#aimee was great though i loved her journey

[avadaniels]

sex ed s4 was kind of a mess lol

#sex education #sex education spoilers #some good points but a lot of plot was just weird and nonsensical #the scene with eric and cal did make me cry even though its not even that well written lmfao #i can't believe they got dan levy to play that tiny shitty ass part and put him in all the promos 😭 #the editing wasn't great and the score was terrible #aimee was great though i loved her journey #and she and isaac were really cute #the disability stuff was great and i loved the cavendish crew because queer ppl💕💕💕

[tedhugheshater]

Ranting ahead.

Sex Education S4 is pure shit, by the way. I’m so sad. It used to be one of my most fave shows but it became so… soulless and boring and cliche and performative. A massive cash-grab focusing too much on annoying, one dimensional characters (when will they give Cal a personality?). The portraits of people aren’t genuine anymore and instead have been replaced by “forced inclusion” - though I hate the term, as conservatives use it too broadly just to be homophobic.

I loved the “one case per episode” type of thing, and here it was completely left behind; the cases were either briefly shallowly explored (say, Viv’s abusive relationship), or with serious scenes shown as funny (the sex scene with Adam’s dad at the beginning of I-Don’t-Know-Which Episode was too… rapey? And we are supposed to just feel embarrassed for him or laugh it off).

Characterisation was more or less okay; I liked that they continued with Otis thing with sex, but there were some flaws too. For example, I don’t really think “Insufferable Feminist” Maeve would’ve continued pressuring Otis into sex once she realised something was wrong.

Side note: I’ve rooted for them since S1 E1, that ending, seriously? Ridiculous. I’m glad Maeve is pursuing her dreams etc, but the dualism of Dreams Vs Romance was already explored in S3, and, for the sake of having a cheesy happy ending like all people wanted, why not have him go to the USA too? His horrible dad could’ve tried to get him come with him for his whole book stuff, or as a fake apology. That would’ve been great for a scene where Otis’ MRA dad meets Riot Grrrl Maeve. It would’ve been funny. It could’ve given a message. And it would help characterisation of everyone involved. On top of that, it would be interesting to explore more Jean’s journey after being left, and definitely Otis’ abandonment issues. Could’ve also been cool to talk about mother’s rights and custody.

Joanna’s CSA trauma was thrown at you and never fully (guess the word!) explored either besides from implying hyper sexuality. I must admit I liked her, though. It was a nice addition - but too sudden. Seems like a desperate try at “Quick! How do we solve this plot hole!?”. Besides, the way they “well, that just happened” over Jean’s difficulty giving birth AND Joy’s dad identity??? Insane.

The whole subplot with Eric’s dreams were, at first, a shimmer of previous seasons’ whimsy, but then it became boring too. Eric’s character in general was done dirty this season, to be honest (he would not fucking wear that! Slay is dead). And his connection with religion has already been talked about till death. Please give my boy a hobby oh my God.

I missed the monster-fucker girl. She reminded me of one of my primary school friends.

Don’t even let me started on the new school thing itself. It was horrid. Like…. not even the clothes were safe from my hate.

Nevertheless there were some good scenes, like Maeve meeting Jean, or her and Otis’ first time. That was cute. The first episode was quite cool too. But all that felt somehow overshadowed by the stupid decisions - the episode about the Queer Party? That was pretty much ass. Not only performative, shallow, and with generic dialogue, but why was everyone making out all of a sudden? Romantic arcs and tension found dead. Now senseless fan service shipping only. Same goes for Aimee and Isaac, what the fuck was that, what happened to “straight men and straight women can be friends”? Too many useless romances for my taste. The pacing and editing were also disgusting in that episode.

Anyways, I was talking about the positive parts. There were a few more, but off the top of my head I liked when they protested for accessibility. I also liked when the teachers (I can’t remember their names! The english and music/biology couple) came back for Maeve’s mom’s funeral. That episode was nice, it felt accurate. I am glad Sean was back for that. Otis and Maeve dating was cute. It’s such a pity they were separated again. Also enjoyed that they talked about postpartum depression, even if a bit too in your face at times. Aimee and Adam were lovely as always. I liked how his dad is still working on himself. Ruby’s past and trauma was also a good subject. I love Ruby, even if Maeve is and will always be my girl. The thing with O was interesting! As well as the campaign. The humour was refreshing every now and then! I found it funny how Adam’s dad tried to bond with random stuff, and how, of all people, he thought he was gay for Clint Eastwood. And his gun. That chat, and how Adam’s mom later talks about “the girl with the long neck” were a nice detail.

So it really bothered me how this season definitely had a lot of potential that was wasted by such nonsensical decisions like all the ones I mentioned. Big glow down.

Tl;dr: Too Netflixesque to my tase.

#q slur #<- god the whole ‘queer’ thing was so so so insufferable! #and by that i mean it was THE definition of rainbow capitalism in my opinion #and what happened to wlw couples??????? helloooo?????? the closest thing to that we got was Cal and the deaf girl #but then we had to focus on gender dysphoria and stuff like oh my god when will we allow lesbians to thrive #i adored the lesbian character that was in Moordale. I can’t recall her name; but the one who cheated lol #sex education spoilers #this is half baked so bear with me #sex education #sex education series #sex education netflix #sex ed spoilers #sex ed s4 #maeve wiley #otis milburn #side note. i have been an otis apologist i am an otis apologist i will be an otis apologist #he is the most idiotic ever ❤️ #that is my most problematic take #mine

[bethaven]

#20 Sex Education

Plot: Otis's school is really bad at sexual education and something needs to be done. Together with his classmate Maeve he sets up a secret sex therapy clinic in the old bathrooms at school. Maeve brings in the clients while Otis takes on the role of therapist, with help of the knowledge he aquired over the years, being the son of a sex therapist. This leads to more than they could've ever imagined, with rebellious acts, complicated love stories and tested friendships, as the students learn more and more about hormons and their bodies. And Maeve and Otis might be more than just business companions.

Years: 2019-2023

Seasons: 4

My story: When this arrived it was the talk of the town amongst my friends. This raw, blunt and funny series was unlike anything we'd seen before and something the world desperately needed. I like how it shows many different aspects of bodies, feelings, teenage drama and sexuality, in a way that few others have.

Teachable moments: Sex Ed is important and everyone have the right to receive it! And it needs to be fact based, diverse and open minded.

Best character: Aimee Gibbs is as funny as she's important for the story at Moordale. She sees no reason to not be yourself and say what you think, even though people may find you stupid. The people who love will love you even more. Still, her big heart might sometimes be too big for her own good. And not the least, she does the most inspiring journey to sexual awakening.

Best episode: "Episode 6" (S4E6). This episode destroyed me completely and it took me weeks to recover. Still, it might be one of the most important episodes of a series ever made.

Best quote: "Last week, I didn't do a s*** for five days; then, when I finally did do a poo, it was like my bum had this gigantic orgasm. Oh, it was great." (Aimee)

Fun fact: Asa Butterfield, that plays Otis, does not only have a therapist-mum on screen - his real mother is also a therapist and could actually teach him a thing or two for his role.

If you like this you might also like: Young Royals, Atypical, Ginny and Georgia, The Big Bang Theory and Gossip Girl.

#sex ed netflix #sex education #otis milburn #otis x maeve #motis #aimee gibbs #maeve wiley #tv series #netflix #bethaven's calendar 2023

[allthingsheardandseen]

The Spectacular Now - Movie vs. Book Comparison

Spoiler Warning ahead: You have been warned.

The Spectacular Now is a book that takes you on a messy yet simple journey. It's a one-way ride that you won't know the destination of while reading or watching until you get to the very end. Ever since they came out, I'd known of the existence of both the book and the movie. However, it wasn't until recently that I got the chance to read the book and during the whole time, the only thoughts that ever crossed my mind were, "How will this look like as a movie? What scenes will they incorporate or leave behind?" and let me tell you when I watched the movie for the first time after finishing the book I was surprised.

Part I: Love and how it translates at the end.

In itself, the book is not as flashy as others in the teen fiction department. It tells you the story of Sutter Keely, "God's favorite drunk" and his journey on self-awareness, love, and family and relationship hardships. It doesn't do too much on overcomplicated storylines, yet Sutter makes sure to get his voice heard and that things are explained to the reader from his own creative and distinct point of view. At first, you may think it is a romance but with every turn of the page, you discover that it is about love, but not in the typical sense of the word. It's not focused solely on romantic love but on the aspect of loving someone so much you need to let go in order to protect them.

The movie on the other hand focuses on the romantic love aspect of the book. It centers itself around the relationship that exists between Aimee and Sutter and even changes the ending to make sure that there is a possible future between the two of them, although in the book Sutter makes sure that Aimee goes to Philadelphia and that she moves on (even if it's under false pretenses) because he knows better things await for her, including a future he knows at the moment he isn't able to provide her.

This change of ending -although providing the audience with a more hopeful outlook- changes the whole original concept that not all love stories need to have a happy ending. Love isn't shaped by the fact that two characters end up together. The love that existed between them was intricately determined by all the Spectacular moments that happened in their Now, but Sutter and Aimee ending up together throw that entire notion from the book out of the window.

Part 2: Parents

One thing that is prevalent in the book is the relationship between parents and their children. We see it from the beginning in many shapes and forms (divorced parents and their effect on their children, children longing for the parent they don't have, mother figures that although not perfect care for their children, etc.) The little boy from the first chapter is almost a future version of Sutter's journey, leaving home unannounced in search of that father that left and hating the mother that stayed because of how she drove the father away. However, even though Sutter is able to save the kid from harm, he isn't able to save himself from the hard truth about his drunk father.

The movie tackles this well enough and the scene where Sutter returns to the dinner just to find his father drinking with his buddies instead of keeping his promise is a great addition to this story. On the other hand, the whole plotline with Sutter's mother isn't developed as nicely in the movie. It just goes from "You're just like your father" to "You're nothing like your father" after seeing her kid break down. Of course, in the book, we don't even see this redemption arc in their relationship, but I do believe there could've been more moments between them that established that connection and personal transition better.

Part 3: Intervention

One scene that I do feel needed to be included in the movie was the car intervention scene with Ricky, Marcus, Cassidy, and Sutter. Here is where Sutter finally gets to confront his friends and openly share his opinions with them instead of just with the reader. Here is where Cassidy tells him she loved him and the entire book takes a swift shift. We enter the "is he going to listen to Cassidy and leave Aimme? or is he gonna learn how to love and let others love him?" It's a pivotal point for Sutter. He just submitted his two weeks' notice at work, graduation is around the corner, he hasn't applied to any Universities, and is most likely taking summer school thus jeopardizing Aimme's ideas of moving in together in Philadelphia. But none of this makes it into the movie.

Part 4: Production

I feel like the worst part of the film was the short and quick-fire scenes. The dialogue was fairly loyal to the book and the acting was really good. But the cinematography and editing choices left me wanting more. Scenes happened to quickly and sometimes I couldn't understand how much time happened from one moment to the next. A lot of shots were one-dimensional and very dark and even though the conversation between characters carried the film, there were moments were watching it just wasn't as appealing.

Conclusion:

I could go on about comparing the book and the movie side by side, frame by frame, and interaction by interaction. Of course, the first kiss scene was different, the dinner with Sutter's sister was different, Ricky was a very forgettable character in the movie, they did Cassidy wrong in the movie by not showing how much she cared about Cassidy, and on and on... But I'm not going to do that because this would be too long and at the end of the day a book is a book and its adaptation is another thing. In the case of The Spectacular Now, my opinion remains the same, the book was better because it gave the characters real-time to develop, and it had an impeccably different ending from other teen romcoms that would've made the movie stand out more.

What about you? Which one did you like best?

Sources:

Pictures: Pinterest

#The Spectacular Now #Tim Tharpe #2013 #2008 #romcom #the fault in our stars #shailene woodley #Sutter Keely #Aimme Finickey #recommendations #books & libraries #movie recommendation #films #movies #film review #teenage drama #teenage comedy #teen fiction #romance #miles teller #movies based on books #booksbooksbooks #fiction books

[postguiltypleasures]

My Peak TV Journey *Sex Education*

With both Sex Education and Never Have I Ever ending this year, the days of me watching television show that are about (and more-or-less for) teenagers. Even though I really liked these shows, part of me is just like, “finally!” Another part of me feels like on some level, my watching shows in this sub-genre really ended when MTV cancelled Faking It way back 2016. Which feels appropriate as what Sex Education does with the new college (Cavendish) in the final season reminded me of what Faking It was doing with the high school it focused on. It makes me feel weirdly nostalgic. Faking It deserves to be better remembered/known.

I have to say as an aside that this season coinciding with the end of You Must Remember This: Erotic 1990s made a kind weird experience from me. Especially when I took a break from the final season and watched David Croenberg’s Crash. How does one reconcile Sex Education’s promotion of body positivity and and enthusiastic consent with that? The podcast did bring home how notably free of “Lolita” types Sex Education has been in a way that might have been unimaginable 1990s media. So bravos all around. Though this may get at why the final season felt off for so many people (besides changing a huge amount of the cast between seasons).  People wanted it to educate about under represented identities, and correct stereo types that have been with us for too long. And it did its best, but it’s only a television series.

I feel like I have to preface any discussion of the season by pointing out that it covers such a short time frame. The first four episodes cover a little over a week, and there had only been about eight weeks since the end of the third season, two years ago. Characters would say things like “it’s like this now” and I would be like “it’s been days, nothing is settled.” It did make it harder for me to invest in some of the plot. For example, Eric’s complaints about the ways in which Otis failed him as a friend felt more like they were residual feelings from previous seasons than responding to incidents worthy of new complaints. And I get that as a teenager, not too distant feelings can easily resurface, but in my middle age, it just didn’t draw me in.

I have to say, I feel like I wanted to like Eric’s plot more than I actually did. I love Eric’s exuberance and love of life. But it felt like it came with some kind of false promise and that made me sad.  As I look back, his story seems tied to the pressure put on the show to be the good example countering all the bad depictions of teen sexuality out there. Eric sees God, gets called to be a prophet, though when he talks with Otis about it he says he wants to be a pastor. (The fact that this would probably involve starting his own church as the congregation in which he was raised has too many homophobes, though not from the pastor himself, goes unsaid.) Otis celebrates this. Their friendship is healed. As a teen, I thought the mutability of Christianity was a beautiful thing, reflecting the importance of an eternal truth while constantly ridding itself of the various out dated baggages. As I age, I see the baggage still there and it feels less likely that it will be dropped. Then I think the truth might better off without this tradition of faith. So ultimately, this plot touched on too heavy things to work, despite always liking the character and his actor’s on screen presence.

Eric was great as tool for getting the new characters acclimated to the audience. It mostly worked! While I will wonder if having less turnover in the cast would make some if the plot less didactic, the new cast was generally likable. I never thought “this plot would be better with a character who is no longer on the show.” 

Ruby, Aimee, Jackson and Vivienne were the only characters who accompanied Otis and Eric to Cavendish. Ruby turned out to be a great character. A complicated self-creation who insists everyone see her as fabulous as she wants to be. She has her hidden (or semi hidden) insecurities, and is a little unclear on what she wants, besides proving her power. In the first season, when she existed  mainly to make Aimee need to keep her friendship with Maeve secret, you would have never guessed this. I just wish she had better makeup, it was sometimes distracting from what is she trying to do.  Her plot in the final season involved confronting a former friend who had once betrayed an embarrassing secret. This friend now calls herself O and had made herself the sex counselor of Cavendish. This also makes O Otis’s rival for that specific niche. Otis calls her a “rip off”, though that was mostly a defense mechanism. Ruby and Otis use this rivalry to briefly work together, but more importantly come to peace with their surprising and tumultuous relationship. Ruby’s plot with O worked better than Otis’s plot with O. The latter mostly made me think how insane it would be to have a school sanctioned sex therapist who was also a student.

Aimee’s plot involved becoming an artist partially to make some personal response to her sexual assault back in season 2, and develop a romantic bond with Isaac, Maeve’s ex. The taking a sudden interest in art art plot rubbed me wrong. Most character-becomes-an-artist plots rub me wrong. Part of it is that their art needs to mean something in a super literal way, which as an artist myself, I have to say it doesn’t always.  I think it was also that this plot happened in the same season many characters go to a screening of Brief Encounter and none of them watch it. That felt like a rejection of the old, and as an old movie fan I can’t abide. Brief Encounter is a movie about a man and a woman who are married to other people. They meet and start a non-sexual but romantic affair, only to mutually end it before it can go too far. While the couple on screen is straight, people have read this as having a gay subtext largely because the screenplay was by Noel Coward, who would be further out of the closet later in life. As Sex Education can be very explicit, crude, and features many openly queer characters, the general rejection of Brief Encounter by the characters felt like a rejection of all the oppression it was about both textually and sub-textually. And I’m not sure that they should. If only because that worked better as drama. 

Jackson’s plot where a cancer scare led him to find out about his biological father was good. Vivienne’s where she gets involved with a boy who quickly escalates into emotional abuse was decent, if rushed. 

Cavendish is mostly portrayed as something near utopia. The clique that is most popular in school is deserving of it in away that no other popular clique in no other fictional high school ever has. But that all also made them feel kind of cult like, and Eric’s religious calling only underlined it. I can understand why some people would say that it felt more like a transphobe’s nightmare than a transperson’s dream. There was a prayer circle when the couple within the popular crowd had tension. That’s not how you treat your peers. And it didn’t feel like a school, despite a few references to preparing for A levels. It wanted to be a fantasy and it wanted to have something to say about the real world, but it didn’t stick the landing of balancing both. This probably became most clear in Cal’s story of gender dysmorphia bringing suicidal ideation. Whatever rejection that they experienced from their parents, was off screen. (And it wasn’t so much rejection as confusion and lack of enthusiasm.) So Cal’s emotional journey is more told than shown. Pinning the season’s emotional climax on them makes them feel like a plot point.

A couple of more thoughts that don’t fit with what I wrote above.

I was genuinely shocked that Maeve’s mother died without one last onscreen appearance. I know Anne-Marie Duff is on Bad Sisters now, but I thought she’d be able to do both. Also I forgot about Maeve’s brother Sean between his appearance in the first season and now. The episode with the funeral was the best of the season, but getting so many characters together for the first time in a long time, mostly reminded me who hasn’t spoken since season one.

I’m glad they found a way for Gillian Anderson’s Jean to play against a character played by Hannah Gadsby. And I like getting to meet Jean’s never before seen sister and find out a little about their childhood. Her having a history of depression made sense with what as happened before. I do wish the end of her relationship with Jakob could have been on screen. 

I did like the resolution of Otis and Maeve’s relationship.

Adam, isolated from most of the cast as he was, had a decent end.

I did like that most of the characters were not paired up at the end. They're still figuring out how they are in relationships, and on their own, which is appropriate for them.

#What I'm watching #sex education #sex education season 4 #otis milburn #eric effiong #Maeve Wiley #Jackson Marchetti #Ruby Matthews #Aimee Gibbs #Jean Milburn #Erin Wiley #Jakob Nyman #Vivienne Odusanya #Sarah “O” Owens #Faking It #you must remember this

[hagatha-christie]

June reads!

Rereads:

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: I had a solid week of nightmares each night so every time I woke up from one I’d reread a little bit of this because it’s the book equivalent of eating popcorn for dinner. When I first read this book I thought there were some shades of both “Chasing Liberty” and “My Date with the President’s Daughter” and I know McQuiston is a big 00s romcom fan so I desperately hope in the notes for the movie they requested an original song akin to the one in My Date with the President’s Daughter.

The bad:

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler: look it’s kind of twofold on me for reading a book I actively disliked (highly recommended on TikTok and a YA) but like. WOW this was not for me.

The fine:

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen: add this to the “good for her!” canon of books.

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: truly have nothing to say about this book other than “it was fine”

World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil: I read this in one sitting which was maybe a mistake. It was on the better end of fine, I loved the concept, but the chapters were kind of hit or miss.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo: this book was so funny to me even though it wasn’t meant to be, I don’t think. The main character spends most of the book not going to class, sweating profusely (mood), getting nosebleeds after being groped by the ghost of his dead best friend, and being like “omg why does everyone keep asking if I’m gay, I’m not :(“ while simultaneously outright ogling every single man he meets. Still pretty entertaining!

The good/great:

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull: marketed as “War of the Worlds meets Frantz Fanon” which is pretty on the nose. Super interesting speculative fiction set in the US Virgin Islands that centers around an alien occupation of the islands and how the people who live there react. Also a sort-of-maybe warning about tech surveillance by way of the plot about the nanobots that are used as healthcare which tbh I did not see coming.

Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall: did this drag at times? Yes. Was it a little too long? Yes. Did I wish we got flashbacks of the two leads’ friendship when they were kids? Yes. However!! This book was so SWEET and there is one chapter in the middle of that had me “You have bewitched me body and soul and I love, I love, I love you”-levels of losing my mind. The epilogue made me cry which I know isn’t saying much because I cry a lot but. You know.

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh: this book is barely over 100 pages long and I spent the whole time trying to figure out how she made it so immersive with so little space. Made me want to find a primeval forest to chill out in. Loved it. Excellent cover, too.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers: I have to read one more book by her to officially cement Becky Chambers as a Favorite Author but wow was this good. Love a character driven, thoughtful sci-fi journey. Reminded me of the movie Arrival in tone (I also have Ted Chiang’s short story collections sitting on my shelf).

I am currently reading The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay and researching ways I can make an impact locally because all of these SC decisions are going to give me a brain aneurysm with how bad my head has hurt these past few days

[a-friendly-fangirl]

My thoughts on Sex Education, season 3.

⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️⚠️⚠️

First of all, please try to remember that this is just my opinion. I'm nobody to judge whether the season was good or bad and I don't mean to hurt anyone.

With that being said, I'd like to begin by admitting that I liked these 8 episodes overall... but there were so many things that felt wrong to me.

I loved Jean's journey during her pregnancy and the way she tried to take care of everyone at the same time (although I kind of disliked Jakob for some things he said).

I loved Aimee and her desire to heal after the assault. The way she really wants to make her voice be heard was heartwarming and inspiring to me. Plus, her friendship with Maeve is one of the most beautiful I've ever watched (about this, I'll say something later on).

I loved Viv and her ambition that slowly became less important than her peers and their rights. She really wanted them to be happy in the end. I think that she didn't really understand how bad things with Hope were until the trip to France. And she redeemed herself in a great way.

I loved Lily and her journey towards acceptance of herself, even when others thought she was weird and silly. It was empowering seeing her so confident in the end.

I loved Adam's growth. It taught that even the most simple of passions can turn into something meaningful and that, no matter how bad you are, you can change.

Above all, I loved Maeve finally getting the chance to do something amazing for herself for once.

All of these things were wonderful, truly. But so many others I didn't like and I couldn't really understand as narrative choices.

Let me begin with the one I found the most annoying: Isaac's fake redemption arc. I know what you might say: "Of course you hate it! You ship Maeve and Otis!". Well, yes, I do. But it's not all about that. I might be exaggerating... but Isaac deleting Otis' message was beyond disrespectful to me. If you remember, at the beginning of the second season, Isaac was really mean to Maeve... but he had the opportunity to redeem himself. He had the chance to say he was sorry and to be a better person to her, even though he had been around for so little time. However, when it came to Otis to have the same opportunity, he decided that he wasn't worth it. Isaac, who didn't really know Otis, took away from him the chance to at least say that he was truly sorry for being such an ass to Maeve. But, what feels even worse to me is that he took away even Maeve's possibility to decide. We don't know how it would have gone, if Maeve had listen to what Otis had to say. Maybe she would have forgiven him. Maybe she would have still chosen Isaac, because Otis hurt her too much. Who knows what might have been? No one. And why? Because Isaac decided for everyone. And I don't care if he thought he was protecting Maeve or if he was angry. It. Was. Not. His. Choice. To. Make.

Also, I didn't really understand why Maeve wasn't as mad as I was with him. Sure, she stopped talking to him for a couple of days. But the moment she started to speak with him again, they hooked up. Too fast, too soon, in my opinion. He apologised? Sure. But so did Otis. And he didn't get to be so easily forgiven.

But let's move to the another point I have a lot to say about: Otis and Ruby. I really liked them together. I found them cute and funny. But still... Ruby struggled for real to accept Otis for who he is. And Otis acted the way she wanted to keep her close. For example, he shaved off his moustache for her. Now, most of the fandom hated that moustache... but again, Otis seemed to care a great deal for it. He kept repeating that he spent months growing it. But Ruby didn't like it. And he sacrificed something he was proud of for her. But okay, a lot of people would do something like that for their loved ones. But then he had to dress like her friends to fit in. To be fair, Ruby gave up that idea pretty soon... but she just reacted to Otis refusing to do it. If I had to make a comparison between her and another love interest (not Maeve, 'cause I'd be biased), I'd choose Ola, of course. She was putting pressure on him in other ways, but she never wanted him to be any different than who he was. Love, after all, means acceptance. And perhaps Ruby loved Otis for he saw the hardest part of her life, without judging her. I wish it could have been the same for him.

About this, I've noticed many people being disappointed in Otis not saying he loved her too, because it means that he was just using her. Well... no? I mean, he was the first one to admit that, if she was willing to give him more time, he might have learned to love her. Should he have made it clear to her earlier in the relationship? Sure! Can we condemn him for not feeling the same? Absolutely not! Feelings can't be forced. And I'm also sure that he thought he was done for good with Maeve. He suffocated the love he had for her so much that the clinic made him sick and that he admitted his feelings only when pressured by Maeve herself.

In conclusion, I think that Otis and Ruby might have had a wonderful friendship, if they were only given the chance. They have that kind of chemistry.

Talking about people who are better off as friends: in my opinion, that's all Maeve and Aimee will ever be. I honestly can't see anything romantic in them. The purity of their friendship means so much to me and it's, at least for me, so different from the "Friends who are more than friends" energy. We're so lucky to have such wonderful actresses to play these characters... and what I see in their gestures and glances tells me of a great friendship. They're so different from Emily and Sue in Dickinson (they're supposed to be just friends, but they're clearly not) or even Judy and Jen in Dead To Me (another pair of friends that can be ambiguous with each other).

Moving to another couple, whose development I didn't understand: Adam and Eric. I'm not a great fan of their relationship. I like them both as individuals. But the bully-victim dynamic they used to have wasn't the best one to start a relationship with. I could see the appeal though. So much that, I was truly happy for them, when they said their first I love you's. And every step Adam made in the right direction made me smile, since that it took him a long time to grow up. Eric seemed happy with him too. Until he went to Nigeria. I sincerely loved the whole trip... but something felt wrong in him founding what he truly wanted there, where he couldn't even tell his family he had a boyfriend. The scene in the taxi gave me chills. I felt the risk he was taking by going with a stranger to a gay club. A stranger that he kissed almost out of nowhere (whether it was the heat of the moment or Adam not replying to him, I'm not sure). It's the second time he cheats on his boyfriend. And I think Eric deserves far better as a character.

My question about this whole drama is: "How come Eric found out that he wanted to be free in Nigeria and not in England?". If it's true that going to the club made him realise he wanted to be among people like him, it makes the whole situation even more absurd. Because there are plenty of gay bars and clubs in England. Why not go to one of them? My theory is that they wanted to build a good romance with Adam, then build tension between them and in us and end the whole thing with their breakup (probably to make Adam fall in love with Rahim).

I swear I'm almost done. I want to discuss one last topic with you all.

Maeve going to America like that felt so rushed. It's probably another strategy to make us want to see more of the show. And it surely worked. But still, it has, at least for how they developed it, nothing to do with Maeve maturing. The idea itself was amazing. I loved her getting the opportunity of a lifetime. But she literally decides to go the evening before (which is not even realistic. In real life, you have a deadline until which you can pay to go wherever you want. If you don't, your place is given to someone else), after getting the money from her mother. Now, where does that money come from? She might as well have stolen it, since she didn't have it before. In my opinion, this part of the story could have gone differently with little effort and the same outcome. How? Well, since that basically everyone thought she deserved to go to America, why couldn't have her classmates and teachers organised a fundraiser? Even in secret, so that she couldn't get angry for their "charity". It would have been so much better and so wholesome to see everyone in that school give a little sum for her, even to thank her for the help they got from the clinic.

Anyway, I'm so sorry for talking so much, but this season didn't go as expected and I truly needed to vent :P.

Thank you for listening❤

#sex education #sex ed netflix #sex ed #sex ed s3 #maeve x otis #otis milburn #otis x maeve #maeve wiley #jean milburn #ola nyman #isaac goodwin #ruby matthews #eric effiong #adam groff #asa butterfield #emma mackey #ncuti gatwa

[jodibodie]

I Have Some Feelings

To start let me just emphasize how much I love and adore this show and always will. This was my covid show. Both of my kids loved “Lucifer” and always said I should watch so at the start of covid I binged it and when I say binged, I mean all 4 seasons in a few days and have rewatched so many times I’ve lost count. I think it is timeless, engrossing, original and all around amazing. The writing and the cast were all excellent. The writing was smart and consistently strong and that is so rare.  Funny, sad, poignant, it hit all the notes with very few plot holes or missteps. There is not one episode in the entire series that was not engaging. Even if I didn’t like an episode, it was still well done. What a rarity.

The cast is scary good. Completely underrated. Just all phenomenally talented.  I don’t remember the last time a cast was this strong.  From the core group to both reoccurring and guest stars, the cast was just fantastic.  

Tom Ellis, no words.  The man deserves to choose whatever he wants to do acting wise. He should have people breaking down his door. He can truly do it all and do it all well. He took a character that if portrayed by a lesser actor could have come off as a complete asshole and made him one of the most sympathetic and loveable characters in recent history. Ellis made a crime solving devil, a promiscuous man-child that occasionally breaks into song and the evidence room into a beloved character that has become an icon.  

Lauren German, WOW.  She is just so damn good. She can break your heart one second and have you laughing the next. She makes Chloe real, and people don’t realize how hard that is. Chloe is smart, kind, tough and gorgeous but she’s also an insecure dork.  She’s us and German just brings it.  

DB Woodside I’ve loved since “Buffy”.  He is a phenomenal actor and who knew he could bring the laughs so well? His expressions were classic. Clueless angel indeed. Amenadiel could have been very one-dimensional but because of Woodside’s talent he became fully fleshed out and full bodied.  

I have no doubt Lesley-Ann Brandt has a huge career in front of her.  She took a character that very well could have been hated, a demon and made her into one of the most human characters on the show. Kudos to her for taking a tough role and making it her own.  

Kevin Alejandro is another actor I’ve loved for a long time.  He also took a character who if we’re going to be honest here did so many unlikeable things that he should have been truly despised but because of Kevin’s portrayal he was beloved. Great actor and a terrific director.

Rachael Harris IMO is the downlow MVP.  She was literally the rock and again, with a lesser actress the role could have been a throwaway. The normal human, the sounding board but Harris imbued her with so much more.  Her spit takes, sarcasm and her obvious compassion was what made Dr. Linda an unforgettable character. Once again just perfect casting.  

Aimee Garcia was a great addition. She made Ella a fan fav and put so much heart, joy and sincerity into Ella never once did you doubt that she would prevail no matter what was thrown at her.  Garcia was just fantastic, and I want her skin care regime.  

Scarlett Estevez pulled off the one thing I thought almost impossible.  She took the role of a young child and made it so I didn’t want to cringe. She portrayed Trixie so beautifully from day one that she was a true pleasure to watch.  Even though Trixie was super precocious Estevez never made her obnoxious. I loved Trixie and I have never said that about any child character in an adult show.  She was wonderful and has an amazing career in front of her.

That said, I’ve got some feelings now that I’ve seen the finale and have had some time to digest it all.  I love that Chloe and Lucifer had eternity and I agree that they had to be separated for Chloe’s lifetime. Didn’t like it but it’s the logical path. She’s human, he’s not. The ageing thing alone necessitated them not being together long term on earth and that’s just to start the list. They had to had to be apart for the short term to get their eternity but the duality of Lucifer's ending and Amenadiel's didn't sit right. Amenadiel as God got to have it all. His calling, his family etc. while Lucifer had to give up everything.  I also don’t buy the “If he came up from hell, he could never leave them again” defense.  I call bullshit.  Amenadiel managed, plus, missing out on the day to day is a huge sacrifice and by Lucifer missing out on the day-to-day Rory could still have had the hatred she needed to drive the story.  Popping in for birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc., the big stuff does not a father make.  Not being there for skinned knees, first heartbreaks, and all the little things a daughter needs her dad for can build up tons of resentment.  Boom, absentee father, just like his dad was. That provides all the millennial angel angst you could ask for. I have a daughter; it doesn’t take much.

The Trixie issue was huge for me. Can Chloe see her in Heaven? Will she be able to travel to Heaven and visit Trixie, Penelope, Dan, her father?  Chloe hesitated leaving Heaven in 5x16 because she couldn’t bear saying good-bye to her dad again. It seems as if Chloe sacrificed everything for Rory including Trixie. I want to preface this by saying. I liked Rory and loved the actress. I didn’t however like how it was as if she were their only child.  When Lucifer spoke of family Trixie was not mentioned. Their family day, the same thing. She didn’t need to be there, I get that the explanation regarding Rory would have been way too much to get into but just a mention of her, how awesome it would have been to share this day with her would have worked. It seemed as if Lucifer went from, “I would do anything to protect that little Urchin” to “Trixie who”. Trixie was a character that we watched grow up and she meant something to us. I hate to say this, but the writers did Trixie and the viewers dirty in this regard.

This show was built around a few premises.  Free will, honesty, redemption, sacrifice and family, both blood and made. The ending completely negated almost all of these.  Chloe and their entire family were made into the one thing Lucifer abhorred the most which are liars. Their daughter was brought up surrounded by lies. What did they tell Trixie?  The poor kid just lost her dad, and she was pissed at Lucifer when he went back to hell the first time. Did she grow up hating him because as far as she knew Lucifer left her mom again without saying good-bye and this time it was even worse because Chloe was pregnant.  I get that the actress who plays Trixie had limited availability but seriously. A quick good-bye.

“Hey Urchin, you won’t understand why for a long time, but I have to leave. You know I never lie so I can’t explain why but know that I love you and your mom and one day I hope you can forgive me.”  

A 30 second scene would have worked.

As all the characters learned throughout the series, omission of the truth is just a form of lying and there are always repercussions i.e., Chloe and Father Kinley, Dan shooting Lucifer, Maze finding out about Lilith and even Ella not being told. As far as free will, both Chloe and Lucifer had their free will taken from them in the end. By Rory forcing them to abide by her wishes, their free will was forfeited. It was a huge manipulation on Rory’s part and considering how much Lucifer hated manipulations it just didn’t sit right.

Parents making huge sacrifices I get. Chloe and Lucifer sacrificed everything for their child. Unfortunately for me this sacrifice, the way it was written seemed contrived to pull out maximum and IMO unjustified angst. I love angst.  Hell, this is my favorite show.  I thrive on the angst. But as I wrote earlier, all the anger, angst and hatred towards Lucifer could have been achieved without having Lucifer completely out of the picture. I have two kids and my husband, and I have made huge life altering sacrifices for them as many parents do but being there for the day-to-day little things was what made the difference in their lives and cemented the close relationships we have with them.

“Yeah, dad you were great. Showing up for the fun stuff, always swooping in for the big finish to play the hero then ditching us when things got tough. When Grandma was dying where were you?  Nice that you showed up for the funeral but the six months leading up to it…we needed you and once again you weren’t there. When T got sick, when Jen broke my heart, blah, blah, blah…”

Even the whole Chloe dying scenario. They could have written it that rage Rory traveled minutes before Lucifer got there. Have him pop in right after Rory comes back. There were so many ways to achieve the end game they wanted other than the way they went. It seemed contrived and as if they took the easy way out to get where they needed to go. The Rory rage that was the catalyst for her traveling back in time and Lucifer finding his calling could still have been accomplished without the whole Lucifer disappearing storyline.

Now that I’ve finished my diatribe there’s a couple of additional things I would like to say.  Lucifer is and always will be one of my favorite shows of all time. There are not enough words to describe the comfort and enjoyment this show has brought me. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the producers, cast and crew. You truly created something special.

To the fandom. Please do not let a polarizing conclusion rip apart the fandom. The only other fandom I was a part of tore itself apart so badly that the FBI got involved.  Hence why I waited for 15 years to dip my toe in again. Everyone invested in this show has the right to their feelings.  Debate is fine, baiting and bullying are not. The Lucifer fandom like the show is very special. Without the fandom we wouldn’t have gotten any conclusion so don’t let opposing viewpoints tarnish what has been a magical journey.  

#lucifer #season6 #spoilers #lucifer spoilers #lucifer season6 spoilers #lucifer morningstar #chloe decker #trixie espinoza #rory morningstar #luciferseason6 #tom ellis #lauren german #db woodside #lesley-ann brandt #rachael harris #kevin alejandro #scarlett estevez #brianna hildebrand

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Two Shorten the Road

part 1

joel dawson x reader

warnings: cussing? idk, bad writing.....fluff, cuteness, monsters(is this a warning), mentions of death, SPOILERS

word count: 2154

prompt: when your best friend decides to leave your colony to go find the love of his life, you decide to join him on his journey even if you aren’t so happy about where this journey is going

Welp I did it, I took it into my own hands. I am writing a joel dawson series. Because we👏need 👏more👏joel👏fics👏 it’s basically the movie, almost the same script but obviously slightly different…ENJOY! <3

No one in my generation or later had a typical upbringing, I mean some of us did but then the world ended. This type of thing sounds straight out of some apocalyptic movie, but we basically live in one now. Agatha 616, an asteroid heading straight for earth, I know, so original. So we all came together and did what we do best, blow things up. Yup, we blew up teh asteroid, and humanity was saved! We thought. But here’s the thing about rockets, they are made of a bunch of chemical compounds which eventually rained back down on earth. Suddenly there were these Aileen creatures that mutated and started eating us. Ants, lizards, roaches, crocodiles, you name it. Our president was even killed by a giant moth. Ya….not so original now huh? We suddenly need tanks to kill ants, oh man I remember the good old days when a shoe would do just fine. Sometimes even the tanks didn’t work. Eventually the really big ones and our military took each other out and we lost 95% of the human population in a year! Those of us who survived hid, bunkers, caves, panic rooms, all around the world. So for the last seven years I’ve been hiding in an underground bunker. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, and it’s better than getting eaten alive. It’s a great group of people and we all love each other.

“Are you sure they’re asleep?”

“Who?”

“Y/N and joel!”

“Oh ya I’m sure”

“Joel? Y/n?”

“He’s asleep”

Actually we are both awake. Me and my best friend joel have kinda mastered faking being asleep. Our beds are right across from each other so we normally just lie there and make stupid faces at each other. We are the only two single people in our bunker. Nice huh? Joel is my best friend. I met him when I joined the colony. He’s the sweetest. It’s funny cause everyone thinks we should just have sex already because that’s literally all everyone else does. But we are way above that. Anyway, joel is in love with his girlfriend from before the colony, her name is Aimee. With one “I” and two “e”s. He loves to talk about her, he writes her letters. So in reality, I am the only one who is not in love in this bunker. I’ve never had a boyfriend, ever, even before the world ended.

We don’t really get any sleep. The moaning kinda keeps us awake. I got up and out of my bed and headed for the kitchen. I heard Joel’s bed creak and then his footsteps as he followed behind me. Another annoying thing about being down here is that to get to the kitchen from my room, you have to walk though other people’s bedrooms. Oh shit, they are busy, why would they leave their door open. Me and Joel stopped.

“Oh” joel and I said in unison

“Hey Y/N! Hey Joel!” Ava said

“Oh hey Ava” Joel said, we didn’t dare look over to our left.

“Y/N how’s it going?” Tim asked

“T-totally good tim, h-how are you doing” I asked

“Yeah, good” he responded

“I uh we couldn’t sleep” said Joel looking at the ceiling

“Ya we know the feeling” Ava said with a laugh

“Yeah probably not for the…..same reasons” joel said looking straight ahead

“Your guyses door was open, did you…did you know that?” I asked

“Yeah we know” they said

I shook my head and knitted my eyebrows together

“Okay” joel trailed off

Ever since Tim’s parents were eaten by a swarm of termites he and Ava have gotten really close, in every way.

“Okay, goodnight” joel said as we walked

Basically everyone is coupled up down here, a baby was born last winter! Welcome to the apocalypse kid. Ok if we ever get out of this, that would be an awesome story to tell your kids. “Oh ya I was born in an underground bunker doing a monster apocalypse” “yes exactly like World War Z but with bugs bigger than a 5 story building”. I mean come on.

So your probably wonder how the hell we get food, we’ll we have a cow. Gurdy. Gurdy is great. We also have a hunting party that brings back whatever they can from the surface. It’s gotten harder and harder, cause we ran out of bullets. And facing one of those things with a handmade weapon is just as hard as it sounds. It’s very very difficult. I go with them….sometimes. I still get scared. But I’ve been out quite a lot, especially compared to my man joel over here. I’ve been out maybe 30 times, he’s been out…maybe once, or not even. He’s the chef of the bunker. He makes super good Minestrone.

Me and joel like to hang out with Mavis. A robot. Yup. Not much for conversation, her batter is shot. Just like every other mavis I would imagine. When I’m not hunting we hang out with her. But sometimes I just go read. Reading and joel keep me sane. I mean sometimes joel drives me insane but I still love him. I have quite the collection of books too! I’ve got Emma by Jane Austen, a couple random ones that we found, all the hunger games and Harry Potter books, some mysteries that stopped being mysteries after a while, and then of course some smutty romance books for personal entertainment.

Joel likes to say that his thing is target practice. He has never hit the target but ya know, gotta entertain yourself. I think his thing is drawing though, he has this book that he draws in from Aimee. It’s really cool actually. He’s really good.

I sat watching Joel as he tried to hit the target, laughing a little every time he missed. It was cute how hard he tried.

“Shut up” he said shaking his laugh away

I laughed again, but then suddenly the lights started flickering. You could hear screeches and creeks echoing through the bunker. Joel turned to look at me. Worry and determination in his eyes. We both scrambled out of the room and into the kitchen where everyone was preparing.

“Hustle, hustle people we’ve gotta move”

I turned to look at Joel but then realized that he wasn’t next to me. Where did he go? Worry flooded through me. Suddenly the clanking of our weapon started behind me.

“Hey guys!” Joel said as he rammed into the railing, I shook my head. “Guys! I’ve got the weapons” he smiled at me

A few people walked over to him taking them out of his hands

“Stay” said Tim

“W-what?” Joel asked looking around in confusion

Everyone was talking and barking orders “grab what you need and let’s go! Y/N you coming?”

My eyes shot open “yes! Yup!” I jumped up and grabbed the bow and arrow from Joel.

“W-what's happening?” He asked innocently “what’s going on?”

“There’s a breach” said Tim

“What do you mean? Like inside the bunker breach?!” He asked

“Yes joel! Now come on!” I told him, patting him on the pack as I followed the others

He followed me and watched the plan get arranged

“Anna, Y/N and I will engage. Anderson and Tom plank him”

“Plank him, ya ok where do you guys need me? You want me to uh come through the rear or..?” Joel asked eagerly

“I don’t think your going to pass this joel” I told him

“Pass what? You guys need help, let me help” said clutching his crossbow

“You gonna make me say it?” said Sam

“Say what?!” God he was so adorably clueless

“You can’t handle it joel, your shook” said Sam, we all began getting into positions

“Ya ok, yes so you guys don’t get scared..ever?” He asked still getting ready to fight

“We get scared, we all get scared joel, but you get really scared” said Sam

“They are trying to make you feel bad joel” I said sweetly, trying to calm him down

“We love you joel”

“But your a liability”

“Ok why did that speech feel so rehearsed? And what about Y/N? She’s like…ya know?” He said bobbing his head

“Joel-“ suddenly the bunker shook and the lights flicked again

“Ok 30 meters out! Let’s move!” And we were off

Leaving joel and some others behind. You could hear the growling of whatever we were up against

I followed the others and listened carefully. I was freaking shaking. Don’t ask how I got sucked into becoming one the the hunters. Kinda just happened and I was just-

“OH SHIT!” I heard someone yell, it was too dark to see. Someone was gone, that thing took them. I couldn’t even see it. Oh fuck my life. Everyone began scattering, running away from the monster. I stopped running to take a breath, when I realized I was alone. Nicely done Y/N. The lights kept flickering. I heard something blow up in the distance.

“Conned? Conner?” I heard a whisper, one I knew all too well. Shit, joel. I ran toward the sound, and had no idea I was also running toward certain death. I stopped running. There it was, that thing. I’d never seen this before. I didn’t recognize it. I stayed silent, not moving at all. It slowly crawled over a shower curtain. Oh fuck. He was going toward joel! I quickly grabbed my bow and arrow and shot it. Right though the face. Next to its….eye I guess you could call it. Joel stood there, frozen.

I slowly walked over to him “Joel, hey are you ok?” I asked as I slipped my hand into his. He was trembling. Tears ran down his cheeks. He has a bad freezing problem, so I've been helping him work on it.

About an hour later I sat with Joel, still holding his hand as he stared out into space. We could hear everyone talking. How could this have happened?

“It ripped through steal”

“Anderson and I resealed the Breach point, nothings getting in that way again”

“But why did it happen?”

I tried to toon it out, and I hoped Joel did too.

“Joel, do you wanna talk about it?” I asked squeezing his hand, he looked so sad, which just crushed me

He shook his head

“Ok….” I nodded, I leaned into hug him but was interrupted by his voice

“How far away is Aimee's colony?” He asked

I pulled back, looking at him confused. The talking stopped and everyone look at him

“What?” Tim asked

“Aimee’s colony, how far away is it?” He repeated

“About 85 miles” he said as he furrowed his brows

“How long will it take to get there?”

“What do you mean joel?” I asked leaning closer to him

“Just humor me, how long?” He insisted

“7 days” said Tim

“Someone who’s armed and trained would hardly last 50miles, but you…joel” Ava said, I felt bad for him, he really didn’t deserve any of this

“Alright” Tim continued “now I need volunteers”

“I’m gonna go” joel said

No one said anything, they just stared

“It’s an impossible journey joel” said Tim, crossing his arms

Joel stood up, moving around my chair. “No im serious…I love you guys but there’s only one person in this world who ever truly made me happy and she’s only 85 miles away” he said strongly “I’m gonna go see her” I could see his mind was made up

God he was such a romantic, how could you not love this guy? Sure it hurts when your best friend tells you that you didn’t make him truly happy. Especially when you maybe sorta kinda have a crush on him.

He let out a breath “woah, that felt awesome” he said as he walked off to start packing

I stood there for a second processing and thinking, but then suddenly my mouth took over and well….

“I’m coming with you!” I said, he froze “I mean you can’t leave me here with these middle aged people, and your my best friend so” I shrugged

“I’ll come back for you I promise” he walked over to me “I can’t let you put yourself in even more danger” he said grabbing my arms

“I can’t let you put yourself in danger knowing that I could have helped protect you” I said, he stared blankly at me

I smiled “o-ohK…then I guess…” he trailed off

“Cool I’ll go pack” I skipped past him. Was I scared? Hell yes. But like I said, I needed to help joel and protect him in every way I can. And sure I wasn’t so happy that he was returning to his long lost love but if it made him happy then I would live. And anyway, two do shorten the road.

#love and monsters #joel dawson series #joel dawson fics #joel dawson #joel dawson x reader

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Books I’ve Read in 2020

AHello! I’m trying to read as many books as I can during the quarantine, here’s what I’ve finished so far:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (literary fiction): a son writes a letter about his life to his illiterate mother. Breathtakingly beautiful with it’s way with words this book is lovely and real in the hardest and sweetest ways. The author’s combination of prose and poetry is dazzling and intricate, this book has stuck with me for days afterward. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (fantasy): a money-lender gets in trouble after bragging she can turn silver into gold and is kidnapped and ordered to do so by a fey creature. It may be that I am the perfect audience for this type of book, but it’s my favorite thing I’ve read all year. It’s a book that equally takes on the fantastical and real-world with compelling female characters at the center of the whole thing. A wonderful fantasy journey inspired by eastern-European Jewish folklore. 5 out of 5 stars.

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (horror graphic novel): a series of short horror comics. Absolutely bone-chilling! This was a really fun type of scary story, especially the last one which made my skin absolutely crawl. Deliciously eerie, this was treat to read if not a little too short. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (magical realism): a young girl can taste other people’s emotions in their cooking and begins to understand her family in new ways. This was a weird book, but it has everything you’ve got to love about that combination of the surreal and mundane. It’s sense of character was electrifying and I had fun engaging with this type of off-kilter real world. I was a little frustrated in parts bc of some characters choices, but that too was true to life. 4 out of 5 stars.

Crier’s War by Nina Varela (steampunk fantasy wlw): about a Made automaton heir to a throne and her human hand-maiden that is trying to kill her. This was an easy read with a lot of tension between the two main characters that I liked, but the writing itself was very weak. There was waaay too much exposition in parts and the dialogue had some really hockey lines. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the middle of the book, but the beginning and end didn’t have much movement. 2.5 stars out of 5.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn (historical fiction): honestly, I’m a little disappointed. This book just did not hit my sweet spots, it wasn’t fast-paced enough for me to get immersed in the plot, and the characters weren’t real enough to be wholly invested in them. That said I adored Nina Markova and the Night Witches, so that did help. 3 starts out of 5.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White (horror sci-fi retelling): HAND IN UNLOVABLE HAND. A retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein’s wife and my God! The characters! The plot was well-enough, but the characters took the whole show for being complex and compelling. The main character was breathtakingly layered and I was wholly invested in Elizabeth and her story and the triumph at the end of this story was tangible. 4 out of 5 stars! 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (fantasy): A story of a young woman who lives in a valley where a girl must go live with a wizard for 10 years. She is certain she won’t be chosen, but ends up having to be “uprooted” herself. I enjoyed most of this book! However, I think I liked “Spinning Silver” a lot more just because the ending of this one somehow lost me. The characters were good and plot compelling, but (SPOILERS) the big battle at the end seemed to drag and didn’t interest me somehow. 3.8 out of 5 stars.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (fantasy): excellent read! A story of a young woman in Jazz Age Mexico who goes on an adventure with a Mayan death God who is trying to regain his throne. A romp across the country absolutely brimming with likable characters and fairy tale twists. My only complaint would be that most of it felt a little predictable due to the fact we knew where we were going throughout the whole story, However, it was still greatly enjoyable for the heroine herself, Casiopea. 4 out of 5 stars!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (literary): a story of two families in a progressive “planned” community, how their lives intertwine, their secrets, and a central question surrounding motherhood. Deeply empathetic to its characters and introspective, this is an every-day story of people in suburbia that reads like a thriller. I could barely put it down and felt deeply for its characters and situations, 5 out of 5 stars!

Wilder Girls by Rory Power (YA sci-fi suspense): a story of a group of girls at a boarding school on an island affected by the “tox” which alters their bodies in strange ways like giving them scales or an extra spine. This was an eerie, interesting read with a wlw romance! Watch out for the body horror in this one, but it was very gripping and held my interest. Some of the pacing was off in places (like the romance), but had a very creepy atmosphere that did it for me. 3.8 out of 5 stars!

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio (thriller-mystery): A thriller about a group of Shakespeare actors in their last year of college and one of their classmates who turns up dead. I enjoyed the murder mystery part of this novel more than I expected despite the fact I had guessed who had “done it” pretty early on. I really enjoyed the James-Oliver dynamic with its growing homoeroticism, but I didn’t like how the character of Meredith was handled at all. She felt like a one-note aside. I might have given this book four stars, but the ending was EXTREMELY frustrating for me and I did not like the “open-ended” conclusion. 3 out of 5 stars.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (literary humor): a weird character-driven comedy about an old grumpy man and a new family that moves in next to him. Warning for themes of suicide. Anyway, I don’t normally indulge in cliches like “I laughed, I cried, I loved one Cat Annoyance.” However, that’s exactly what I did. I laughed out loud, I cried my eyes out (THE CAT’S HEAD WAS IN HIS PALM), I loved this book. It was sweet and compelling and thoroughly immersive. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (historical fantasy): set in the early 1900s comes a story of a young girl and her experience with “Doors” that lead to different worlds. This book had a lot of great character development and really interesting descriptions, however, I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. I found it hard to get myself to sit down a read it. There was just something missing with the push to “page-turn,” but it was still a really good book. 3.7 out of 5 stars!

Gideon the 9th by Tamsyn Muir (high fantasy, kinda gay): I AM FILLED WITH EMOTIONS. This was book was definitely a page-turner. I was very confused with it at the beginning, but the characters and their interactions were, forgive the expression, the life blood of the story and kept me wholly invested. The ending has CRUSHED my heart, but damn did I have a good time reading it. 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Harrow the 9th by Tamsyn Muir (sequel to Gideon the 9th): I really enjoyed this book. It was just as strange and twisting as the first book, though I think I enjoyed the first one a bit more since I love Gideon. It was fun ride overall, though the ending was kind of really confusing. So 4 out of 5 stars.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (historical fiction): Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The writing style was personable and grounded in reality. I found myself really liking the main characters and the exploration of the life of a bi main character was really well done I thought. A solid book with drama and glamor to boot. 4.6 out of 5 stars!

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (historical fiction): A story of two sisters during WWII and their resistance to Nazi occupation. To be honest, this book wasn’t my cup of tea. It was compelling, but also wholly depressing and I felt like gloried in the pain of the two main characters too much. The history was wonderful and realistic, but it didn’t make me feel anything good afterward. It was just dark. 3 out of 5 stars.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (mlm romance): I finally finished this after the heaviness of The Nightingale. This is a story of the First Son of the USA falling for the prince of England. And it turned out to be a very fun and light hearted read! Some of it was kinda generic and too political, and it coulda been shorter, but I thought the romance itself made up for it. It just made me feel so sweet and lovely inside. 4 out of 5 stars!

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (literary humor): I’m searching out heartfelt books and this one ticked off all the marks on my “sweet” list. A lovely book that made me cry more times than I would like to admit. Compassionate beyond belief, funny and heartfelt. I think I enjoyed A Man Called Ove slightly more, but this book was also dear to me and something I hope to reread in the future. 4.2 out of 5 stars!

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (sci-fi): A post-apocalyptical story about a group of traveling Shakespeare actors and a symphony. Overall, an excellent read that somehow pictures a more realistic or even softer version of the apocalypse. At first, I wasn't happy with the jumping around of the story, but as I progressed I grew fonder and fonder of the interwoven characters and their journey. A very fascinating read about a world that hits a little too close to home. The appreciation of the arts and preserving humanity was somehow very hopeful and I was fully engaged with this story. 5 out of 5 Stars!

Up next: The Hidden Life of Trees by by Peter Wohlleben (nonfiction science), The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (urban fantasy), The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (fantasy)

#I'll keep this list updated! #am reading #bookblr #IA talks #I've mostly read books I've really liked this year! #then again I rarely finish books I don't like

[writingsbychlo]

Oh you just put me on a Joel mood with that headcanon! If I'm not wrong I think you did a headcanon or just told us one of your ideas a while ago that involved Joel arriving at the safe place in the mountains and meeting the reader there and she's like this badass chick and he just falls head over heels for her but his a little shy and a bit self-conscious... do you have anymore 💭 about that???

oooohhhh yes yes i have that draft going on still, but it's been there for a while, so lets make it headcanons for the meantime;

no more requests, the sleepover is over! I am just filling out all the ones left in my inbox!

okay, so, joel is a little clumsy

and yeah, sometimes he freezes up

he's come a long way since his days of panicking and silently crying in the bunker, okay?

but, he still isn't epic

and then he meets you, and holy shit, how his whole life changes

because, you're like some kind of superhero. you're like the black widow of the apocalypse

he is simply sent out with a team as a cook. he hates that his only job is to forage for berries and decide which cuts of meat he can work with

and then he sees you in action, and he thinks he falls in love

because you're so fucking badass

and you don't even break a sweat

but, he's scared

because he doesn't know how you could be so badass in the face of danger, and he actively avoids you

in his mind, he's already written you off as rejecting him, and he kinda lives in that hurt that hasn't actually happened yet

the last time he tried to speak to someone as cool as he sees you was before aimee, and he can still hear laughing in his head and the clench in his chest

so he doesn't bother

it's the third time he's sent out on a scavenging and hunting session with you, well over a year after he met you, when you talk to him

"hey, you're joel, right? I'm (Y/N.)"

"I know. I mean, I don't know that. well, now I do, and I did before, but that makes me look creepy, and- shit- uh, hi. I think."

and he is absolutely certain that laugh is coming

and a laugh does come

but not the kind of laugh he was expecting. this isn't mocking. this is just amused, sweet, kinda cute, actually..

"well, I knew you were joel before I came over. you're joel who makes great food out of basically nothing. you're kinda famous, you know."

"oh, about as famous as you are, then? the badass who's scared of nothing."

and then you're blushing, and taking a seat next to him, and he's pretty sure he might hyperventilate, because did he do that?

"those are lies. I'm scared of a lot of things, I'm just good at dealing with it, I guess."

"so, you agree, you think you're a badass?"

"okay, regina george. I am pretty badass."

"I'm so glad you got that. coulda' ruined this whole thing."

and then you do that sweet little laugh again, and he's kinda proud of himself

"I hear you can draw things. can I see?"

he gets to show off some of his drawings, and you sit with him practically all night

until you get sleepy and wander away tor est before the morning, but he can't sleep, because he's practically buzzing

the next day, that really comes back to bite him in the ass

you're almost home, so damn close, and yet so fucking far

because nobody saw it coming, and he fucking freezes again

and of course, he gets himself pretty injured

some bad cuts and scrapes

and he's fucking embarrassed when you inevitably save him

he can't even look you in the eyes, actually

walking in silence all the way back

and sulking off to his cabin, not bothering to talk to anyone

he doesn't really talk to anyone for days, because he's humiliated

the only reason that breaks, though, is because you catch him off guard

"are you avoiding me?"

"yes. everyone, actually. crippling embarrassment and the low-key wish to be swallowed up whole by the ground will do that to a man."

"and, what exactly made you feel like this?"

feeling like he's being mocked, and scoffing, and almost walking away

but then you look genuinely confused and a little hurt, and he feels guilty

confessing that he hates that he can't be more useful, and that he feels weak

and pretty much just pouring out his heart

blushing, like really fucking hard when you run your hand through his hair and tell him it's okay

"y'know, you shouldn't feel embarrassed. it's not like we went through training for this. high school classes weren't biology, literature, monster-killing combat, maths. it's okay to be scared."

getting even more embarrassed when his eyes flick down to your lips, and he's pretty sure you saw it, too

"can you teach me, though? that's a good idea. lessons."

"you want me to teach you what?"

"to be brave."

"I think you're already brave, joel."

getting all flustered again, but he kinda feels like his ego is being built up, and he feels a little better about himself

"but, if you want, I can teach you how to fight."

"yeah, I'd like that."

he hates it to begin with

because that's a lot more physical exertion than he was ready for

which makes sense, because he's seen you do some stuff that would have him floored, without even breaking a sweat

and he didn't realise quite how heavy a sword was, but he struggles for a while

and, it results in a fair few scrapes and injuries

a lot of bruised shoulders as he learns to shoot and isn't prepared for the kickback

and a lot of little nicks from swords and knives

and even trying to sharpen arrows

but, he gets there

he gets a lot less clumsy, and he gets a lot stronger

and he feels a lot braver

"you have to choose something to focus on. I heard about your journey to find aimee. find something like that to focus on again, and when you get scared, think about that instead."

"what do you think about?"

"I think about my mom."

it leads to a deep story, and a lot of confessions by the fireplace that night. really baring your souls to one another.

and he loves it, because he gets to cup your cheeks and wipe your tears away, and you end up falling asleep on his shoulder, face pressed into his neck

he carries you to bed, and when he's leaving, you grab his hand for just a second, and tell him to "stay a while", and he does

so, the first time he really gets to put his skills to the test, it doesn't go so well

he doesn't freeze up, but he fumbles a little under the pressure, and fucks it up

but you weren't there, and you're what he focuses on, and he couldn't think

the next time, though, that goes really well

he's fucking proud of himself

because this was one hell of a trip, you've been away for three weeks and that was three weeks of time together

he got to do some drawing, and lately you've become his muse and you tease him for it but he teases you back and it makes you blush in that way he loves

and the next time he gets to put all his new skills to the test, he fucking smashes it

he doesn't freeze up, and he doesn't panic

he thinks about your pretty smile and his head stays clear and get feels so fucking badass

and when he finally gets back to the little campsite set up, he's still hopped up on adrenaline

it's probably the slight sting of a bite on his shoulder, or the blood and dirt he knows he's somewhat covered in, and the ache of a hard hit to his ribs, but he's practically high on it

and you're worried for him

he finds you with your legs crossed on your bed, drawing in his sketchbook with charcoal and you look so worried for him

he drops straight to his knees, your hands on his shoulders and thumbs pushing under his jaw as you inspect the damage, and he doesn't care

he just pulls you closer, until he can bump the tip of his nose with yours

close enough that he can feel the sharp intake of breath you make

"I'm gonna' kiss you so good you hit the clouds now, m'kay?"

"kept me waiting long enough." and you barely get it out, he doesn't let you, because he can't wait any longer

he's never felt more like a badass than this moment.

#9ksleepover

[sunshine304]

Movies watched in 2021: Love and Monsters

Look. I love Dylan O’Brien, so I was really looking forward to this movie. Of course, it also suffered from the closed cinemas last year but is now showing on Netflix (Germany, I guess some other countries had an earlier release).

The world went to hell. Because humanity nuked an asteroid that would’ve have destroyed Earth, the nuclear waste caused a mutation in cold-blooded animals. The result was huge mutated monster insects, amphibians, spiders etc. and many, many dead people. Joel (Dylan O’Brien) survived one of the worst outbreaks and has been living in an underground colony with several other survivors for seven years now. His parents died and his girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick) got separated from him in the chaos.

Joel is a bit of a sadsack, because he still pines for Aimee and their lost love after all these years and also is a bad fighter that doesn’t contribute much to his colony except for cooking and taking care of radiocommunication. In this manner he finds Aimee again - she’s in a colony 140 km west from him. And in a crazy bout of spontaneousness Joel decides to go to her.

Ill equipped as he is he still braves the outside world for the first time in seven years, just to finally reunite with the woman he loves. On his journey he meets a dog, two other survivors (Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt), and lots and lots of monsters.

I really enjoyed this movie. I felt it had a kind of 80s fantasy-adventure movie vibe. You now, those entertaining, mostly light-hearted movies that you could easily watch as an older kid because nothing really bad happens in them but they’re still thrilling and fun enough to keep you interested.  “Love & Monsters” is a movie like that. Perhaps not as good as the best of that lot, but still fairly good.

The acting was good and I think they all did really well in their roles. I especially enjoyed Ariana Greenblatt as Minnow. I don’t know if I was happy with the voice over, it was an okay way to establish the world, but it felt a bit jarring at times. This might have been the dubbing, though, even though it was Dylan O’Brien’s usual movie voice actor. Of course, it’s not a super deep movie, but there were some emotional scenes which Dylan O’Brien sold well.

The special effects were really, really good, especially for such a moderately budgeted movie. The monsters were fun and often blended into the surrounding landscapes, which was really cool. The world building was fun and would work well for sequels.

If I wanted to complain about something, I thought that there were too many Deus ex Machina moments. Then again, it was kind of refreshing to for once have a male protagonist who is just a normal guy that isn’t inherently great at fighting and survival (the posters definitely make him seem more heroic than he is at the beginning). I’ve seen comparisons to “Zombieland” a lot and there are similarities of course. These movies use certain tropes and character stereotypes to the same effect, but I at least found Joel more likeable then Columbus.

I’ve seen comments on this movie that whined about how there “aren’t any stakes“ and “it’s not serious and not dark enough even though it’s the end of the world“. Like, people really, can’t you just be happy with a little entertaining movie that for once isn’t a dark!grim!gritty dystopia where everyone tries to kill each other? Like, many scenes played outside in daylight! I could actually see what’s going on! Also, I didn’t have to watch several disposable characters get killed off so that the lead could cry about it. That was so refreshing!

Also, please please learn to read metaphors and to interpret easy clues. Just, please. There’s one super easy metaphor in this movie that’s just self-explanatory but... people don’t get it. Also, the resolution of it all... how clear is the movie supposed to be? Do you really need to have everything spelled out in huge obvious dialogue?

My God.

Anyway, fun movie, would watch a sequel. Want to see those ice spiders.

8/10

Also also, Boy the dog? The best!

#love and monsters #love & monsters #movies #movie reviews #my posts #dylan o'brien

[ericeffiorg]

Personally for me, it’s not the wont they/will they thing with Maeve and Otis anymore, it’s the simple fact that I think they outgrow each other and seem to be in way different places as people and every time they are together they just don’t naturally flow, they feel stuck, tense. It doesn’t feel natural because even the dialogue between them this season felt like it came from the writers and not the characters themselves. Like they needed to convince us that they do actually work together. Not only do I think the writers took too much time in them coming together but their interactions felt short compared to the ones with their love interests. Season 2 got a pass but on season 3, they arguably had more natural interactions with Ruby and Isaac respectively. While Otis and Ruby were used mostly as a comedic relief I still think Otis feel more natural. The conflict between Maeve and Otis is exhausting, angst doesn’t work for everyone. And the thing about them is that we've known they’ll be endgame since season 1 so they don’t have an element of surprise, it’s just pure torture watching them and sadly they lost the spark and momentum.

so sorry about taking so long to reply but when i read this i had to really think about what you said before replying so forgive me for the lateness but i think you're so right about a lot of this! something about maeve x otis just doesn't click perfectly. it's not bad but the sparks just didn't fly quite as much as they did in the last two seasons. as you said, their interactions with their other partners felt more natural - especially that scene where maeve and isaac had sex in his home. that was such a beautifully done scene and it made me want to ship them both so bad. their chemistry was just so perfect and you can't deny it in that scene. i don't think i'll ever support ruby and otis after season 3, but even they had great chemistry, regardless of what happened between them. slow burn is really great, but i think what sex education missed out on is that this slow burn with maeve and otis was at the forefront for a lot of season 1, and then put to the side for season 2, so we semi lost interest. slow burn works best when it's hinted at, and not a big story that is clear as day. maeve and otis have been a big thing since the first episode, so them still not entirely being together to this day is just a bit annoying as audience members. and then as they are finally reaching that stage, right before it in comes this really great character who we already kind of like (ruby) and she is given well utilised screen time that made us fall in love with her, so it was hard for maeve and otis to compete with that when viewers - who hadn't seen these guys for almost two years - were given a fresh but familiar option to prefer. also season 3 really made otis and maeve appear as much more likeable when they were single/having intimate platonic relationships with aimee/eric. so i get why people are tiring of them as a couple, and the writers should have put more of a focus on motis than they did.

however, i'm not sure i agree with the outgrowing of each other bit, though. they're not exactly on the same wavelength, but are very close. they're both at equal levels of maturity, intelligence and at very similar levels of their journey, but are moving in slightly different paths. right now, maeve is clearly focused on her education, becoming an independent adult, learning to become more vulnerable with the people she loves and finding her (chosen) family. whereas otis is in a phase in his life where he's also gaining some independence and learning to be more vulnerable with his loved ones (particularly jean). i think the issue arises in that we've seen them be with two people (isaac and ruby) who brought out a different side to them we'd never seen before; ruby (unintentionally) gave otis some more confidence to assert himself whereas isaac allowed maeve to be more vulnerable. so when they got together, it was a weird experience for the viewers to see them suddenly be the people they've always been around each other, which is a more collected, whilst slightly anxious version of themselves (as they were still trying to see if the other felt the same as they did, just as they've been doing since season 1). so i wouldn't say they've outgrown each other, i just think they've just spent season 3 independently trying to grow into different people, so it just felt weird when they finally were together. they shouldn't have had such an awkward erc after 3x05. and the scene where otis and isaac were being immature during the elsie situation was such a big contrast to the really lovely maeve/isaac sex scene and the delightful humour ruby/otis had.

so basically what i'm saying is, if we were to just cut the maeve and otis scenes into one long episode, it would feel really great, it's just that when you pile in the scenes with ruby/isaac it just feels so different to the people they were with them (and in otis' case that's because he was trying so hard to impress her he simply couldn't be himself)

#omg i talk so much shit isdjklfsdfsdf #im sorry #i hope this makes sense #if it doesn't please just tell me so i can re explain sdkjfsdfs #asks #sex education spoilers

[love-takes-work]

The Art of Steven Universe the Movie: Outline & Review

The Art of Steven Universe The Movie was released March 3, 2020. It's a wonderful journey through the concept art, character development, and experience of fashioning these ideas into the movie we all love.

Nuts and bolts: The book is published by Dark Horse, and it was designed by Ryan Sands (a zine specialist), with commentary by Takafumi Hori, Kat Morris, and Rebecca Sugar. It includes art by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Takafumi Hori, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Angie Wang, Ashley Fisher, Becky Dreistadt, Chromosphere, Danny Cragg, Elle Michalka, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, Jasmin Lai, Jeff Liu, Joe Johnston, Julian De Perio, Katie Mitroff, Leonard Hung, Miki Brewster, Patrick Bryson, and Paul Villeco.

Full review below with low-quality images.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

An introduction explains the same origin story that Rebecca Sugar told us in the movie DVD's commentary: that she accidentally restored her phone to factory settings and lost years of important stuff, and she ended up applying that devastating premise to her movie. That combined with the concept of "breaking" the main premise of a TV show to make a movie was how she got started developing the story. The opening of the movie styled like a storybook is blocked out with some great drawings and breakdowns of which narration would go to what storybook pages. This is combined with some partial sheet music for "The Tale of Steven." Rebecca writes about how she felt having to wrap pre-production on Season 5 only to take on this even bigger movie challenge. The biggest challenge was writing all these songs in such a short time--six weeks--and having to deal with the stress, being crushed under all that pressure while still wanting to do this story so badly, and it was humbling to still have to work so hard to sell the idea. The feeling of relief to finally be done that Steven expresses in "Happily Ever After" is very similar to what Rebecca went through feeling like she wanted to be finally done but still knowing what she had to do to climb an even bigger mountain. Some very cute Steven-at-age-16 and Connie in Space Camp clothes follow. Notes indicate that Steven and Connie are the same height now, but his poofy hair is just slightly higher than her head.

Notes from 2017 also give us the "Neckstravaganza": design notes on Steven's new form, with a neck and a jacket. It's very cool.

Some beautiful Joe Johnston boards follow, with sequences from the "Happily Ever After" song. We also get Angie Wang's final design (with Ashley Fisher's color) of the injector, including some sketchy concept art for it from Rebecca Sugar and Hilary Florido. In the rough concept notes, they call this the "Mega Injector," with notes for Takafumi Hori to use for scale. It looks beyond huge in a Leonard Hung drawing.

Spinel concepts are next. Some notes explain that aivi & surasshu (the usual composers) were involved very early since it was a musical, and Rebecca included them when pitching the story to the Crew so they could organically develop the sound. The heart shape was central to Spinel from the beginning, and early versions of her had an entire heart shape to her head.

(There's a doodle of what looks like a cartoon dog in the pile of drawings shown in this section. It's not clear what that was.)

Spinel was given the heart imagery partly because Rebecca had learned early on about the importance of symbols, and when it came time to assign one to Steven, the star was chosen because it's so positive and is read as gender-neutral. Rebecca still hadn't used hearts for anything, so it was time. They also incorporated really old, dated character design ideas to make Spinel feel like an outdated cartoon from the rubber hose era.

The aspect of her design with the running mascara versus cute eyelashes predated the rotation of her Gem. Rebecca likes to start with more realistic sketches when she's figuring out a character, and then she'll move to making it more cartoony. A quote from Miki Brewster is shared: "Spinel can do anything, as long as it's entertaining!" Her "best friend" form is described as "a doll for friendship fun & games! Of a different era--hokey, charming, weird...super gullible and trusting. Incredibly loyal, constant entertainment machine!"

When it comes to developing her "worst enemy" form, Rebecca explains a bit that she has a really complicated relationship with old cartoons because nostalgia is not compelling to her--the animation from the 1930s is so neat, but considering the social limits and the way the industry was at the time, Rebecca doesn't think she could have participated. Especially considering nowadays she even had to struggle to be allowed to tell the stories she needed to tell and it would have been impossible five years ago. The norms of the time aren't entirely extricable from the art itself.

Takafumi Hori weighs in with commentary on how fun it was to animate a scary but fun character on top of Miki Brewster's boards for the "Other Friends" fight sequence.

Next, moving on from the central new character, they also spend some time discussing Steg. Rebecca first explains "Steg Multiverse" as a character so uplifting he can make you fly, combining Greg's unending support and Steven's positive power. She makes reference to the early "stegosaurus" concepts they had for his look, but they didn't want to lose the opportunity to have his hair flow. Rebecca confirms that the pompadour idea was established in "Steven and the Stevens" so they wanted to give it to Steg, and she credits Paul Villeco for really finalizing his design and bringing him to life.

And of course the poofy hair from Steven and the double-necked guitar was essential for Steg.

Next, the book gives us a whole page of handwritten notes about "Drift Away." Kat Morris explains the intentional duality of the scene--how Spinel should be shown seeing her own past with new perspective, being embarrassed, blending together who she was with who she is. The partial lyrics to the song and some sketchy boards are offered.

Rebecca shares her personal connection with the subject matter--how she once left a stuffed animal in her garden and the side facing the sun faded. It really made a mark on her as a child that things changed without her, because of her actions, and that she'd left this treasured toy alone without thinking about it all that time, letting it be affected by the elements without her interference. She wrote "Everything Stays" for Adventure Time based on that plushie, and realized that she was writing about it again for the Steven Universe movie.

Many beautiful miniature boards are shown in this section.

Partial sheet music for "Drift Away" is also offered here. It's credited to Rebecca Sugar and Aimee Mann. The music sheet is followed by some lovely images of the garden by Julian De Perio, Patrick Bryson, and Leonard Hung.

Takafumi Hori returns for a discussion of the final fight sequence during "Change," which he animated from Jeff Liu's boards. He discusses trying to keep the fight feeling dramatic and serious even though Spinel's fighting style is funny. He wanted to keep her tension. Hori-san throws in a word of thanks for being allowed to work on his favorite show again, praises Jeff and Miki, and compliments Rebecca Sugar's demos. He hoped we'd get a soundtrack album. (Of course, we did.)

Some final boards by Rebecca Sugar and Becky Dreistadt of the characters in their show gear descending the steps close out the book. There are also some cute little doodles at the end on the credits page, like a head of lettuce with caption "lettuce adore you" and Spinel in a drifting go-kart laughing, captioned "drift away."

The back cover pictures Steven with his arm around a heartbroken Spinel, comforting her.

Overall, the book is wonderful--the accompanying information is generally not new to anyone who watched the DVD's documentary and commentary, and many of the sketches have been released one way or another directly by the artists through Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr blogs. There was still plenty of wonderful new concept art that wasn't already out there, and looking at some of the iterations Spinel and Steg went through was particularly captivating. There was no new insight into the development of the plot beyond the premise and the Spinel-related conflict, though; nothing about how they decided to focus the Garnet storyline, the Pearl storyline, and the Amethyst storyline for how they would each get their memories back, and there was no spotlight on their movie versions--modern Cotton Candy Garnet, copycat baby Amethyst, and factory settings uncustomized Pearl. I was hoping especially for some Amethyst stuff because the movie was the first place we got to see her with the simple default outfit and segmented limbs. It was primarily an art book with commentary on some of the most definitive movie aspects--it didn't reach the depth that Art and Origins gave us. It has a start-to-finish feeling in a sense, but it's mostly just splashes of information that are fun to know. It's a great companion and definitely should not be missed by any fan of the movie. I recommend it heartily!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe the movie #the art of steven universe the movie #movie art book #myblog

[seven-oomen]

Love and Monsters Lore/Meta/Headcanons

Spoilers ahead!!!! I feel like I shouldn’t have to say it but obviously this will have spoilers for the movie.

Okay so strap in kiddos because I have spend my entire day rewatching the film, writing down all the little lines I could find and I think I’ve build a pretty decent understanding of its lore despite not having much information to fall back onto from other sources. (I don’t think it’s an easily accessible movie and there’s no wikis or whatever yet.)

Alright so here we go:

Part 1: The apocalypse

The apocalypse in this universe started 7 years before the story starts. An asteroid called Agatha 616 was headed for Earth. And in response Earth send up a bunch of chemical bombs to break up the asteroid.

It worked, a little too well. And those chemicals came back down on Earth and mutated all Cold-blooded animals. (Insects, fish, arachnids, reptiles, amphibians) From what we can tell, that’s all the chemicals affected. Warm blooded animals like Mammals and Birds  don’t seem to be affected. But the source material isn’t very definitive on this.

In the opening story Joel talks about how 95% of humanity basically got eaten to death by the mutated creatures. Even Clyde alludes to humanity being unaffected by referring to a line said by the governments/scientists at the time; “We’re the lucky ones, or so they said.”

To me that makes sense, insects in particular are so vast and so well adapted that if they ever got to the size of a truck, they would dominate pretty much all other species around them. That might also explain why we don’t see many mammals or birds around. I’ve been looking, haven’t found them just yet. Aside from Gertie the cow and Boy the dog.

One of the places were the apocalypse seems to have kicked off is in Fairfield, California. Clyde calls it ‘basically ground zero’ and is amazed that Joel (and Aimee by extension) even made it out of there. Although a part of that may be because I believe the whole “cast” is from the area between Sacramento California and San Fransicsco. I have my reasons for that, which I will explain in headcanons.

Another, based on a news clip in the beginning might be Washington DC and I think it slowly escalated from there, going Global in a matter of days. I think the highest concentration of humanity fell first (cities), which would make sense as more humans generally also means a lot of insects and other scavengers. Conflict would be high in these areas and a lot of people would die at once.

Joel also talks about how the military and the ‘big ones’ basically cancelled each other out and died out after another. Which again makes sense to me, you’d want the most dangerous creatures to be taken out first. A cockroach the size of a tank is definitely a priority. Although how one would kill a cockroach that size is also very questionable, considering what they can survive.

I think humanity held out for several months before they were forced into hiding by the mutated creatures and the news articles that seem to be around throughout the world and in the beginning seem to suggest that as well.

Part 2: Joel’s Journey

Now I am not an American and a lot of places have names that I know nothing about. So I had to Google it, rehear it and figure it out. But Joel’s journey takes him to Jenner Beach, we know based on a sign post that he passes Fulton and is headed off towards Sonoma Coast State Park. Based on those signs I have a made a trajectory of about 85 miles and approximately located Joel’s colony.

I’ve also circled Fairfield here to indicate where he started out. Now as I said, this is guess work based on what the movie gave me from the sign post.

Sonoma Coast state Park (30 miles), Fulton (6 Miles)

And from what the characters in the movie have been saying; Jenner Beach. So yeah, it’s guess work and I might be a couple of miles off, but I like to think this gives a good perspective.

7 days seems to sort of check out though, considering the terrain is rough and hilly/mountainy, you’d constantly have to hide, and you’d need to sleep/forage. But you’d be walking pretty slow still. I think you could make the journey in 5-6 days as well on foot.

Part 3: Clyde and Minnow’s Journey

Now these two are far more difficult to figure out because we don’t know much about them. Wikipedia indicates Clyde is a survival expert, so that’s the official title that I went with as well. He says he had a son named Elliott and that he was in a colony with Elliot, Minnow, and Minnow’s dad. Minnow also indicates that their colony was in a subway station. They were mostly headed North.

I think the most likely candidates for their ‘home base’ were Sacremento, but then why did they cross Joel’s path and didn’t head for Yosemite/ Mt. Whitney if they wanted to go to the mountains?

Or another likely candidate was Richmond. Which is what I went with. This is more headcanony though. Only because they mentioned going to the North as opposed to going East, towards Mt. Whitney. Maybe Sacremento and it’s valley are a no-go zone? That would sense, large open spaces are probably where larger creatures reside.

Part 4: Headcanons

Okay this last section is purely headcanon material and not at based on facts. So please don’t shoot me. (Yes, you may copy the headcanons if you like, I don’t mind.)

Clyde is a survival expert, hunter, and doomsday prepper in the city. He used to lead rich tourist/people onto expeditions into the wilderness of California.

His son Elliott was a State Ranger in one of the local wildlife parks/reservations. He was also very gay,

Clyde is a simple but open minded man who loved his son/family. He really didn’t care his son was gay and supported him.

They lived just outside of Richmond.

Their neighbors was an Indian Transman (as in his ancestors were from India). This was Minnow’s father.

Minnow was one when the Apocalypse hit. (This is somewhat canon actually.)

Her father carried her and gave birth to her, getting a hysterectomy a few months after.

Her father was also a great archer and used to teach people how to use a bow and arrow. He was also a great horseback rider.

When the apocalypse hit they tried to sit it out in Clyde’s shelter but due to circumstance were forced to leave and eventually ended up in a colony in Richmond. Which operated from a subway station. 

Elliott and Minnow’s father fell in love and paired up, raising Minnow together. Clyde became her grandfather figure.

They stayed there for about 4-5 years until an attack decimated the colony, including Minnow’s father and Elliott.

Clyde and Minnow have been surviving out on there own ever since and were slowly traveling up North until they found Joel in a Sandgobblers hole.

Part 5: Creatures

We know the following about the categories of creatures:

Insects: Have terrible peripheral vision

Lizards: Can’t climb for shit

Amphibians: Like to hide and lure in their prey

Sandgobblers: Bad asses, find prey by sound and vibration, their queen is bad news and has a fin.

You can tell if a creature is kind by looking into its eyes.

Bouldersnails are friendly, sensitive, but can crush your ass in a heartbeat.

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And that’s what I have so far. Feel free to reblog and add to it if you’ve found more or want to enter a counter to some of the things I’ve found.

#love and monsters #love and monsters meta #love and monsters headcanon #ben says stuff #my theories

[ladyonfire28]

Hello Aimee. I have been a silent reader for weeks (post POALOF). I would like to express my utmost appreciation towards your dedication in doing whatever you're doing here, ie translating French interviews, sharing breath taking GIFs etc).

I MUST say this, you really explain everything so eloquently, and I REALLY x28 enjoy everything you type. So, thanks a bunch 💓

I've only managed to read your Tumblr halfway, because every time I read, I will accidentally hit the "back" button and I need to start over again from the latest post .

Ugh so frustrating. I've had sore finger scrolling through the screen just to get to the page that I was reading.

But it's all worth it.

Again, thank you 😄

Btw, I noticed majority people are impressed with Adele's performance at the end. I was too, on 1st watch.

But as I watch it more times, I have decided that I love these 2 scenes the most

1) The expression of Marianne, from the moment she locked eyes with Heloise's painting, the emotional journey she went through up until the moment she saw the No28

(I always tear uncontrollably at this scene)

2) The scene at the beach, after Marianne's confession that she's a painter and after Heloise's swim.

She tenderness in her expression and voice when she said "Let's go back"

Urghh that scene really crushed me

If only Marianne get to say that to Heloise AFTER the concert,

*wishful thinking, I know*

PS: I'm very new to Tumblr. If I somehow accidentally posted this using the wrong method, please delete it. I apologize in advance

——————————————————

Hey! Thank you for your message, it means so much 💛 I’m sorry my blog/ tumblr is hard to navigate though! I hope it’s not too frustrating !

And I agree ! The scene at the museum is so so beautiful, it’s one of my favs scenes too! And yes that scene on the beach is pretty overlooked but you can see how Marianne cares about Héloïse and how scared and hurt she is to have betrayed her.

And yeah let’s not think about that very last scene again, it’s too painful 😔

And don’t worry, normally it’s easier to send a message through the ask box because it’s a bit clearer but you submitted a message and it’s good too haha! Especially since you wrote a very long message 😉

I hope you have a great day !! ☺️☺️

#ask #anon #submission