of the film, she would be wearing this ring around her neck, signifying her grief over what used to be her husband.

Body doubles: The pairing of young and old actors would sell the characters living in a fantasy. Harvey is the constant fantasy that he’s still at the office. But Miss. Leslie is also in the fantasy that Harvey is the man from 20 years ago, and that she’s still his lover.

Synopsis:

Here is a not well-refined synopsis. The synopsis has the problem of wanting to hide information from the viewer, but not giving enough information to them to grab onto the scene.

Still unsettled from moving into his new office, Harvey is already hard at work on his table. Miss. Leslie, his assistant is anxious to make sure he likes the space.

She pops back in his office multiple times, always trying to get him to take a break and engage in conversation, but Harvey is absorbed in work and either asks for reports or to not disturb him while he’s working.

Later, she re-enters the office with a report but he’s forgotten what report it is. She complains he doesn’t have even a little bit of time for her, he’s always busy working.

Maxwell notices how distressed she is and attempts to comfort her (by making her laugh?). They discuss her problems (‘Someone very close to me is very sick’) and Harvey decides to take a break to ask Miss. Leslie out. She’s moved to tears and shows him the ring on his finger, he’s already married to her. He tells her to take a break and go for coffee, to go fetch her hat.

(Fake transition? intercut of cutaway suggesting time has passed – e.g. a clock)

She gives him his hat, but he doesn’t understand why. He’s busy working, he tells her, no time to do anything else. Miss. Leslie sits, saddened. He then notices she’s sad and asks her again what’s wrong to comfort her. She says she loves him and asks him to get married but he tells her he’s too busy for that and that they’re not well acquainted yet.

She re-enters the room, he tells her to be quiet he’s working. She plays along with the fantasy, and tries prompting him to ask her out again by talking about his relations – Harvey can’t recall many people which makes him frustrated, he tells her to stop asking her questions, he’s got work to do.

(She’s waiting behind the door whispering to herself, waiting for his short-term memory to reset. Her whispers are about drilling into herself what subject she shouldn’t approach else he’ll panic, and trying to find what to do, which subject of discussion may lead Harvey into proposing to her again)

She re-enters the room asking about his new office. She tries helping him with his work but can see that Harvey himself doesn’t really know what he’s doing, all he knows is that he is busy. Her interest makes him nervous and he tells her to leave him alone as he’s got work to do for ‘Him’

She re-enters the room asking him about his new office, he tells her it’s not his office, and that he doesn’t like the place one bit. He feels betrayed by her, saying she had no right to move his office here. Miss Leslie is getting more and more distressed by his reactions.

She re-enters the room and tries flirting with him, but is too pushy which backfires hugely as he insults her, telling her she’s a whore in the office, and that all the ‘others’ and ‘him’ are on her all the time. She fights back by exposing his condition, trying to get him to name certain object(s) – he doesn’t know the names but refuses to concede. He resolves to louder insults.

Furious she leaves the room slamming the door. She re-enters shaking. Harvey is still upset and refuses to talk to her. She exposes to him that he doesn’t know the reason why. He freaks out and starts throwing objects around the room.

She leaves the room with her bag and coat. She paces out of the building but folds down to cry, unable to take another step. She gets a coffee and checks her nerves.

She re-enters the care room, masking tears with a smile. He’s still angry, she distracts him by telling him it’s his (or her) birthday and that they are arguing because they forgot due to overworking. Harvey consoles her and asks her out again.

She doesn’t respond.

He sees himself that something is terribly wrong, and knows it to be with him. She kindly tells him about his condition. He tells the story about his uncle, how although he had the memories of his teenage years, Harvey’s dad told him he was nothing like his brother. His mind resets and he comforts her again before asking her out. She refuses his demand, tells him she can’t be his wife, she can only assist him now. He agrees, he has a lot of work to get on with.