#a bad actor i think it's literally a specific choice he made for the character of andrew

[lucindarobinsonvevo]

“I’m sorry too, Mum.” 

#this scene is literally why i cant fault jps for the zoom call because it's literally the same #idk how to describe it other than like. a flat affect almost. #unemotional? #but the scene after this one is extremely emotional (his ramsey st breakdown) so it's not like andrew is unemotional or that jps is #a bad actor i think it's literally a specific choice he made for the character of andrew #he's talking to chrissy here. i wonder if andrew has to be unemotional with her? because chrissy (as much as I love her) was kind of neuroti #c at times. perhaps he feels like he can't display that much emotion #even when he's really really hurting #for fear of upsetting her? or otherwise something related to her #idk just speculating here. a little andrew analysis on a friday night never hurt nobody #neighbourspost #neighbourstv #neighboursedits #andrew robinson #mitziedits

[deacons-wig]

I'd prefer if we never got to see the origin of Vault Boy and Vault Tec's branding in the same way I'd rather not get a canon answer of who started the War or how. That's the point of War Never Changes.

Vault Boy is a sinister figure in his cheerful embrace of Armageddon. Giving the Vault Tec brand a face and a name and a backstory feels so unimportant to what is actually interesting about Fallout. What's important to me is the big picture pre war, and the details of what comes after.

What is interesting to me is exploring how propaganda is designed to convince people how close they are to annihilation--or homelessness, unemployment, obscurity, or being The Other and therefore destined to suffer--in hell, in oppressions, being ostracized. Honestly insert any sort of marginalization or suffering here. Crony capitalism uses propaganda to market products designed to manipulate people into buying distance between themselves and that annihilation. Putting themselves "behind the thumb" of Vault Boy, so to speak. Buying a lifestyle. Vault Boy does it with a wink and a smile, inviting those who can afford it to buy their way to safety while using capital and fear to perpetuate the cycle. I don't need the specifics to understand this.

Some ghoulnaysis below the cut:

I'll admit, my initial reaction to pre-war Ghoulgins being the inspiration for Vault Boy was funny! Mr. Cooper Howard, washed up actor experiencing an existential crisis being shoehorned into corporate propaganda that then haunts him for the next 200+ years? Selling manifest destiny, racism, the Rugged Individual, the revisionist history that cowboys were a) white and b) more than a brief footnote in the history of the colonization of North America's west. The commodification of entertainers/creatives/public figures. Selling identities to be packaged into a product that will outlive them? Only to have that person live alongside that role they regret (?) playing... kinda tasty, if we have to give Vault Boy a backstory, though I didn't get a clear sense of his actual feelings about being used as a propaganda guy which I think is a failure of the show to commit to the narrative they set up, which happens with a lot of the show's (lack of) engagement with Fallout's larger themes anyway.

But The Ghoul (stupid name!!! weird and boring choice!!!) is just such an uncompelling and repellent character to me. I love a good bad guy or even anti-hero, but honestly he lacks any interiority. He's an evil karma character (eats people, waterboards and mutilates people, sells people to organ harvesters...like? that literally makes you evil in the games...) but the narrative pushes him as an antihero or someone with gray morality because he what..."likes" dogs? And isn't as decayed or unsettling looking as other ghouls (implying handsome=good or interesting). People aren't afraid of him because he is a ghoul, they're afraid of him because he's evil and will hurt them! Sometimes for no reason! I see the callback to the director telling him to shoot his co-star and Cooper saying he's "the good guy," but is that why he becomes so fucking evil post war? Really?

I don't know why he does what he does other than...the world sucked before and sucks now so he might as well represent the basest of human behavior? That seems to be the thesis of the show--unless kindness and community is engendered (by the vaults, by Management, by a civic government, by corporations) people will descend into chaos.

So why have this poorly executed anti-hero be the origin of Vault Boy? What are the narrative choices being made here? Is it just Rule of Cool?

Personally I would like a pathetic, rotting wet cat of a ghoul, some sort of carved out husk of a washed up movie star either trying to relive his glory days, or avoid them--having given up hope of finding his family after 200 years--being dragged into Lucy's orbit and being constantly reminded of his Vault Boy fame, that she is a walking Vault Girl with her Okey Dokey's and Golden Rule. He'd be a joke, a footnote of the old world. He'd be mean and snarky, even unpredictable and uncooperative--have a public persona of friendly curiosity and a private, cynical one.

Pathetic Ghoulgins would remind audiences of the cost of capitalism and imperialism without resorting to the thesis that war never changes means that people are inherently cruel and will resort to violence, rather than existent corporate and political power structures intentionally create the conditions in which people accept perpetual cycles of exploitation and harm for the sake of their own safety and comfort, despite knowing the cost of maintaining the status quo, and not seeing or believing that distance between the status quo and total annihilation is measured by the smiling thumbs up of a cartoon mascot.

I'm sure there are other ways The Ghoul could have been a successful character as well but.... That's satire. That's interesting. That's Fallout.

#fallout #fallout tv #fallout prime #fallout tv show #the ghoul #cooper howard #vault tec #“let people enjoy things” well i enjoy critical analysis #i dislike the big picture of the show but i love fallout enough to dig through the mess #fotv critical #fallout critical

[zehiiro]

My thoughts on the 'The Book of Carol' NYCC Press Conference

I really enjoyed the press conference; they spoke more about season 2 than what was covered during the live audience panel.

There were some clarifications and interesting comments made, and I just want to mention some of them here, specifically the ones about Daryl/Carol and Norman/Melissa.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Firstly, I loved the initial comment by Norman, confirming what a lot of us have all been thinking, which was that:

"She [Carol] feels something's wrong. They have that kind of bond, where there's a lot of unspoken things that are said... the bonds that we made in the flagship show are still very strong. She [Carol] can take care of herself, of course... but the bond just keeps getting stronger and stronger. He [Daryl] wants to go home but can't leave it like this. He's just not that guy."

-------------------------------------------------------------

The timeline of Melissa's involvement with the show:

When asked to clarify the timeline of when Melissa got on board/back on board with the show, Norman answered,

"She was on board since before the first script came out, and you know media says this and social media says that, and I literally told the truth; she's been here since day one."

I felt really bad here at how much hate he has been getting from some people, just because of this misunderstanding. I could hear the hurt in his voice when he said he was telling the truth.

Gimple then added that they just wanted to hide her so the audience would experience the surprise of her return in the finale and how they were shocked by how many people showed up at La Defense and spotted Melissa filming after they worked so hard to try and hide her presence in France.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Norman and Melissa's scenes that have already been shot for S2:

Norman confirmed that Melissa only filmed a little bit without him and that they have since filmed a bunch together in multiple locations, but not in exact chronological order, which I'm so happy about because now that we know that they have finished filming 3 episodes of the show, and have 3 to go, this could imply that we'll be getting the Caryl reunion very early in the season.

I was a little sad when Zabel talked about Melissa's first day on set:

"She was very excited to come back to play the character again, but... everyone around her was different like there was nobody there that she knew (except for Greg and Zabel)."

I really hope this means that they took extra good care of her and made sure she was comfortable and had everything she needed.

Norman confirmed he wasn't there for her first day, but I can understand that, especially if (I suspect) they made a choice to not see each other on set before filming Carol and Daryl's reunion scene so that it's as authentic as possible.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Norman and Melissa's agency as executive producers:

They confirmed that both Norman and Melissa are involved in their characters' storytelling and that there's a lot of collaboration between Norman & Melissa and also between them and the writers. I was so happy to hear Zabel say:

"We'd be fools not to rely on actors who know these characters as well as they do... it's kind of a gift because they know so much about who they are already; you wanna build on that, you don't want to get stuck and stagnated on that."

That's all we've been asking for, let Norman and Melissa lead!

No one knows Carol and Daryl as well as they do. They lived inside their minds for 12+ years; they brought them to life and made them the characters/duo that we love so much, and only they truly understand what Carol and Daryl mean to each other, what they want, and what they need.

I was particularly happy to hear Zabel say that he sat down with Melissa from very early on and asked her about where she thinks Carol needs to go next and what are the things that are unresolved with her. All I need from the season 2 writing is to show that her voice was heard and that her ideas were considered and properly implemented into Season 2.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, this all sounds really promising to me, although I'd still like to hear some of these things from Melissa rather than everyone speaking on her behalf.

I'd love to know what you guys think about all this, and I've linked the full press conference below for your own reference.

[full press conference] - audio only

#daryl dixon #carol peletier #caryl #norman reedus #melissa mcbride #the book of carol #the walking dead #twd spoilers #caryl positivity #the walking dead daryl dixon #CarylArchives

[definitelynotshouting]

OUGHHH sorry to be on anon, I need to make a proper tumblr to talk to people in hermitblr but currently I only have a sideblog and am not gonna expose my ten year old main aklsdjhfdklas, but I am the author of the romeo and juliet au tysm you made my heart grow warm and fuzzy and then explode I've never seen my fic mentioned out in te wild before <33333

to fuel ur theatre au brainworms, in the romeo and juliet au: mercutio is bdubs + benvolio is cleo, and jimmy and joel are sampson and gregory (two capulets from the start of the play they're such dumbasses my absolute beloveds), so we've got the design philosophy of the montagues and the capulets mirroring the aesthetics of the family and the bad boysss. (I never came up with a design for bad boy!Ren when he steps in as Tybalt instead of Grian during show week but I feel it's not too hard to imagine hehe)

but also (separately from that au, because I saw other talk of the life series and theatre and plays on ur blog) I constantly think about the life series as a greek tragedy, specifically in relation to the purpose of the series' inevitable tragedy being catharsis for the watchers (with the watchers also being literally the viewers). we love to see them suffer!!! but there's also a bunch of politics surrounding greek tragedies that Plato and Aristotle had discourse about that you can rope into it and tldr; my understanding is catharsis was Aristotle's answer to Plato's concern that tragedies' emotive affect could encourage rebellion against the state, with Aristotle saying that instead the cycle of pity and fear and eventual catharsis felt by the audience has a "purifying" effect that's like an emotional release from those emotions instead. Then with the extra layer of lore the fandom has surrounding Grian running away from the watchers, if Grian designs the life games, to the end of sating the watchers' need to emotionally feed (thank you Martyn for that piece of lore I'm stealing it jkfhdsk), the purpose of the games could be the cleansing of the watchers' discomfort with him running away and being a player and maintaining the status quo where Grian is actually the one in control !!!! even if he makes himself suffer. also different characters "curses" as their harmatia!! And, if we interpret the watchers as a fictional force AND the viewers simultaneously, then the chorus could absolutely be watchers who are vocal in the fandom - removed from the "players" (and OH how I love the dual meaning of minecraft players and players as in actors) but providing additional commentary and insight into what's happening that further feeds the emotional experience of the audience !!

alsooooo if you don't know the show "& Juliet" scar and grian are ALSO romeo and juliet in that to me, it's their last life/early double life era </3

theatre theatre theatre theatre theatre theatre theatre theatre

YOOOOOOOOO HELLO OP YOUR FIC IS AMAZING AND IM GLAD I COULD REC IT BC IT DESERVES RECOGNIZED!!!!! Also all of this is AMAZING im so obsessed with bdubs being mercutio and cleo being benvolio. Thats incredible like HELLO????? based choices tbh thats so fun

Also super obsessed with the meta of plays feeding into the watcher canon (and im STILL not over martyn somehow accidentally canonizing a key element of my au, this is insane, i came up with the idea for watchers feeding on player emotions in SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR), thats so fucking neat, i love a good tragedy OUGHHHHH its so compelling.

Also no worries about being on anon!!!! I did that too before i finally cleaned up my main blog so all the posts were privated, and then changed my url to match this one so ppl would recognize me WHEEEEEZE. Smth that helped me was tagging my own sideblog in anon asks i sent, so ppl would know it was me, and i'd get the notif when it got answered. Ofc you might not be comfortable linking your sideblog, but if you ever made one you wanted to sign off with, thats the option i used for a while before using mass post editor to private my entire main blog!!!!

theatre theatre theatre!!! Your ideas are SO pog and cool my dude feel free to ramble to me any time :]

#shouting speaks #asks #scarian #hermitcraft #3rd life #WATCHERS AS GREEK CHORUS.... WHAT IF I WENT INSANE /POS #long post #txt

[mermaidsirennikita]

What did you mean by twilight being “era specific” in your tags on the reblog about upcoming reboots?

I think that when Twilight came out, the book especially (which built a ground fanbase for the movie to launch from) there was less pseudointellectual web analysis, PLUS there was less care for the genuine problems with the series. In some ways, Twilight Discourse helped propel some early era "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!" puritanical bullshit.

things people weren't clocking super heavily when Twilight came out that I think are legitimate issues:

--Stephenie Meyer is a devout Mormon, and as such her politics seep into the books; the conservativism surrounding sex despite the inherent titillation of "when will they fucking fuck"; the anti-choice messaging; the racism, which lemme tell you, has some Very Specific Implications when it comes from a Mormon author. (Now I.... clocked her as soon as I saw the name "Stephenie", and had it confirmed as soon as I read she was named that for her dad, for reasons I won't get into. But a lot of people didn't.)

--Going back to the racism... It's real bad, and the movies made it worse by casting a white guy the most important indigenous role. Everyone else was played by Native actors. Not Jacob Black, the third most crucial character in the entire series. The fact that they baldly got away with that in 2008? Says a lot. Like, they weren't even trying to pass him off, they just went "well, he can tan". In fact, I think Taylor Lautner SAID he'd work up a tan for the second movie. I mean, he was already pretty tan, the just sprayed him down further. Problem solved, right?

--Nessie is dumb as hell in general, but it's also like... so anti-choice. Like. Bella is literally dying lmao. But not only is it presented as Right and Understandable that she'd want to die to birth this demonic child--the crucial thing about this is that EDWARD, MY MAN, is presented as the bad guy for really, really wanting her to abort. He is being completely logical and a loving partner here. He rightly points out that they have no fucking idea what this kid is, and also, most importantly, he loves Bella and puts her first and wants her to LIVE. Can I just say--unintentionally, the romantic hero everyone was losing their shit over in 2005-2012? Being super about his wife having a life-saving abortion? Kind of iconic. Edward is a pro-choice ally, lmao. (He even tells Jacob like "FINE WHATEVER IF SHE WANTS A BABY THAT BAD YOU CAN FUCK HER IDGAF" in what is. Objectively. A hilarious scene. I've seen Edward antis try to paint this as like, him trying to control her bodily autonomy--dude, Edward could have physically forced Bella to get an abortion. He does not, he simply wants this woman to LIVE.)

But then, as soon as the demon baby is born, he's all in love with her because he realizes she was a Soul Baby this entire time. Lol. No. In a post-Dobbs world, I don't know how you do this, and I think that if you have to entirely redo a crucial part of the series, why. bother. making it.

Never mind Jacob falling in love with a baby.

There are other problems, obviously, but you also have the SAVE THE GIRLS FROM THEIR HORNY DESIRES crowd, who thinks the entire series should be thrown in the trash because Edward is a) abusive because he doesn't want Bella to go be a frosty delight and die or b) abusive because he does want Bella to be a frosty delight and die c) abusive because he doesn't put out (a truly wild take lmao, he's sexually manipulating belly by dangling his cherry in front of her, and she somehow has zero alternatives, certainly not the other guy vying for her hand) d) abusive because he like, tries to buy her a new car and give her nice things...? e) abusive because he doesn't love the idea of his girlfriend hanging out with another guy who tries to kiss her and shit f) abusive because he DOES want her to hang out with that guy and wants her t have werepuppies to distract from the loss of their demon babies.

There is a lot of discourse around Bella, Edward, and Jacob that I find very stupid. I cannot imagine it's going to be any better in a post-Twitter post-X world.

I also think that, frankly? The youth want different things. If they want vampires, they want the Gothic melodrama (and more racially conscious updates) of a show like Interview with the Vampire. If they want teen content, they want teen content that incorporates people who aren't universally cishet and white (Quileutes aside, and as we have discussed... bad).

UNFORTUNATELY, the teens are also less horny, apparently, than they were when I was a teen. Which I think is the result of puritanical stuff/the conservative appropriation and perversion of theoretically solid progressive concepts.... among other things... and we need to make it so that teens feel comfortable with exploring things in an emotionally and physically healthy way. BUT. That's going to take time, and I don't think that the thing that really helped Twilight surmount the discourse, which is that--we Twihards were largely very horny about it--is going to work right now.

Also; if you are not a puriteen, I don't really think Twilight's particular brand of "oh my god, he might just touch my lips while I wear my khaki skirt" horniness is going to work for you, either. Like I said, it was a specific time. The kids who were really anti-sex were less the liberals who are worried about fictional characters' consent being violated when we watched movies... It was Silver Ring Thing kids, who lemme tell you, as someone who did not partake but knew several... Those kids.... wanted to throw down. Really bad.

And so Twilight appealed to that mindset that was like, pervasive in 2008--you don't abstain because you don't or shouldn't want it, you abstain because it's this thing that you will be able to have as soon as it is Right to have it. Like the Jonas Brothers! They did that, right? They really committed to the purity rings, riiiiiiiiiight?

The knowledge that you're waiting for this thing that you have a semi-specific timestamp on (your wedding night) and it's going to be sooo worth the wait (it will not, at least not for a while lol) was this deeply titillating thing for much of the target audience, because that's what Twilight was almost literally evoking. Edward wouldn't have sex with Bella until their wedding night, but he TEASED her. The entire series was arguably abut this leadup to the sex. And boy, was it disappointing! But until it happened, I think the series really captured that breathless anticipation. And I just don't think people are currently very interested in that.

They might as well have been soaking

Also. Bella's dad is a cop.

#AND FIN. #there are a lot of other issues but i think remakes are more often than not. stupid and bad. #interview is arguably a counterargument but it's not so much remaking the 90s movie as it is adapting the book again

[captain-noir]

Previous anon but omg I didn't even see the reply to your post or the fact that you've apparently gotten infamous on Twitter 😭. I'm sorry for people being weird and misinterpreting of that, honestly I like reading your posts a lot because you don't attack Louis so much as point out the obvious ticks to his character and his hypocrisy which, a lot of fans don't seem to even want to talk about? Like fans go on about what a wonderfully complex character he is yet don't even want to go into the specifics of it, and analyzing a character's flaws and how they contribute to his decisions and how it affects HIS life when done correctly doesn't automatically translate to hating on said character....

oh its ok im made of sterner stuff i just find it funny that they're that incensed by an opinion on a fictional character. far be it for me to dictate how one enganges with media but i never understood people who tie up their entire identities around characters/ships. who are you fighting for? a figment of someone's imagination? you're going apeshit over words on paper brought to life by an actor doing a job? like louis is fascinating because he's a lying murderous hyprocrite who would sacrifice his child in a fire to save his spouse and then tend to that vacuous guilt so he can have something to nurse until the new baby arrives. he was a pimp for godsake, a slum lord who continued on even after 'making enough money to retire and be buried like a pharoah' continued that exploitation when he had other investements and means of income as. thats fascinating. thats good character work. it doesnt mean he wasnt a victim of abuse, it doesnt mean he didnt experience violent racism. he has dimensions! the biggest crime a character can commit is be boring and those losers want louis to be a boring hapless victim who just keeps falling into the clutches of these evil evil men and would someone think of the optics of this black character he has to be good why are you villaini[gunshot] ironically they miss the entire point of louis who is overly concerned by how he comes across so he rewrites his entire story and they buy into it. jacob anderson said he was glad that the jig was up and louis couldnt continue to paint himself as the tragic hero of the piece. if nothing else listen to jacob anderson. anway i predict season 2 is going to be rough for them when the show double downs on louis' bad choices re armand and lestat and claudia. when heads hit the floor literally and figuratively...phew

#yaz replies #louis de pointe du lac #we finally have an interesting and multifaceted black character as a lead in the definitive gothic work in the modern age #and you want me to be precious about how he comes across #i hope he gets worse

[atopvisenyashill]

tbh i think it would have made more sense, if they wanted to racebend without breaking/severely fucking with the backstories of the characters (and maybe even adding a new, interesting layer), they should have racebend a host of characters to be DORNISH. the show runners talk a big game about doing what got didn’t but one of got’s first Adaptation Sins was completely cutting Dorne out of the plot. Messing with Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, killing Doran, cutting Arianne and Aegon, giving us some nameless distant Martell cousin as the sole Dornish voice at the end…cutting Arianne and Aegon alone completely screwed the last few seasons but you can chart the downfall of the series by how Dorne is written (we literally all remember bad pussy)! Of course, it seems like “doing what got didn’t” doesn’t include Dorne at all which is a huge indictment of how thoroughly they misunderstand the books and how haphazardly they decided to racebend.

Here are the characters it makes sense to racebend (heavy emphasis on being Dornish, obviously):

Marilda of Hull (“daughter of a shipwright” could be from anywhere) and therefore Addam and Alyn as well.

Actually gone into Criston Cole’s Dornish background and ancestry; this man is essentially fighting to preserve ANDAL law and not Dornish/Rhoynar law and he’s clearly internalized all the madonna/whore complex nonsense that the Faith has about women, he clearly feels some type of way about queer people, but there’s no discussion of how being from Dorne is so at odds with his worldview?? Racebending because the actor is a man of color is a great idea but the way they did it just completely divorces him from his Dornish background so completely he may well have been from the Free Cities instead.

Joffrey Lonmouth should be Dornish specifically as a way of forcing a conversation about Criston's worldview and how it compares to the typical Dornish worldview.

Qarl should also be a MoC, he’s low birth and from the Crownlands, it would be so easy to make his parents merchant class from Essos that married a landed knight or impoverished house (like Serenei of Lys and Sybell Spicer).

Qoren Martell was involved in the Stepstones War, it would b eso easy to include him. Viserys thought of betrothing Qoren and Rhaenyra briefly, show us that and Qoren’s reaction to the idea.

Retcon the Cargylls into being a Stony Dornish house and they (like Cole) decided they might rise to better heights in KL instead of Sunspear. they literally only show up at one (1) other point and they’re extinct in the modern day anyway so its a retcon that doesn't impact a lot of other houses but does add an interesting element to their characters.

Illegitimate Characters - Alys Rivers, Sara Snow, and Gaemon Palehair - are also absolutely perfect for racebending. Gaemon's mother, Lady Essie, could have been either mixed Dornish or Essosi/Summer Islander. Sara and Alys could be anything at all!

**technically Corlys Velaryon and his mother & grandmother, since he doesn’t have a canon mother (Dornish would be interesting considering his involvement in the Stepstones War, but also the Summer Islands are right there, there’s nothing stopping Corwyn and Daemon Velaryon from marrying some rich noble Summer Islander while seafaring), which would make Corlys biracial, and Laena & Laenor mixed race, so they could have a PoC right away in the main cast without the “we race bent all the Velaryons except not Alyssa, you know, the one that is actually related to the main Targaryen line? yeah she’s white” thing.

i mean they did racebend Mysaria so good job i guess, you got the easiest one here to do right

This way you get main characters as PoC, but it’s not this really bad, clear gimmick bc they completely ignore that Alyssa, and therefore the entire Targaryen line (except maybe Rhaenyra, Aegon, Helaena, Aemond, and Daeron) should be visibly mixed race! they get to have the cool aesthetic choices of Corlys and his kids having white hair so they could flex their new budget with a plethora of Targaryen wigs while not ignoring and fucking with their own canon. The only main house that could be wholesale racebent without screwing up the entire thing is House Strong, because they only interact with Rhaenyra (as in, we have no record of them marrying into another house like we do the Velaryons) and they're extinct in the main timeline so it doesn't matter in the long run what they look like.

BUT - you just can’t make any of the Valyrian houses (except maybe the Celtigars lmao) or Andal houses PoC without drastically changing the dynamics of Westeros as well as what the other ruling houses look like, because these people are deeply inbred even excluding Targ brother-sister fuckery. And At This Point In Time, you can’t really change any of the First Men into PoC either. So that means extinct houses (like the Cargylls) and non noble characters.

But the great thing about GRRM, ASOIAF, and this world as a whole is that George is not interested in telling a story from the perspective of “insiders” but “outsiders” - the bastards, cripples, and broken things. There are a lot of these types of characters in this story and if they had race bent them, and actually thought about the effects of that, even on a subtextual level, they might have been able to tell the rich story they wanted. Instead, they just went for what’s coolest.

#hotd critical #house of the dragon #getting on my soap box #anti hotd #race and ethnicity in asioaf #like they could have made someone myrish and dealt with their history of slavery and how it descends from valyria. #but no. they hate me personally. #also if anyone says they should have racebent the hightowers i'm gonna throw adwd at you. that would have been SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE #than the velaryon mess we currently have.

[missinconsistent]

Man, I have so many mixed feelings about the "statement" that was made by Elira, Vox, and Ike.

There's a lot of debate if the three were forced to speak on the situation, and I really don't know what's true. But they've burned their bridges with Selen, and it's just really shitty seeing friends have such an awful fallout, and it all being aired to the public of bad actors to jump in and send hate.

I feel disappointed because I do believe the livers should be allowed to speak their side, defend themselves from the harassment and accusations made towards them, and they're allowed to be upset. I think it's understandable they'd feel scared their personal information and jobs are at stake. But there is no proof that the legal documents would ever go public to dox them. They only incriminated themselves further by mentioning they thoroughly went over the legal document shared with them, which was meant to be private.

Vox particularly had a certain attitude that really rubbed me the wrong way. I could understand where Elira and Ike were coming from, regardless if you agree with them, but Vox just sounded so fed up and too combative.

He spends too much time defending management about The Last Cup of Coffee video but the issue of Selen's termination was NOT that she had failed getting all the permissions because, other than some bad actors, a lot of us already understood she broke that rule. But it was literally everything else about the termination and the culmination of events that people are mad about.

Even though Vox said they don't take Selen's "attempt" lightly, it isn't proven with how they spoke about her and the whole situation. It really did feel like they were more focused on trying to paint Selen as a bad person than showing any bit of understanding for her mental health. Imho, they are allowed to be mad at her AND also show her some sympathy. But Vox, only saying they aren't taking her attempt lightly, is basically all we get. Everyone had reached out to Selen after hearing of her attempt, and getting updates through her emergency contact isn't proof that they handled the situation with care. It almost comes off as they were worried about how it would reflect on the company more than Selen's wellbeing.

It is morally grey that Selen had recorded Vox without his permission to get some kind of dirt out of him (even if it is legal in Canada), but using a very specific instance of when Selen broke Vox's trust still doesn't amount to what she went through that drove her to commit an attempt. Vox going to that moment just felt petty because it made HIM hurt that something like that happened to HIM, and HE was willing to graduate with Selen even though HE would never feel that way if it wasn't for Selen pulling his strings..?

With Ike and Elira, they, too, are both guilty of painting a bad picture of Selen in an attempt to save face for the company and their own careers within Niji. I don't like how they did that, but I understand how Elira would be worried about herself and her two close friends in Niji being doxxed. And Ike, as someone who was considered a friend of Selen, would just feel generally hurt and confused about the situation going on. It's not a black and white situation. But I wish they would have been able to express their negative emotions without feeling the need to speak badly of Selen's character.

Even though this is clearly a tough time for them and everyone in EN, I think that video would've come out a little better if they weren't so focused on trying to paint Selen as the bad guy. As a Niji fan, I wish the company- and the livers- knew how to speak neutrally. They could've just been ambiguous and say they felt upset and betrayed, but they are going to keep working with the company bc that's the choice they stand by, without pointing fingers or especially talking about confidential legal documents.

As angry as everyone is, neither of the livers deserves to be harassed. There has been incredibly dehumanizing shit said and done, and if anyone is sending hate or doxxing them, then you are no better than Anycolor. Selen is not the only person to have mental health struggles, and, she's already asked people not to bully or harrass anyone because she knows how shitty it feels. We don't need to push another liver to their breaking point and act like that is any favor to Doki, to Nijisanji, or any community.

Me venting my frustration isn't meant to be harassment towards Elira, Ike, or Vox. I think they're also victims of their management's incompetence. As a fan, it's just disappointing they blamed Selen for all the problems. And even if they never meant to harrass her, shutting down her frustrations and pressuring her to do what's told of her or else she'd been hurting everyone else while no one looked out for her, is probably what led her to feel the way she did. It shows the company hasn't been doing any introspection and are continously having their livers stick their neck out to avoid doing so.

Nijisanji is lucky that a lot of people are giving the three the benefit of the doubt that they are sharing their true feelings and are only forced to have made the video by management. And it would be nice if, for once, management would take the bullet for their livers other than the other way around and just take some responsibility for their actions without throwing their talent under the bus or using them as a shield. Then, if Elira, Ike, and Vox do choose to leave the company, they'd still have a reputation after Niji after everything they've been put through.

#nijisanji

[altschmerzes]

ARTEMIS FOUL????? I NEVER WATCHED IT BUT I DO REMEMBER THAT THEY MARKETED THE SHIT OUT OF THAT MOVIE AT MY LOCAL THEATRE AND I HAD NO IDEA WHY BECAUSE ALL I HEARD ABOUT IT WERE BAD THINGS 💀 ALSO I AM VERY POLITELY ASKING FOR THE FOUR PARAGRAPH LAMENT AND ANALYSIS, I THINK IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO HEAR FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE BOOKS WELL

OKAY CRACKS KNUCKLES LETS GO-

anon. i am so happy you never experienced this. it was so bad. it was so fucking bad. to quote the wikipedia page "The film received negative reviews from critics, who criticized the film's plot, dialogue, characters, visual effects, and changes made to the source material." which is fucking hysterical because as you can see, that is in fact..... all of it. the whole movie. that is all of the things about the movie! and boy was this prescient of the experience i was about to have.

so, without further ado, here is my rant as an Artemis Fowl Lover Of Many Many Years on what was insanely, profoundly, hideously wrong with that movie. under a cut for the wellbeing of my dash bc this is uhhhhh a LOT more than four paragraphs i'm so sorry. i still have so much more i could say but. i'll leave it at this. which is already a lot.

THE OPENING & PLOT

literally right from the very opening it was just..... bad. it was very bad. it started with this news blitz of like, clips of reporters talking about some mysterious big drama, and it was the. weirdest possible tone. to start this story from? it was weird and bad. every character's introduction was weird and bad. butler's actor was wearing fucking irradiated blue contact lenses for some fucking reason. artemis was surfing. what is going on here.

so here are some wild choices they made: artemis's mom? dead. artemis's dad? PRESENT AND ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN HIS LIFE. he is a leather jacket wearing, affectionate, involved Cool Dad who just has to go on a lot of work trips. friends, those of you who read these books will remember that the situation is that artemis's father has been gone for like Two Years, and artemis's mother is......... basically comatose in her room. she is very much not doing any parenting. this is the specific collection of factors that lets the whole plot happen, because it leaves artemis without any supervision or parenting, and also just enough like. cover for the plot to allow this to keep happening, because artemis iirc goes to great lengths to cover up his mom's like. catatonia.

i didn't watch most of the movie. i watched less than nineteen minutes of it. so i can't say much about the plot, but this setup of like........... COOL STUNTS and mulch diggums being interviewed by the human-ass police and artemis's dad teaching him about the faeries because they're Bonding (???????) and there's a basement of faerie artifacts in fowl manor it just. i don't. why would you do this.

ARTEMIS HIMSELF

oh my gd. they massacred my boy- like. okay. listen. i was listening to a wonderful podcast - it's called the shrieking shack, i highly recommend it, and it's a podcast by and for, quote "lapsed h/arry pott/er fans" and the hosts are great, it's well edited, it's a wonderful, hilarious read. in one episode i was just listening to, artemis fowl came up! the host liz was saying that she was just generally fed up with and burnt out on the 'boy genius' genre as a whole, which is fair. i respect that and i vibe with it. however, she didn't recall anything from the actual books themselves, which became clear, because her cohost, xeecee, sort of cut in to correct that like. actually, these books were a pretty effective and highly specific deconstruction of the Cool Boy Genius Genre.

artemis is smart as all hell, that's true. he's incredibly smart. however, he's also a smug, irritating, irresponsible little shit who makes bad choices, and the narrative and other characters are not easy on him for this. he's not supposed to. he's not cool, or smooth, or admirable, or whatever. he's just... a shitty baby with no supervision, entirely too much money, yes too smart for his own good, but making bad decisions and seeing consequences for those decisions and having to grapple with like. the way those bad decisions have consequences for other people too. and the movie....... un-subverted that. they ruined it entirely, because actually yes, in that film we are directly supposed to think artemis is Really Cool! we're introduced to him SURFING for fuck's sake. artemis fowl. introduced to us SURFING.

and then there's like......... the introduction, the first couple of MINUTES of this movie. like within the first three or so minutes. they torpedoed any chance i would have at taking this seriously as an adaptation of artemis fowl.

and so what really struck me very quickly as Extremely Wrong is that - and this is something that as an adult particularly reflecting on this makes me profoundly fucking sad - but he's too..... happy. in the first several minutes. he's happy. he's having fun. he's relaxed, he's a kid. that's not........ he's not like that in the books. he's not happy. he's not running around grinning because golly gee gosh does he love being in the outdoors in ireland!!!!! he's severe, and intense, and focused and we see him smug, and self-satisfied, and proud, and like. excited in an intellectual, aha what a clue kind of way, but he is not happy. and he specifically isn't relaxed and like- bouncy-happy the way he is in the first several minutes here. this movie so thoroughly misses the mark that it misses one of the most acute pieces of like. pathos? in these books? which is that artemis himself is a really fucking tragic character. like yeah, he's a shitty baby and he sucks, but that's 1. the point, and 2. he is a Child who didn't have a chance in hell of actually being one.

i think we get to see him like. shed that a bit, later on, and actually have some moments where he is happy. but it's so like........... it takes a longass time and it's extremely hard-won, from a reader's perspective. when we see him crack and act like a kid, it's huge. it's extremely emotionally affecting. so to have his introduction not only involve SURFING but artemis grinning and bouncing around and doing sick skateboard trips..... no. that's not...... no. at this point the protagonist is unrecognizable, and why are you doing an adaptation. just make a different movie.

BUTLER

in his introductory sequence, the narrative says he is never to be called The Butler, even though his last name IS butler, and "you could call him 'dom' or 'domovoi'" which...... lmfao. fuck off. you could resoundingly NOT call him that, that was in fact a major plot point. twice. this really, really fucking bothered me, because like..... that is specifically a character thing that i really really liked from the books, the whole thing about butler's first name. and the thing they did with artemis's parents, with his mom being dead and his dad just sort of Being Here As An Active Presence like. completely undermined the whole...... thing, with artemis and butler. butler was his father figure, but neither of them could really..... they were both kept at arm's length from this for a very long time, because butler was employed by the fowl family and artemis is like. so fucking emotionally repressed that he is practically made of stone. like...

one of the reasons that butler was a character i was always pretty fascinated by as an adult who like, pretty seriously failed artemis but also couldn't really have done any better because of the specific combination of factors that landed both of them where they were in life. and the emotional core of their relationship was something i was obsessed with as a kid who was just getting super into Found Family As A Trope. and the whole thing where like....... one of THE major cracks we see in artemis's persona, the biggest CONSEQUENCES that he sees is when he makes a mistake, he gets outplayed, and butler is fatally shot. he's devastated, he's terrified, and it's his fault. someone he loved - whether or not he could contextualize it like that - was going to die and it was his fault. and that scene of him dealing with this, and making this plan to save him and needing to move butler to the restaurant freezer and being too small to move him effectively was like.... man that hit so hard. and none of that hits without this deliberate distance that's represented by the fact that not only does artemis not refer to butler by his first name, he does not fucking know what it is.

and then in this movie the first line that artemis says to butler addresses him directly as "dom" and i- no. i think i actually said "fuck off" out loud. because come on.

THE UH. CASTING CHOICES. THEY MADE. HOO BOY.

so i didn't get to meet either of them in the movie and this was for the best, but boy did they ever make some casting choices with root and holly.

i love dame judi dench, i love the THOUGHT of her playing root, but like.......... of all the characters you could genderbend, literally pick any of them but that one. any of them. at all. personally? i think it'd be fucking great to make mulch a woman, or trouble kelp. i personally, for my own enjoyment, would fucking LOVE to see a Cool Butch Lady Trouble Kelp. bruh. PLEASE. but........ root?????? genderbending that character specifically undermines the entire Deal with him and holly. because the fact that root was a kinda shitty older man who had to pull his head out of his ass was THE POINT. but uh. not like they got into that i guess, given what i heard they did with holly. who, speaking of-

and casting a kid to play holly? no. no. fuck off. she is a grown-ass adult woman. i'm not even gonna get into this. it's so bad. why the fuck would you do that. that's probably what actually got me to bail because i thought i'd like, hallucinated that or something but my buddy confirmed that no, she was played by A CHILD. good lord. no.

#gav gab #gav answers #AUGH. I FEEL INSANE.

[aquaburst3]

Ever since that picture of Snow White with the creepy CGI dwarves dropped, I've seen people posting hot takes about Rachel. Here's mine.

I feel bad for Rachel Zelger. She is getting a lot of undeserved flack. Bigots are calling her "Snow Brown" and other hateful things, despite the fact that she's literally a white latina, who is olive-skinned. (Again, I think a lot of it is bigots being angry about "wokeness", but that's a whole other can of worms.) Rachel's position about this specific adaptation is completely understandable.

This movie is shaping up to be pretty bad. Not because of Rachel Zelger. This is already the second time the release date was delayed. I don't think it's just because of the strike. It genuinely seems like Disney is going back to the drawing board multiple times and it's not coming together. I still don't buy their excuse about the dwarves, since they look like they just slapped some CGI figures over the other actors. No one can come back for reshoots, making this even more awkward. Usually movies with this much production troubles never turn out to be good. The same thing happened with Artemis Fowl, and I suspect the same will happen here. I don't blame her for not liking this movie. This wasn't the first time an actor hated the movie that they were in. Robert Pattinson famously mocked the Twilight movies as they were coming out. So why is she any different?

Having said that, I think her comments about the OG animated version were a bit tone deaf. Love it or hate it, Snow White is one of the first full length animated movies ever. If it wasn't for it, the whole animation landscape throughout the world would be different. Hell, this movie along with Carl Barks comics are the whole reason why anime characters look like the way they do. You have to give the movie some respect for that. Her dissing it and brushing off completely makes her come off as disrespectful and like she has zero understanding off the character she's portraying or animation as a whole. The comments she made about the prince, by extension, Jeremy Renner, makes her look even worse. She should've thought through her comments before spouting them out.

Snow White isn't one of my favourite Disney movies. It's certainly a product of its time, and has a lot of issues like not giving the prince more screentime (even if it's understandable why) or it prioritizing random scenes with the characters working or goofing off instead of proper character or story developments. At the same time, I think Snow White's a bit more feminist than what some people are giving her credit for. She is assertive, capable, adaptable and hard working, which are all feminist traits. While I'm childfree by choice "leftist", even I admit that being a mother is a lot of hard work and takes a strong person to do. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to have a family one day or being like me and never having any at all. Feminism is about choice, after all.

Yes, Snow White as a character needs an update. However, I still think you can do that while also keeping the core of her character and not turn her into a girl boss. That is certainly possible. Vil from Twisted Wonderland is a great example, and he comes from a Disney property too. Despite technically being inspired by the Evil Queen, a lot of his good traits are taken from Snow White and Adam. Like the original Snow White, Vil's hardworking, capable, adaptable, quick on his feet, kind, caring and wants to help out everyone around him become their best selves. He also lacks some of Snow White's glaring issues like her extreme naivety and dumb moments. (Seriously, why did she let in the Evil Queen into the cottage, especially when she was told not to multiple times and the birds attacked her?) But at the same time, he is also incredibly flawed. He's domineering, harsh, impulsive, overly critical, in his own head and super judgemental. These negative traits flesh him out and make him seem more human compared to the original, who was a very flat character. Hell, same can be said about Mary from Once Upon a Time. Disney can do it. They just didn't here.

I think we can all agree that Disney should've casted actual little people as the dwarves, the conservative "media" bullshit making their own movie is fucking laughable and the Disney Princesses can fall in love and be strong characters. Characters like Tiana and all of the other Renaissance prove that. I want more romance in Disney movies again, dammit!

#aqua rambles

[eisforeidolon]

The dramatic add ons on that essay from OP about Jensen and Jared, I can't, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this level of stupidity and idk, belligerence, I think is the word? Claiming that oh, not only is the "supernatural magic" broken, but that Supernatural had also simultaneously during its run "drained the passion" out of them, and if it weren't for TB and Walker, they would've retired. I'm not going to pretend the last years of Supernatural were great. I mean, that's literally the reason it ended, because it was clear to them that it was no longer what it used to be, and if they didn't end it soon, it would get worse. But, I'm unsure of how that correlates to them wanting to retire from their careers? I've heard whisperings that Jared wanted to maybe take a step back or a break, I don't know if that's true that he said this because I haven't heard it myself, but I'm certain that Jensen never indicated he was looking to retire after Supernatural, he's as passionate about acting as he's ever been. Soooo..... where is this coming from? And on top of that, just being plain condescending and dismissive of their new projects? "I don’t think what they have been doing is good enough. They are more than what they are doing." said directly after "They could be cops, escaped fugitives, ghosts, anything."......... Both of them have played cops since Supernatural, Soldier Boy was a fugitive, Dean was a ghost in TW. So, in addition to how rude it is to dismiss the work they're doing, clearly the issue isn't the kind or quality of roles they're taking, it's that they're not doing it together. Though OP seems to have some specific resentment towards Jensen, he's the big bad evil, and Jarer is a victim, clearly in their eyes, neither Jensen nor Jared are good enough unless they're attached at the, well, everything, and only working with each other. That...... is just truly a mess that I don't understand. They're their own people, actors, with their own careers. They gave fifteen years to this show, them now wanting to explore other things isn't a crime, it's only natural 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yeah, the whole thing was just ... totally bizarre to me.

The retirement thing especially. Like, J2 explicitly said they were sick of doing that many hours for that many episodes per season a few times. They also said they were wanting to end it before it completely ran out of gas/wore out its welcome/etc. and come back later in a different format afresh. But even when Jared was making noises about semi-retiring post-SPN (I recall at least one convention where he openly said something to that effect)? He made it clear he was still wanting to do stuff behind the camera and would likely appear in friends' projects and whatever might catch his fancy. Jensen, to my recollection, didn't say anything about stepping back from acting, just not wanting to continue in a co-lead role on a non-ensemble show with 20+ episodes per season. They weren't burnt out on acting so much as burnt out on the kind of schedules they had to keep as the only central characters in every episode of a weekly show that filmed in a different country from where their families live.

Like, okay, if you want to only be interested in Jared and Jensen as J2 together, that's a choice, I guess? But they don't owe you to continue only doing projects together because that's what you, random fan #14268331, want.

#askboxery #anonymous #j2 prequel drama

[notrailers]

Let me start off this review by saying I think may be my film of the year (definitely between this and Banshees of Inisherin). What is puzzling is that this never got a true wide release. At most, it showed in around 600 theaters. For reference, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever played in over 4,300 theaters. A filmmaker as famous as Spielberg probably deserved more showtimes, but audiences are not flocking to non-franchise films.

The Fabelmans is an autobiographical look at Steven Spielberg’s life, from his introduction to filmmaking, to his family dynamic and how he got to the inspiration of why so many of his films include broken families and missing fathers.

The immediate draw is his love of cinema. It it what was sold about the movie. And we explore every aspect from Sammy (as Steven) getting his first camera to being tasked with directing his high school’s beach day. Filmmaking is the entry point, but it leads you to the deeper theme.

That theme is the dissolution of marriage and learning to cope with a fracturing family. Real-life Steven created this film as a way to sympathize with his father (Burt in the film), while his character and the film itself sided so firmly with his mother (Mitzi). This obviously came from a realization later in life of the sacrifices his father made and the burdens he had to shoulder.

This is, I guess, where I get into spoilers.

Mitzi fell in love with Burt’s best friend, Benny, who the kids call Uncle. Benny is played by Seth Rogen and I suppose this is a good time to start talking about performances.

Seth Rogen as Benny: I have heard people say and thought to myself while I was watching this in theaters that this is literally just Seth Rogen. He never becomes the character. It’s like when you’re playing a video game and it goes to a cutscene and your character looks wildly different from anyone else around. What really takes you out is when he does his trademark laugh. I wanted to like him and I think an actor like him was a good casting choice, but not Rogen specifically.

Michelle Williams as Mitzi: She is eccentric, quirky, a wild spirit and is a perfect foil to Paul Dano’s Burt. She has an artist’s heart and loves to create and explore. She just wants to have fun and play things dangerously, this is what draws her away from Burt and to Benny. Benny is the class clown who doesn’t take anything too seriously. He is the less stable of the two men, but that is not what Mitzi is after. Williams puts on a performance that excels in balancing the love she feels for her kid, her husband, and what she truly wants from her life.

Paul Dano as Burt: Paul Dano is one of my favorite actors and his ability to command the screen while not being boisterous is top tier. He can mold into any role. The Fabelmans is no different. As believable as he was as the Riddler in The Batman, he is just as believable as Sammy’s father. The entire emotional arc hinges on Dano’s ability and he does not disappoint. He has to become the bad guy of the family, but because Spielberg has become sympathetic to his family’s situation, he does not come across as evil and is not shown in a bad light. While Sammy’s parent’s divorce was the result of Mitzi, Burt took the blame out of the love he felt for his wife.

Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy: Steven Spielberg himself. I can’t imagine the weight he had to carry playing arguably the most famous director alive. There was an authenticity from the actor and honestly this whole film hinged on it. Sammy had to be conflicted about his ability, his social standing, and his religion. He had to balance out his parents, his sisters, and Uncle Benny. He was sufficiently awkward and a genius filmmaker by high school (the special effects for the war film were a stroke of creativity that I don’t think I could conjure in my lifetime).

This was the best film of the year and I feel like nobody has seen it. The Fabelmans has so far been a box office bomb and the death of original filmmaking continues. It is nearly impossible for a non-IP like Top Gun or Marvel to do well that has a $50-$100 million budget and even then Black Adam was a box office flop, but DC feels like an outlier for big studio performances.

The man who made E.T, Close Encounter, Jurassic Park, on and on, could not release a successful film about his life. To me, that is incredibly sad and concerns me for the future of theatrical releases. I adored everything about this movie and it was perfect. Please go see it if you can.

Rating: 5/5

Would I Recommend? With my whole chest.

#the fabelmans #steven spielberg #paul dano #film #film review #movie review #letterboxd #cinephile #cinema #movie

[tenrose]

This episode is a masterpiece. It’s obviously the best Machine’s POV episode. I love how the writers slowly showed us how the Machine works through the seasons, and how over time she really became a full character of her own and not just... a machine. We grow attached to her, but this episode is really the one I knew I would love her unconditionally. The flashbacks with Harold explaining why she’s making this decision today. She runs all the simulations she can, and delete every ones who have one her team members dying. To her all lives have the same value, that’s what Harold taught her and she listened and she learnt. She’s not a super efficient computer because she has access to all electronics devices to spy on, she’s very efficient because she knows what to do with the informations she get. We’ve seen multiple times flashbacks showing us that learning, and more specifically learning the value of human life is the central point Harold focused on to create Her. And damn did he made an absolute marvelous job. Harold is such a genius. So in the end she decides to pick the option were they all have about 2% of chances of survival. You’d think it’s a bad choice, but first of all she doesn’t have time to calculate billions of possibilities, and second she does pick the option that one, assure the success of Her plan, because if they’d die without even succeeding in what they’re supposed to do here in the first place, then what’s the point? Two, they all have equal chances of surival. Sure these chances are low, but she doesn’t prioritize one human life over another one, not even her own creator. And that’s why I love her so much.

But not only that, on a lighter note, she does know her team so well it’s amazing. Not lighter, but the fact that she knows all of them would sacrifice themselves in no time makes me want to throw myself into the void. But also how she guesses all their little talks, sassy remarks etc. The fact that she decide to lose precious seconds to save a freaking painting because she knows Harold would appreciate it 😩 And when she simplifies the simulation with simple descriptive responses for each characters, and it’s exactly the tone and type of responses they would use!!! Poetic cinema. Also hat off to the actors for acting this without bursting into laughter. Also when she makes Lionel kiss Root for no reason and you can see through the characters’ reactions that she, herself, is like “this doesn’t make any sense”. Honestly the whole thing looks like reading the scenario. You have the basis of what the writers chose for their characters. And let’s not forget that the Machine is Shoot number one shipper. They were literally no good reason for her to make that discussion between Root and Shaw in the simulation. What is the purpose to her calculation? There’s none. But she chose to incorporate it, because one: she has eyes and hears everywhere and she obviously can’t fucking miss the obvious, not to mention she probably had to deal with Root more than anyone else in the show, so she knows better than anyone else. Let’s not talk about the “Maybe someday”, this lesbian cannot stand that phrase anymore without wanting to throw myself over the window. Anyway, the Machine is like, they better be talking their feelings out or I will take matter in my own hands. Yet she did not betray Shaw’s characters and chose the appropriate response for her. Dismissing her feelings dfdfezeff

And then we’re back to reality. I remember when I first watched this episode I was so shocked the first time we see Finch dying before we understand it’s a simulation. Like I went completely unresponsive for at least five minutes trying to process what was happening. This time, the second the first simulation hit, I was already crying lmao and basically I watched the whole episode with tears in my eyes. Probably cause I knew what was going to happen, but seeing the Machine’s process, it really feels like she’s not just calculating, but she’s having a mental breakdwon calculating. Remember how in the flashback she was scared to make the first move in the chess game because she was afraid of making the wrong move? Yes. That’s what I’m telling when I say this show is absolutely insane. And when Shaw finally appears and you can see the percentage rising up, like first time I was like “YES YES YES” and this time I was like “NO”. Also the fact that Shaw has the queen role. The most powerful piece in chess, she can change the whole game, she can move the way other can’t, and she’s a very important piece to win the game, but that doesn’t mean she has to survive the whole game. But in that case, it wasn’t the Machine’s choice, it’s Shaw who came and chose to sacrifice herself to make sure everyone else would get out of here alive. And the fact that she admits having feeling to Root just like the Machine predicted, not by words but by kissing her... I need another full year to recover. Look, I know what happens to Shaw, I know it but it’s so well done. That’s how you write a great end for a character. Just like **** But yes it still makes me wants to lay on the ground. And I vividly taking lot of episodes before admitting it was not another simulation.

Also this episode is just great in general. The visuals, with the slow motions effects, the close ups, all of it, it’s absolutely gorgeous and emphasize the whole drama of the episode. And Fortune Days. Damn that song. All picks on this show always fit so well. But this one fits particularly well. First of all it’s literally from a band called The Glitch Mob, which is already fitting enough for the Machine, but the song is structured like it’s restarting multiple times, like the Machine re evaluate her option. I don’t know who picked it but they deserve a raise just for that decision.

Anyway that was my love letter to this episode but also I want to die.

Sorry about the misspelling and shit, it’s 1am and I’m having thoughts.

#poi #if-then-else #next time i'll be talking about root having beef with the maching one single time throughout the whole show #and it's about shaw #but first i need to recover

[imperiuswrecked]

Putting this all here because I’m pretty much done with your bullshit @imperiusrexxx 

I would respond to imperiuswrecked, but they blocked me. It’s no loss, but, like, we were in the middle of something, bro. Now, if I respond, it would just be behind their back.

I guess I’ll just say that demanding a character be portrayed accurately is not racist, fighting for representation of one race when the character is coded for that race is not racist, and stating that a person does not look like a character is not racist. I have not said anything against Latinos because I have nothing against Latinos. I just think an East Asian actor would fit the role more accurately. Again, if they had chosen a white actor, I would have made the same arguments and would have been just as unhappy with the casting.

I don’t know why they were obsessed with the fact that I’m not attracted to Tenoch, like that matters. There are beautiful Latino men, but they still would not be an accurate cast for Namor...unless they were half-Asian. He is only half-Atlantean, which is the East Asian coded race.

As for other accusations, they’re just bullshit. Unless they’re specific, I can’t even address them and have to assume they’re just lying to push their narrative.

I blocked you because as far as I was concerned we were done. You posted about Namor being Asian and only Asian using comic meta I had talked about before as the core belief in your argument that Tenoch is a bad choice for Namor and I refuted that and that was it. I have no wish to listen to your explanations as if I haven’t been a Namor fan since 2014 and done a lot of reading about him. 

Demanding a character to be portrayed accurately is what people should be doing for things like Wanda Maximoff being Romani in the comics and being played by a White actress in the movies. Meanwhile Namor is an Ambiguous biracial character, he has coding, coding that is PoC and Atlanteans are a fictional race that could be any Native/Non White race. All of the arguments you are using have been based on my and other fans thoughts and posts, yet you disregard Tenoch because he isn’t what you personally like. I’m not obsessed with your thoughts on whether you think Tenoch is ugly or not, you make that clear in your writing “There are many beautiful Latino men” yet you don’t consider Tenoch to be among them, and honestly I don’t care if you hate him. You are very against him even though he hasn’t even been confirmed for Namor. 

The issue I have with you is that you are pitting the Latino vs Asian representation so you can win your argument. Other than that I have not bothered you not spoken with you since you left the server. You accuse Namor fans of leaving you Anon hate messages, and I for one have never sent another person Anon hate. 

I don’t really care what your Anons have to say because if they thought it would be worth defending then they wouldn’t be on Anon.

Once again, Atlanteans are an ambiguously coded fictional race, yes there is coding for them being Asian, but there is also coding for them being Inuit, or Native American. The whole point of Namor is that he isn’t a white man. Choosing a Latino actor for Namor, even if it was not Tenoch, is not going against anything in Namor’s canon because Atlanteans are a fictional non white race. No one is saying one race is interchangable with another except you, I said there are many options and ways to play out Namor’s story and it is not specifically set with him as an East Asian man, however if Marvel had gone that route then I would have been happy as well because I can hold more than two thoughts about how Namor could be portrayed and not have my head explode, imagine that? 

I am not white. The only person who is white who is trying to speak for poc here is @imperiusrexxx and I’m literally so astounded by the fact that I am LITERALLY saying “stop speaking for fans of color and pitting Latinos vs Asians in this Namor casting debate because it’s not your place to decide who gets representation over another people.” and you and whomever this is are acting like I’m wrong when I know I am not. 

I have been surrounded by East Asian people for a lifetime. I was treated like a person and gave them the same respect, because they are people. I listened to their dreams and their problems. They exist. They are not all martial arts masters. They have interests and enjoy aesthetics outside of ancient Chinese or Japanese aesthetics. They can be shaped like body builders, they can be tall, and they can be dark-skinned, Hollywood. I care about the East Asian population because people I care/d about are/were East Asian.

No one is disputing that Asian people are actual people. No one. I don’t care that you have Asian friends. I don’t understand why you are acting like I didn’t want Namor to be played by an Asian actor when I literally spent years, and shared fancasts, and talked about how it would be a great possibility for Namor to be played by an Asian actor. Just because now I can see a Latino actor playing Namor doesn’t mean I have “switched poc interchangeably” it just means that I can see Namor’s character being portrayed in multiple ways. Honestly it’s so small minded of you to think that one race of people deserve more representation than another, that’s not your choice to make and it’s not your right to be offended when actual fans of color are telling you that are wrong. 

Anyway, yes, people of color are not interchangeable. They have their differences, their own struggles, their own cultures, and, in the case of the Namor argument, their own physical characteristics.

Yeah, I fucking know that poc are not interchangable but Namor is of a FICTIONAL race of people and it is up to interpretation and different fans of color can see themselves represented by this character. You keep mentioning physical characteristics, you keep saying that Namor should look like the comics. Then why haven’t you responded to @gloriosa-celeste​ who is also a Namor fan on their reply when they mentioned: 

“Your insistence that Tenoch doesn’t look like Namor is just further evidence of your racist ignorance and preference of euro-centric beauty standards. There is no consistent artist portrayal of Namor - he looks like your average white man in some comics, ambiguously non-white in others, and like a racist caricature in others. No actor is going to look exactly like Namor jumped out of the page, and most Asian men do not have your “ideal” features of “blue eyes and high cheekbones.” You don’t need to find Tenoch Huerta attractive, but your constant insistence that he’s unattractive and doesn’t look like Namor is just you admitting that you don’t think dark-skinned, Indigenous Latino men should be in the spotlight. I personally think Tenoch Huerta looks very regal and attractive, and that he would make a beautiful Namor. “

Namor has never been drawn consistently. So to wrap this up, stop putting your negative comments in the main Namor tags, fuck off with your barely concealed racism, and yes I will be blocking you again soon because I’m done dealing with you and I don’t owe you anymore of my time.

As for other accusations, they’re just bullshit. Unless they’re specific, I can’t even address them and have to assume they’re just lying to push their narrative.

Lmao, I’m not a liar and you are a xenophobic racist, I have no narrative to push because if Marvel had given me a choice of what actor to play Namor then I would have picked David Lee McInnis instead I choose to be happy and supportive of Tenoch Huerta, so every argument you make saying that all I am is a lying Anti trying to gatekeep Asian representation and treat poc representation as interchangeable is such bullshit. 

As for specifics I was not the target of your actions, and it would be up to others if they wish to address it outside of the server it took place it.

#fandom discourse #mcu namor #ham the gringa #long post #my ramblings #anyways im done

[seeingteacupsindragons]

What are your thoughts on Bond disguising himself as Irene? I personally didn't understand why Bond had to dress up as Irene since Irene was a famous socialite who was supposed to be dead for very specific reasons. However i had heard about people using the chapter to insist that Bond wasn't trans rep because he looked pensive and called it Cinderella's magic or something. As a genderfluid person i didn't really interpret it as anything of the sort even if I did feel a little weird about it. Wouldn't it have made sense for Bond to want to be referred to as Adler if he really wanted to "live as his true self for one night" instead of stopping Sherlock from saying his dead name?

I feel like considering how deliberately careful and obvious the trans men in the men's changing room conversation was in the series it wouldn't make sense for the manga to suddenly say Bond regretted being a man now so to me it felt more like Bond not being very happy about going back to Irene. Am I missing something in context?

I think what it comes down to at the end of the day is that a lot of YuuMori fans don't want queer rep.

Oh, they may say they do. But they don't. At most what they want is Slashy Boy Kissing. They don't want queer rep. They don't want complicated. They want things that fit into very prescribed narratives that they have decided on their own, and that is...innately antithetical to queerness. Queerness is inherently complicated and difficult and defies neat boxes and expectations. Some people are really, really bad at that.

Do I think YuuMori is all that queer? Nah, not really. Especially not in a way something like Jeweler Richard is. But it has a couple queer characters, which is really nice to see, and a few themes that really resonate with it.

Are there people who do want to see that? Of course. I suspect most of the people who hang out on this blog probably are, just because of the way I am as a person. But it's something I've noticed for months now and just haven't really talked about much.

And I think Bond is, unfortunately, a victim of this.

I don't think Bond had to dress up as Irene. I think he chose to. You're right, it makes the whole, "Aren't you legally and publicly dead?" thing very damn weird, but hey, Sherlock was also meant to be legally dead, and people were supposed to assume Louis and William weren't biologically related.

Sometimes, stupid things happen for the fun of the story, and we just have to...not think about that detail much. And, hey! Adler promptly died again after that scene, so it's not as if anyone could find out what happened to her.

Why would Bond, a trans man, choose to wear a dress and present as a woman? Honestly, I think he was fucking with Sherlock to get back at him for the bookseller disguise. And it worked, did it not? Did it not? Bond and Sherlock have been trying to get one over on each other basically their entire association. It's what their friendship is built on--and it's a lot like the dynamic he has with William, in some ways, and you cannot deny they're friends.

Trans men can wear dresses if they want to. And Bond was the one who planned to wear a dress and decided to, when literally everyone else including the formal plan, had Bond as a man dressed a man and Moneypenny playing Sherlock's female arm candy. Not one person expected Bond to play a woman. He decided to.

Personally, giving that choice to a trans man is validating as hell to me. Mr. Bond can wear whatever he want. Mr. Bond can do whatever he wants with gender. And it invalidates nothing!

And I think that chapter also made a point to contrast Bond, who has never really been "clocked" as trans, who has always read as a man as soon as he said he was one, to Moneypenny, who dressed as a man and said she thought it would be easy, and it wasn't. Now, Bond is a hell of an actor and always has been, and Moneypenny...well, that's not her background. But she did okay in The Man with the Golden Army.

But she's not a man. She's a kickass woman. And everyone can tell. Just as everyone can tell Bond is a man.

As for Cinderella's magic...I mean, especially in the Disney version of that story, Cinderella's magic did not reveal people as they truly were. It disguised things as something they were not, and could only hold the illusion so long. I think this was just a joke to Sherlock--and a reminder that he would be back in a suit as Bond just as soon as the fucking with Sherlock was over and the ball and the game was over.

That said, I don't really know how the story of Cinderella filtered into Japanese society. I don't think Takeuchi-sensei really thought that much about a throwaway joke line, but if he did, then it would require an understanding of how Japanese society thinks of and commonly interprets the folktale to parse. And I don't really know much about that. I bet you the people using it as "Bond isn't Trans" ammo don't, either.

Anyway, Bond is very trans and some people suck.

Thank you.

#Yuukoku no Moriarty #Moriarty the Patriot

[dearamaliabalash]

my thoughts on the in the heights movie

just saw ITH for the first time in theaters the other day and absolutely loved it! here are my thoughts :)

- for starters, movie musicals can be slippery slopes - especially if it was originally a stage musical. I've seen live versions of ITH and loved it, so I was apprehensive about what changes they might make. besides the cutting of 'sunrise' 'hundreds of stories' and 'everything I know' (some of my favs from the show!) I loved all of the plot changes and tweaks. It made a lot of sense to change what they did - and it didn't disrupt from the integrity of the show.

- SO MUCH HEART. this show has always touched me in a way that few other shows have. I don't relate to the specific struggles portrayed, but I think all of the characters are relatable and lovable to any person who watches. the story translates beautifully on screen and made me equally as emotionally affected as I did seeing it live on stage. Its just such a simple and pure concept that never fails to make me cry :')

- the choreography was spectacular! the HUGE dance scenes only did more to exemplify the celebratory and community-based focus of this show. especially loved the pool scene in '96,000' and the dancing ON THE LITERAL SIDE OF A BUILDING??????? like how did they even do that???? quite honestly, I haven't stopped thinking about it.

- there wasn't a bad voice!!! (yes, even Lin did a good job LOL). again, a chief complaint I have with most movie musicals is that they'll sacrifice vocal ability and talent for the sake of a big name. with the exception of a few people, this cast was largely unknown (at least to me) meaning their main concern was getting actually talented actors with good voices - even if they aren't as recognizable on a billboard (if that makes sense). the principle characters all pulled their weight vocally without needing the assistance of auto tuning, which is usually the case in larger movie musical productions. and of course it was so nice to see Olga Merediz display her astounding vocal talent on 'Paciencia y Fe'.

- the directoral choices were so fresh and perfectly tailored for this movie. I haven't seen anything else by John M. Chu before - but he has such a distinct vision that was carried out flawlessly. the camera angles and editing choices were brilliant. a favorite of mine includes: the opening of '96,000' when animation is used in conjunction with the scene, depicting various objects as described in the song (ex. when Benny says "if your scared of the bull stay out of the rodeo" and an animated lasso is swinging in his arms). things like that are so creative and really make the story come alive!!! especially with a musical, you can push the limits a little farther and let the imagination stretch - Chu definitely did that!

- anthony ramos really proved his acting chops here. he fit the role wonderfully - and honestly so did the rest of the cast!!!

- would have been fun to see some more cameos from the OBC (karen or mandy!!!!) but I did like the cameos they used. chris as mr. softee is PERFECT. and if my eyes didn't deceive me I saw lins dad??? LOL

- overall, so SO good. would recommend to ANYONE, regardless of if you even like musicals or not!

#in the heights #ITH #in the heights movie #in the heights 2021 #anthony ramos #lin manuel miranda #lars rambles #in the heights spoilers