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livingcorner · 3 years

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‘Paradise Lost’: How The Apple Became The Forbidden Fruit

Left: Title page of the first edition of Paradise Lost (1667). Right: William Blake, The Temptation and Fall of Eve, 1808 (illustration of Milton’s Paradise Lost) Wikipedia hide caption

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You're reading: ‘Paradise Lost’: How The Apple Became The Forbidden Fruit

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Left: Title page of the first edition of Paradise Lost (1667). Right: William Blake, The Temptation and Fall of Eve, 1808 (illustration of Milton’s Paradise Lost)

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This month marks 350 years since John Milton sold his publisher the copyright of Paradise Lost for the sum of five pounds.

His great work dramatizes the oldest story in the Bible, whose principal characters we know only too well: God, Adam, Eve, Satan in the form of a talking snake — and an apple.

Except, of course, that Genesis never names the apple but simply refers to “the fruit.” To quote from the King James Bible:

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”

“Fruit” is also the word Milton employs in the poem’s sonorous opening lines:

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe

Read more: Papergarden

But in the course of his over-10,000-line poem, Milton names the fruit twice, explicitly calling it an apple. So how did the apple become the guilty fruit that brought death into this world and all our woe?

The short and unexpected answer is: a Latin pun.

In order to explain, we have to go all the way back to the fourth century A.D., when Pope Damasus ordered his leading scholar of scripture, Jerome, to translate the Hebrew Bible into Latin. Jerome’s path-breaking, 15-year project, which resulted in the canonical Vulgate, used the Latin spoken by the common man. As it turned out, the Latin words for evil and apple are the same: malus.

In the Hebrew Bible, a generic term, peri, is used for the fruit hanging from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, explains Robert Appelbaum, who discusses the biblical provenance of the apple in his book Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections.

“Peri could be absolutely any fruit,” he says. “Rabbinic commentators variously characterized it as a fig, a pomegranate, a grape, an apricot, a citron, or even wheat. Some commentators even thought of the forbidden fruit as a kind of wine, intoxicating to drink.”

A detail of Michelangelo’s fresco in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel depicting the Fall of Man and expulsion from the Garden of Eden Wikipedia hide caption

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A detail of Michelangelo’s fresco in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel depicting the Fall of Man and expulsion from the Garden of Eden

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When Jerome was translating the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” the word malus snaked in. A brilliant but controversial theologian, Jerome was known for his hot temper, but he obviously also had a rather cool sense of humor.

“Jerome had several options,” says Appelbaum, a professor of English literature at Sweden’s Uppsala University. “But he hit upon the idea of translating peri as malus, which in Latin has two very different meanings. As an adjective, malus means bad or evil. As a noun it seems to mean an apple, in our own sense of the word, coming from the very common tree now known officially as the Malus pumila. So Jerome came up with a very good pun.”

The story doesn’t end there. “To complicate things even more,” says Appelbaum, “the word malus in Jerome’s time, and for a long time after, could refer to any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. A pear was a kind of malus. So was the fig, the peach, and so forth.”

Which explains why Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco features a serpent coiled around a fig tree. But the apple began to dominate Fall artworks in Europe after the German artist Albrecht Dürer’s famous 1504 engraving depicted the First Couple counterpoised beside an apple tree. It became a template for future artists such as Lucas Cranach the Elder, whose luminous Adam and Eve painting is hung with apples that glow like rubies.

Eve giving Adam the forbidden fruit, by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Wikipedia hide caption

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Eve giving Adam the forbidden fruit, by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

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Milton, then, was only following cultural tradition. But he was a renowned Cambridge intellectual fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, who served as secretary for foreign tongues to Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth. If anyone was aware of the malus pun, it would be him. And yet he chose to run it with it. Why?

Appelbaum says that Milton’s use of the term “apple” was ambiguous. “Even in Milton’s time the word had two meanings: either what was our common apple, or, again, any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. Milton probably had in mind an ambiguously named object with a variety of connotations as well as denotations, most but not all of them associating the idea of the apple with a kind of innocence, though also with a kind of intoxication, since hard apple cider was a common English drink.”

Read more: Feng Shui Tips For Luck And Wealth: 7 Ways To Use Elephant In Your Home Decor

It was only later readers of Milton, says Appelbaum, who thought of “apple” as “apple” and not any seed-bearing fruit. For them, the forbidden fruit became synonymous with the malus pumila. As a widely read canonical work, Paradise Lost was influential in cementing the role of apple in the Fall story.

But whether the forbidden fruit was an apple, fig, peach, pomegranate or something completely different, it is worth revisiting the temptation scene in Book 9 of Paradise Lost, both as an homage to Milton (who composed his masterpiece when he was blind, impoverished and in the doghouse for his regicidal politics) and simply to savor the sublime beauty of the language. Thomas Jefferson loved this poem. With its superfood dietary advice, celebration of the ‘self-help is the best help’ ideal, and presence of a snake-oil salesman, Paradise Lost is a quintessentially American story, although composed more than a century before the United States was founded.

What makes the temptation scene so absorbing and enjoyable is that, although written in archaic English, it is speckled with mundane details that make the reader stop in surprise.

Take, for instance, the serpent’s impeccably timed gustatory seduction. It takes place not at any old time of the day but at lunchtime:

“Mean while the hour of Noon drew on, and wak’d/ An eager appetite.”

What a canny and charmingly human detail. Milton builds on it by lingeringly conjuring the aroma of apples, knowing full well that an “ambrosial smell” can madden an empty stomach to action. The fruit’s “savorie odour,” rhapsodizes the snake, is more pleasing to the senses than the scent of the teats of an ewe or goat dropping with unsuckled milk at evening. Today’s Food Network impresarios, with their overblown praise and frantic similes, couldn’t dream up anything close to that peculiarly sensuous comparison.

It is easy to imagine the scene. Eve, curious, credulous and peckish, gazes longingly at the contraband “Ruddie and Gold” fruit while the unctuous snake-oil salesman murmurs his encouragement. Initially, she hangs back, suspicious of his “overpraising.” But soon she begins to cave: How can a fruit so “Fair to the Eye, inviting to the Taste,” be evil? Surely it is the opposite, its “sciental sap” must be the source of divine knowledge. The serpent must speak true.

So saying, her rash hand in evil hour

Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluck’d, she eat:

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat

Sighing through all her Works gave signs of woe,

That all was lost.

But Eve is insensible to the cosmic disappointment her lunch has caused. Sated and intoxicated as if with wine, she bows low before “O Sovran, vertuous, precious of all Trees,” and hurries forth with “a bough of fairest fruit” to her beloved Adam, that he too might eat and aspire to godhead. Their shared meal, foreshadowed as it is by expulsion and doom, is a moving and poignant tableau of marital bliss.

Meanwhile, the serpent, its mission accomplished, slinks into the gloom. Satan heads eagerly toward a gathering of fellow devils, where he boasts that the Fall of Man has been wrought by something as ridiculous as “an apple.”

Except that it was a fig or a peach or a pear. An ancient Roman punned – and the apple myth was born.

Nina Martyris is a freelance journalist based in Knoxville, Tenn.

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/paradise-lost-how-the-apple-became-the-forbidden-fruit/

#livingcornernews

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ironfistweek · 4 years

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IRON FIST CELEBRATION WEEK 2020!

We’re back for another round! Iron Fist Week was started by the lovely @janiedean in 2018 to ease the pain of cancellation, and this year will be run by @laylainalaska aka @sholiofic.

This round of IF week runs from April 1 (Danny Rand’s birthday!) to April 7. On the blog are linked rules, themes and FAQ (updated for 2020; let me know if you notice any 2018 info I overlooked) but I’ll stick the general prompts here as well. We’ll have:

Day One (April 1): Danny Rand It’s his birthday! Let’s celebrate our dragon boy! Post anything Danny-related: fic, art, pictures, meta, etc.

Day Two (April 2): Ships Post anything related to any IF ship: it can be canon or fanon (m/m, m/f, f/f, whatever), as long as at least one of the characters has starred in IF S1 or S2. Other Defenders can absolutely be the other half of the ship. Threesomes or foursomes are also totally welcome :)

Day Three (April 3): Family/Friendship Family is a huge theme in the show, so this is the day for your favorite family relationships! Chosen family/friendships are fine too. Relationships including other Defenders characters are also great.

Day Four (April 4): Characters Post anything related to any IF character or characters! Ships and relationships are good too.

Day Five (April 5): Episodes and Scenes Post about your favorite episode, favorite scene, or any scene or episode you want to talk about!

Day Six (April 6): Cast Appreciation Day Post about your favorite cast member, your favorite cast quotes or moments or comicon pictures, or your experiences with them if you met them and let’s celebrate our amazing actors and actresses.

Day Seven (April 7): Free For All Post about whatever you want! Anything that doesn’t fit in the other categories is welcome here :D

The prompts are not mandatory - honestly anything is great - but these are general guidelines to give you some daily prompts. You can participate just on one day or more, we’re good with everything. :)

When posting time comes in April, just post with the #ironfistweek hashtag, and I will reblog it so we can all enjoy some shiny new Iron Fist content!

Reblogging this post to spread the word is enthusiastically encouraged! I’ll also post a few reminders through the coming weeks.

For any question you have, the ask box is open with the anon on and you can also contact me at @laylainalaska. Have fun!

#iron fist #ironfistweek #danny rand #colleen wing #ward meachum #marvel's iron fist

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fontofmercy-archived · 5 years

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Understanding BvS’s Lex Luthor: CSA and Repressed Homosexuality

(Re-posted with minor revisions after I moved accounts and accidentally deleted this post)

Lex’s motivations are quite explicit in BvS, he has a whole speech explaining why he is doing what he’s doing and what he says is consistently shown throughout his screentime. But I think there is a lot unspoken beneath the surface that most people wouldn’t think of, based on my observations I think that BvS’s Lex was molested by his father and that he’s sexually attracted to Clark, and that his issues with Superman partially stem from the duality of desiring Clark and being afraid of him. That may sound strange, especially the csa bit, but hear me out because there is quite a bit of evidence and it may give you a clearer perspective on the character.

NOTE: I just want to clarify that it is not at all my intention to equate homosexuality with CSA nor demonize CSA survivors, I’m simply observing this particular character who happens to be a villain. Lex being attracted to Clark doesn’t make him villainous, the way he deals with it because of trauma and internalized homophobia is the problem.

1.) Daddy’s Abominations?

“No man in the sky intervened when I was a boy to save me from daddy’s fists and abominations!”

This is quite self-explanatory, Lex just said that his father sexually abused him. The only other possible interpretation I could think of is a more general ‘my dad made me evil because he was evil’ but that’s a really weak explanation especially since the line is equated with the trauma of being beaten by his dad and the way he is very visibly triggered saying that line. When he finishes “abominations” he immediately flinches away from Superman and shakes his hand in front of his face as if desperately trying to erase what he just confessed.

2.) Lolita + Alice in Wonderland

“Plain Lo in the morning, Lola is slacks -“

“Late, late says the white rabbit”

Lolita and Alice in Wonderland...those are interesting choices of literature for a supervillain to quote. You’d think something more threatening and/or pretentious would be an obvious choice for a traditional mastermind-type supervillain rather than two obscure (not very masculine) classics that only have one thing in common: themes of sexual obsession and pedophilia.

Lolita is the story of a pedophile who uses his power as a step-father to groom and sexually abuse a child. Alice in Wonderland, while not having explicit pedophilic content, was written by a suspected pedophile and is obsessively focused on a child that there are photographs of the author kissing on the mouth. These are the two novels Lex relates to enough to quote them casually off the top of his head.

3.) The “it’s cherry” scene

So this is obviously a sexual innuendo but the question is, why this guy? This character is utterly unimportant on his own and this doesn’t affect anything plot-wise which means this action is entirely about characterizing Lex. What are they trying to communicate here? This guy represents a figure similar to Lex’s father, an older businessman who behaved as if he had authority over Lex, and Lex’s instinct to that is to assert dominance in a sexually suggestive manner. This establishes Lex as a character who uses sexuality to dominate and make others uncomfortable, and relates it to a man who who represents his father.

4.) Two Versions Of The Same Scene

Lex caressing Zod’s face directly parallels him caressing around Clark’s face, even the framing is identical. I think these are two versions of Lex confronting Superman, one with the actual Superman where he has to keep his distance and put on a callous front, and the other with a Kryptonian corpse he can project Superman onto. The scene with Zod I think shows how Lex truly feels about Clark. “You flew too close to the sun” he’s saying this and crying as he’s creating a monster to kill Clark which makes me think those words were not for Zod but the god he feels he has to kill. There’s no reason for Lex to cry for Zod, Lex has no relationship with him, it’s much more coherent that this scene is using Zod’s body as a substitute for what Lex can’t express to the real Superman.

EDIT: Upon rewatch I noticed a small moment where the Jolly Rancher Dude (I don’t think he has a name lol?) says with a smile “You want Zod’s body?” and Lex goes “Okay”, it’s a very playful interaction and it I think strengthens the connection between Zod’s body being an implied sex symbol of Superman.

4.5.) The Sexual Tension In The Rooftop Scene

Every moment of the rooftop scene (and all of this film) is so multilayered and intense, I could talk about it for hours but I want to talk a little more about the moment in the above gif.

Seconds before this, Lex was wagging his fingers inches for Superman’s glowing laser eyes but now when he knows Clark isn’t going to attack him, he won’t touch him? Lex is less afraid of having his fingers burned off than he is to touch Clark’s head knowing that he won’t do anything. Because Lex would be happy if Superman burned him, that would prove him right and give him an easy category to put Clark in but letting himself touch Clark in an ‘affectionate’ manner is terrifying.

A straight male villain that just wanted to use physical contact to assert dominance over the hero would have touched Clark here (and also would have no reason to caress Zod’s dead body) but Lex can’t even though he’s literally trembling with desire to and we know for a fact he’s not afraid of invading Clark’s personal space in an even more physically dangerous moment.

5.) The Dual Realities Of An Abused Child

“If God is all good then he cannot be all powerful.”

Now, I’m not an expert in psychology but I will do my best to articulate this. When someone, especially a child, is abused by someone they love it creates an extreme paradox in their mind. They love this person and they have to trust them but they also have to fear them, their brains are forced to compartmentalize when this person is a threat vs when they are a protector. In some cases, like Lex’s, this can lead to someone entirely thinking in absolutes and dualities.

It’s a consistent theme in Lex’s dialogue that he thinks in absolutes. The cornerstone of his ideology is people have to be “all good” or “all powerful” when really no one is either, there arguably is no such thing as either.

It’s also a theme that he has dual views of people in his life, the most prominent being his father and Superman. In one scene he’s reminiscing about wishing his dad would come back, in another he’s emotionally describing the abuse he inflicted. And Lex does the same with Clark as explained in point 4.

Lex even seems to have a dual view of himself. In the rooftop scene he points to himself as “the evil in the world” but his speech about Prometheus at the party is clearly meant to illustrate that he sees himself as a misunderstood savior of humanity (this is even confirmed in the bonus material).

6.) Internalized Homophobia

“I don’t hate the sinner, I hate the sin.”

Two things are important to me with this line. First is that it reinforces point 5 but also this is a very, very common phrase in homophobic rhetoric so for him to say this and gesture to Clark’s body as the “sin” has implications. And yes, yes, I know he meant that Clark’s powers are a sin but things can have double meanings and I sincerely doubt that anyone making a movie in the western world’s current political climate wouldn’t realize that phrase is strongly linked to homophobia.

To elaborate on how it reinforces 5: Lex is openly saying that he doesn’t hate Clark, he just hates his power, which brings us back to the idea of an abuse victim’s dual reality. It’s Clark’s power that is the threat to him but he can still love Clark, same way his father’s abuse was a threat but he can still love his father. Note: Lex calls Clark “my friend” and “Clark Joe” and similar affectionate names throughout their interactions which I think suggests that Lex sees Clark as partially a person.

7.) Conclusion

DCEU’s Lex Luthor was a fresh, contemporary take on the character so it was a jarring difference from the Lex we’ve seen in other recent mainstream media. I also think it was upsetting partially because it took away Lex as a male power fantasy; a buff, suave billionaire who’s hyper masculine and doesn’t let anything get to him including his canonical abuse. Now we’ve got this definitely charming and silver-tongued but effeminate and deeply traumatized Lex that I think is much, much more dynamic and compelling (and definitely fits this universe) but was uncomfortable for people that were attached to the charecter as a male power fantasy.

Nevertheless we need more villains like this. That can be both intimidating and vulnerable, that are human and offer a real ideological opposition to the hero. BvS could not have been the story it is without this Lex. BvS is a brilliant and nuanced film about how fear and trauma affects people’s worldviews, which is an important thing to explore when you have a Superhero that is the embodiment of hope. It’s important to show that not everyone can have hope so easily and to humanize those people.

Anyways this post is really long and I could literally talk for days about DCEU and this film especially so thanks for reading, please be respectful in the notes.

#dc #pro dceu #dceu positivity #bvs positivity #batman v superman #dc meta #my meta #lex luthor #lex luthor jr #clex #clark x lex #txt #my post

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alicequinnlove · 5 years

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Booooo! we would NOT tolerate toward Alice. But an Alice Spooky Week Challenge, we’d MORE than welcome! During the week of October 27th - November 2nd, help us to show the deep love, admiration, and appreciation for Alice Quinn that she deserves - but with a spooky twist! Celebrate it the way YOU’D like to - with gifs, graphics, fics/drabbles, headcanons, icons, fanmixes, fan art, meta, positivity posts, and whatever else love for Alice!

We will be tracking #alicequinnlove (as it appears in the first five tags!) to reblog all your wonderful spoopy - or not so spoopy! - things as we go. We’d LOVE for you to join, or at least reblog to help spread the word! Have the happiest Halloween of your life with the character that makes us the happiest, Alice Quinn! ♥

The Week!

Day 1! Niffin Alice: Alice may have niffined out but our love for her certainly wasn’t snuffed out. Demonstrate for us with edits or fics your appreciation of Alice as a niffin!

Day 2! AU/Crossover: Alice Quinn is THE Final Girl. We all know it’s true. Whether it’s Freddy, Jason, or Pennywise our girl always makes it to the end. Show us an Alice AU as a scream queen from a slasher film. OR serve some PG spoopy fun a la Casper or Halloweentown. Non Halloween AUs are also allowed.

Day 3! Power Move: Our girl is all-powerful and we don’t just mean magic. Show us your favorite Alice power move! From killing the Beast to destroying the keys, Alice is a complex beauty worth exploring in all her powerfulness.

Day 4! Free Day: Alice has shown us strong use of free will! So how about you? Be Alice and do your own thing!

Day 5! Hedge / Alt TL: We can’t even begin to imagine Alice not at Brakebills...but Dean Fogg did. Imagine if Alice had been caught taking the exam and sent back home. Alice goes hedge! What do YOU think/see hedge!alice as? Does she join an underground order like Julia? Does she go toe to toe with Brakesbills? How does she thrive or struggle? OR! Alice in an alternative timeline! There’s 39 others to choose from, it can be 23 but certainly doesn’t have to be! Demonstrate for us how you see Alice in one of her other timelines.

Day 6! Trope: Imagine! Popular horror trope: death by sex. Alice gone Teeth?! Okay, wrong actor. But still! Give us Alice in your favorite horror trope, be slasher-prefers-blondes, an abandoned place, venegeful spirit, ancient evil, demonic posession, the or-is-ending, whatever you fee like! Hell, feel free to do Alice in her canon tropes!--badass bookworm? heroic sacrifice? evil scares me? Our girl is everything.

Day 7! Costume/Party/Masquerade: The Category is...MASQUERADE! We want to see extravagance, darling. Give us fics/art/edits of Alice at a ball, in disguise, or any excuse you can think of to dress her up. Costumes of any kind are encouraged. You can even choose your favorite Alice/ Olivia costume from The Magicians or any media.

Stuck on a day? No worries! We got you covered.

Alternative 1! Book Alice: It’s as if Alice hit us right over the head with a book and we woke up completely, utterly in LOVE with her. And our greatest magician has the greatest basis. Show us your love for book Alice! Is it a quote from the book, your favorite book to screen moment, a moment you wish was on the show, a fancast, a fic or edit inspired by her?! Give it up!

Alternative 2! Classic Monster: Vampires, Werewolves, and Mummies, Oh My! Maybe Julia didn’t find her in time and that sketchy vampire turned Alice. Or in an attempt to resurrect niffin!Alice we get a Frankenstein’s monster situation. We want to see your interpretation of Alice as your favorite classic monster.

Alternative 3! Crack: Extra! Extra! This day is all about extra! It’s time to reveal your most ridiculous Alice centric fic/edit/graphic/art ideas. It can be a wacky alternate reality or an absurd situation Alice finds herself in. Let your freak flag fly and give us your best crack. Please don't snort any fairies for inspiration.

#alicequinnedit #alice quinn #themagiciansedit #the magicians #alice spooky week challenge #event 1: alice spooky week challenge

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mocarena · 4 years

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post of Chu2 rambles and predictions

i realized i actually needed to make this now that S3 is knocking me down with anticipation

blabla this thread is long as heck and incomprehensible so aha good luck if youre actually trying to read thru it. i just wanted a place to write my predictions down to see how right or how utterly wrong i am! whole thing’s under a read more cuz its a lot

spoilers for S2, the RAiSe! manga, and small spoiler for Film Live

Exhibit: Songs

I’m starting off with talking RAS’ songs because they give me a good basis to talk on several things regarding the band & Chu2.

There might be mentions of other songs, but I will focus on 2 in particular.

Takin’ My Heart

Imo, the most important piece in regards to Chu2 and her character.

That is due to Radio Riot #7 having revealed that the song is literally about Chu2’s beliefs/feelings.

It is also written by her in the Bandori canon (as all RAS songs are since she is the producer, but we know for sure with the Radio confirmation & also how the song came out past Season 2 that this is a song written with Chu2’s perspective in mind).

Raychell even said that she once cried singing the song during her own practice time.

Information source: Iviachupichu on Twitter, a faithful translator who often talks about the contents of Radio Riot episodes. Link https://twitter.com/iviachupichu/status/1106469855757164544!

TL of the song taken from http://www.rizuchan.com/bang-dream-cardfight-vanguard-takin-my-heart/ !!

Long falling down again I’m immature, building up lies and distancing myself from others I feel all torn up; I hold my heart Try to fake a smile… hey, my cheeks hurt

Cry… I hide my rusted eyes Cry… I want you to notice Oh, Come here, Please…

Takin’ my heart Does my voice Takin’ my heart Reach you now…? Takin’ my heart I don’t want to vanish pathetically Takin’ my heart Into a sea of loneliness I’ll just keep crying out to you Today, tomorrow, and for a long time after (Without giving up) I hope my feelings reach you…!

^ not the full TL, just a taste of the beginning

Clearly I don’t have to point out how heartfelt that song is, the lyrics speak for themself and aren’t very subtle (which is very much the point since she’s asking for her feelings to be reached after all).

I’m stupidly annoying when it comes to talking about Takin’ My Heart, I absolutely need to emphasize on the fact that these lyrics are Chu2’s honest feelings.

Expect parts of this song to be brought up throughout this a whole lot.

2. UNSTOPPABLE

Now this song has no confirmation on being composed with Chu2 in mind, considering it’s a very early RAS song and has been sung before we even got the reveal of the RAS characters.

However, I believe it DOES hold significance:

-I have no doubts that the introduction of RAS characters together with the band were in mind early on already, due to how early Bushiroad plans things months in advance.

-RIOT, the first RAS original, has very clear tones of it having been written by Chu2 in Bandori canon (a very arrogant sounding song, sure of its music and it almost seems like it’s directed at Yukina). Thus I wouldn’t put it past the production team having formed Chu2’s character around RIOT and UNSTOPPABLE, or they already had her type of character in mind when first composing these songs.

-It’s not far-fetched to say this song might have some ties to Chu2’s feelings since we’ve got the even more blatant song Takin’ My Heart.

I won’t copy paste all of the lyric translations, it’s simply too long, but here are several parts that stick out to me:

———————

The emptiness springs forth like I'm helplessly thirsty

My back droops... I put too much hope in each day

(Hurry up)

「Don't let me down」, I'm always told

(Hurry up)

Cornered, mouth covered, difficulty breathing

I'm caught in a trap

Please indulge in my annoying ramblings

I just won't stop seeking approval every day

Me, I'm my own accomplice,

with a fake me, dance! Dance! (Lullaby)

Doubt and worry stick their tongues out,

pointing at and ridiculing me

Are you enjoying? Are you excited?

Yes? Do you really get it?

Then that's fine

———————

Please ignore my annoying ramblings

I'll just abandon seeking approval every day

———————

My belief of UNSTOPPABLE still having an intended Chu2 connection also lies within the lyrics:

“Please indulge in my annoying ramblings, I just won't stop seeking approval every day”

From what we’ve seen in the anime, Chu2 definitely seems very attention and approval-seeking, specifically when it comes to Yukina.

I will talk about more specific parts of these songs (+ other one-liners from RAS lyrics) within the rest of this big time ramble.

————————————————

Exhibit: Chu2’s Past….?

A big emphasis on the question mark at the end, as we barely know anything about her past. One thing we know is that due to her excellent grades, she is in her first year of high school despite being only 14 & she studies/studied(?) in an international school, explaining her use of English.

However, based on RAS songs + some bits of the anime I can try to theorize on her past. It might be completely wrong, or I might just get it right, who knows, this is just for fun & speculation.

Family Situation

The anime made a point of how luxurious of a building the studio Chu2 works and has band rehearsals in, there’s even a ~50 seconds scene of Tae just staring at the building and the insides of it in awe.

Now whether or not that building entirely belongs to Chu2’s family, or only the studio, or it’s only being rented out, it still is clearly very expensive either way. The studio is often being used after all, too.

What that very glaringly hints at is that Chu2 is wealthy. Well, not Chu2, but moreso her family, who we know virtually nothing of.

Now that could mean that her family situation isn’t of significance at all like how it is with a lot of characters in Bandori. But that could also not be the case, considering that Bushiroad does dip into family stuff with a few characters (Saaya, Ran and Yukina come to mind).

Chu2 is 14 years old, so having her lyrics be based off of feelings regards her family/overall social situation isn’t that far fetched.

I’ll go ahead and say that personally I theorize that this might fall into the tropey category of “Kid of rich parents gets practically anything but barely gets attention from their parents”.

I can easily believe that Bushiroad would want to take a route different from this, but there’s a lot of freedom for theorization and I think going with the common route is a pretty safe bet for a theory.

Unlike Betadori they don’t dip into territory that is too angsty, it seems, but it’s not like they’d need to be blatant about something like that either.

「Don't let me down」, I'm always told

———

Please indulge in my annoying ramblings

I just won't stop seeking approval every day

———

Please ignore my annoying ramblings

I'll just abandon seeking approval every day

^UNSTOPPABLE lyrics

I think it’s important to point out the difference between the last two bits. The lyrics first start out as a plead for listening to her and approving of her achievings, later in the song that part changes to ‘just ignore me please’.

Those lyrics also explain Chu2’s personality pretty well, in my opinion.

Even after being rejected by Yukina she kept trying to get her to watch her band, basically asking for approval from someone whose talent she looks up to.

I also believe that Chu2 might be an unhealthy perfectionist, which seems like a thing that might rise the tension within the band, but more to that later.

————————————————

Exhibit: Chu2 in the Present

The childish child who won’t let herself be a child

Now if that ain’t a mouthful of a title, but hopefully I can explain my thoughts well enough so it’s somewhat understandable.

Chu2 clearly has a bratty personality and throws tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants, but to me it doesn’t seem as shallow as that.

The official website describes her as a professional who is arrogant at times, but not rude.

Need I remind you that this girl’s just 14?

Here’s what I think:

Chu2 is a child at heart. But she doesn’t want to let that part of hers show too much due to how she wants to be treated: like a professional.

But she’s clearly an excitable child, as it was shown with how excited she got over the studio when she came to talk to Popipa in Arisa’s basement. For that moment she lost herself and probably could’ve gone on for a while Maya-style if Pareo hadn’t reminded her of her “official greeting”.

What I think is that Chu2, due to wanting to be treated with high respect as a producer, doesn’t want to appear childish, so she holds herself back unless the heat of the moment gets her or she feels like she can express her excitement without it damaging her ‘professional’ manners. Like when she got pumped after a RAS live, for example.

A quote that could be overlooked but might actually have a little bit of relevance if the words were carefully chosen was the following:

“She thinks playing “band” like a bunch of kids is better than being in my group?!”

Tbh this literal child using the phrase ‘like a bunch of kids’ for something like…well, a band of friends being a band, just makes her seem like she wants to take herself incredibly seriously compared to other bands. To show that they’re not “kids” like the others.

In addition to that, she skipped a grade. In an international school. She seems to be really set on providing the best grades and world-changing music to appear worthy without letting herself indulge all that much in living a childhood. I could totally be exaggerating things, but I think it’s not too far-fetched of a thought.

Tantrums

Not a subject I’ll talk long about, but I think there’s things worth pointing out.

She’ll wait until whoever she’s angry at is out of her sight.

With Yukina she started yelling once Roselia was completely gone.

With Otae it’s a bit of a different case. This time she verbally even told her to get out of her sight before letting off steam, though Popipa weren’t completely out of hearing reach either.

2. She looks genuinely distressed.

The purpose of pointing out #2 is that she seems to have deeper reasonings as to why exactly she’s this desperate to have the perfect band/band members. Especially paired with the line of “I finally found what I’ve been looking for…”, she clearly isn’t doing this stuff just for fun and has got some sort of inner turmoil dealing with the fact that things aren’t going her way to which she responds, well, like that.

She’s not entitled to any bands or like anyone else obviously, and she needs to deal with that fact more maturely in the future.

But still, something HAS to be the root of exactly why she feels like this, to finally have found something.

It’s of importance to her, but why…?

I’d throw out the theory of seeking for approval again. She wants the perfect band that could make impact on the world. Maybe she wants the approval of someone (not Yukina, as she’s been searching for a while and clearly already felt this way before even seeing Roselia), probably someone older and personal to her. So I’d bet it on parents again, it IS the easiest answer after all, but who knows. There just seems to be someone (or more) she wants to impress.

Probably related to her bc it seems personal, if not maybe someone else she looks up to.

---------

Exhibit: I wrote all the above way before I’m writing this part

I genuinely haven’t revised the above at this point of time, the 7th of January. So some stuff might be outdated, but I kinda wanna leave it like that, to see what past me has come up with. I vaguely know and have skimmed, but I wanna write more beyond this point now without knowing the details.

Aka I might repeat a lot of things here now!

CHU2 is actually very much in tune with people’s feelings & desires...when they express them through music.

Now I’m pretty sure this is something I haven’t talked about (or at least not much). Chu2 doesn’t strike one as a very empathetic character, as one has seen with how she was still willing to get Otae back into her band, despite Popipa’s deep bond.

But hear me out. This girl actually can understand other’s feelings well, under specific circumstances. And the RAS manga “RAiSe!” proved that.

With each RAS member, it seems like she just knew their desires upon hearing them play. It’s not yet confirmed with Pareo due to Pareo’s 2nd chapter not having been published yet at this point of time, but chapter 1 already leads up to what I think is Chu2 confronting Pareo (online invitation first), and understanding that Pareo holds her true self back.

With Layer she knew she was unhappy- she knew she didn’t want to keep playing support. She knew she didn’t look very happy, especially for someone who played at Budokan. And through that knowledge she was able to persuade her to listen to her music and to imagine what it’d be like in a band together with other members who’d give it their all.

Very much the same with Masking. Masking’s drumming is intense, and she feels like she cannot express herself well outside of drumming. Her desire was to have fun in a band with others on her level, where every member gave it their all on their instruments. Once again, Chu2 was able to convince her to join her band, she let her listen to her track, and Masking did improv drumming on it, in turn also impressing the producer.

Pareo’s desire is to be accepted for who she is. Since she was small she hid her true self that loves cute things, and kept her distance from classmates, pretending to be the perfect student in the eyes of them, her teachers, her parents...and when she first saw Pasupare on TV, she cried due to seeing how much support they got, something she didn’t feel like she received. She found joy in uploading videos of her doing keyboard pasupare covers online without showing her face. The simple prediction here is that Chu2 finds her covers, meets with Pareo in one way or another, and is able to tell that she hides her true self. Somehow she convinces her to change that and embrace her true self, and that she’ll be supported by the band.

RAS songs often are about going against the norm- RIOT for example symbolizes a rebellion. Masking heard the demo song Chu2 gave her, and got the impression that it made one feel like you want to declare war against the world. That it seemed like “that girl” was trying to raise hell itself with her intense music. Even short bits like in DRIVE US CRAZY, one lyric line goes “Never Say Never Crazy”. RAS is a band about expressing your true self. And Chu2 very much could be putting those kinda desires and feelings into these songs.

A little thought here about Chu2 watching Popipa performances on two occasions with very different reactions. When Popipa played a supporting band at Roselia’s self-sponsored live, Chu2 was shown to be very disinterested in them. Whilst Popipa was great, Chu2 might’ve felt the anxiety that Popipa had in them at that point of time and thus had that disinterest. At the Popipa self-sponsored live at the end of S2 however she showed a completely different reaction, dancing happily along to Dreamers Go! and being embarrassed upon Pareo noticing. Maybe at this point she truly felt Popipa’s real confidence, and the bond that they share.

Not to mention she admitted to having felt moved by Popipa later on.

Chu2′s got something big coming. Hopefully in S3. Maybe later on. (Cough RAS in game COUGH)

There’s just a whole lot of signs pointing to that. Especially since Lock, the future RAS guitarist, really is an opposite to Chu2′s own ideals. All Lock wants to do is have fun in a band with anyone at any level of playing instruments, as long as she feels the dokidokis. Chu2 is very profession-oriented. It also has a great potential to be a little bit of a Roselia parallel, since that was the band Chu2 originally wanted to be the producer of. And Roselia had their struggles with the just-pro approach, learning that forming strong friendships within the band very much are beneficial.

A little step towards that I feel is already hinted with the Film Live, in which she appeared backstage with the rest of RAS, bringing flowers together with Pareo.

Even if she is huffy about it and it’s hard to admit for her that she does want to be nice and that she had been in the wrong regards past issues, it’s a step in the right direction.

Chu2 will have great development, and a lot of depth behind her character will be revealed.

#whew #chu2 #not tagging more bc im actually p embarrassed ab this #esp since i didnt read through it all again #so lol just take this @ anyone who happens to come across this #AND reads it #theres prolly a bajillion mistakes nd junk but i cant b bothered #to read thru it all again

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solvskrift · 5 years

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Harry’s mental health + suicidal ideation

(Obviously this post deals with sensitive topics, please be careful.)

Okay, I realize most fans would automatically say that Harry James Potter was definitely not suicidal. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, though, and some things in canon have stuck with me. To be clear, he was obviously never shown to be at the point of orchestrating his own death (with the exception of giving himself up in Deathly Hallows, which of course was an entirely different category of this), but I think there's evidence that points to him dealing with passive suicidal ideation on more than one occasion:

"Let's go," called Hermione from halfway up the stone steps. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go...."

She sounded scared, much more scared than she had in the room where the brains swam, yet Harry thought the archway had a kind of beauty about it, old though it was. The gently rippling veil intrigued him; he felt a very strong inclination to climb up on the dais and walk through it.

"Harry, let's go, okay?" said Hermione more forcefully.

"Okay," he said, but he did not move.

- OotP, The Department of Mysteries

This particular bit where he feels an urge to walk through the veil illustrates something compelling and incredibly sad about his character. He doesn’t know what the veil is yet, only that he feels a strong pull towards it. There’s something JKR said once about Harry that’s always stuck in my mind:

"I wanted there to be a debate there, so of my three main characters – when they come into the room which examines death at the Ministry of Magic – Hermione, the ultimate sceptic and a hyper-rational person, hears nothing behind the veil and is scared of it. Ron is just uneasy...Harry’s drawn to it, and therein lies Harry’s slightly reckless, almost morbid streak, because Harry does have a hint of that dangerous adolescent trait which is the attraction to death.”

He’s lost his parents, his entire family, and therefore has a closer, more complicated relationship with death than most of his friends (except for Luna, who has also lost a parent and could hear voices beyond the veil just like Harry, though she did not appear to want to walk through it like he did).

“Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human —”

“THEN — I — DON’T — WANT — TO — BE — HUMAN!” Harry roared, and he seized one of the delicate silver instruments from the spindle-legged table beside him and flung it across the room. It shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, “Really!”

“I DON’T CARE!” Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. “I’VE HAD ENOUGH, I’VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON’T CARE ANYMORE —”

- OotP, The Lost Prophecy

We’ve all seen this horrifically heart-wrenching scene quoted a billion times by now, but if you just stop and take it in? What Harry is actually saying? He’s a fifteen-year-old kid and he’s reached his limit. He can’t regulate his emotions at all at this point, and he’s literally begging for someone to end his suffering. LIKE? What the fuck.

“But they were not living, thought Harry: They were gone. The empty words could not disguise the fact that his parents' moldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off or pretending? He let them fall, his lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from his eyes the place where the last of Lily and James lay, bones now, surely, or dust, not knowing or caring that their living son stood so near, his heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that he was sleeping under the snow with them.”

- DH, Godric's Hollow

Look, I can’t even break this one down, it’s too painful. Boy’s a mess. Someone just fucking hug him. Please.

He raised his wand, but a dull hopelessness was spreading through him: Fred was gone, and Hagrid was surely dying or already dead; how many more lay dead that he did not yet know about; he felt as though his soul had already half left his body....

"HARRY, COME ON!" screamed Hermione.

A hundred Dementors were advancing, gliding towards them, sucking their way closer to Harry’s despair, which was like a promise of a feast....

He saw Ron’s silver terrier burst into the air, flicker feebly and expire; he saw Hermione’s otter twist in mid-air and fade, and his own wand trembled in his hand, and he almost welcomed the oncoming oblivion, the promise of nothing, of no feeling....

And then a silver hare, a boar, and a fox soared past Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s heads: the Dementors fell back before the creatures' approach. Three more people had arrived out of the darkness to stand beside them, their wands outstretched, continuing to cast their Patronuses: Luna, Ernie and Seamus.

"That’s right," said Luna encouragingly, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the DA. "That’s right, Harry ... come on, think of something happy...."

"Something happy?" he said, his voice cracked.

- DH, The Elder Wand

I know, they’re surrounded by Dementors and they’re in the middle of a battle and why wouldn’t anyone feel this way BUT it’s pretty clear Harry’s having the most trouble, even though he’s canonically the most capable of conjuring a Patronus. Fred has died, and Harry is convinced Hagrid has too, and that everyone else will before the night’s over, and he’s tired, and he honestly just doesn’t give a shit anymore? He literally just wants a Dementor to suck out his soul at this point? This is not okay???

He also shows a certain reluctance to return from his King's Cross limbo (you know, after he’s been murdered) given that it's so calm and peaceful compared to the pain and loss he constantly faces in life.

I think it's all but explicitly stated that Harry deals with PTSD and, perhaps less obviously, depression. At different points in books 5-7 (and even a few times in the earlier books) he's described as lying apathetically on his bed for long stretches of time, not eating, or feeling very listless and lethargic. He has a tendency to throw himself headlong into dangerous situations, especially when others are in danger, which I think is partially due to his natural personality, but which also hints at him considering others' lives inherently more valuable than his own, which is not surprising at all considering his abusive upbringing.

As the title of this blog post puts it - suicidal people don't want to die, they just want the pain to stop:

Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him again....

"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy...."

Let the pain stop, thought Harry. Let him kill us....End it, Dumbledore....Death is nothing compared to this....

And I'll see Sirius again....

- OotP, The Only One He Ever Feared

It’s not that Harry comes across as actively suicidal, more that he seems to view death as an appealing option rather more often than someone who is entirely mentally healthy. These thoughts appear more than once and seem to be a reoccurring theme. I don’t think he walked around constantly waiting to die. He’s a strong kid with a desire to survive, to be happy and normal even though that’s so often out of reach for him. But I do think he went through episodes of depression, maybe even more than he himself realized, and I think the trauma he went through and the losses he suffered led to an underlying pattern in his thoughts that tended strongly towards self-destruction. Like it was something in the back of his mind he never really acknowledged, and when he was particularly distressed or in pain it manifested in these heart-breaking pleas for the world to just let him die already, because death had to be better than his horrifyingly painful hellscape of a life.

Conclusion: Harry’s trauma and issues make me really fucking sad, and we should all talk about it.

#ginnyweaslays #i would tag more people but like idk!!!! let me know if you want tagged in shit like this #harry james #hp #hp meta #hp text #suicide //#ptsd //#depression //#mental health //#my stuff #i cross posted this from reddit because discussion #give me your thoughts y'all

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my-sherlock221b · 4 years

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My Wincest ficrecs

I started this rec list a while ago and then real life got super hectic but I have been travelling for work and continuing to download and read ridiculously enormous amounts of wincest fics!! Have been very bad about going back online later and giving kudos or posting comments even though some of them were just amazing! So instead, as atonement, I am going to rec them here and I hope some of you who read them will send the authors much love and kudos and comments.

I will keep adding to this list as I keep reading and someday may even get organized enough to have little sub categories..... ( wishful thinking!!) so go ahead and enjoy these! Heed the tags in each individual fic.

1. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094764?view_adult=true

My Love, the Pleasure's Mine by Eugara

Author’s summary: Season 3. While investigating a rash of magically-induced hook ups, Sam and Dean get hit with a fuck or die curse. It would be a lot easier to deal with if the witch wasn't being such a smug bitch about it all.

--It is a delightful story which gets Dean’s inner voice so absolutely perfect it’s a joy to read!Tons of angst and feels and a casefic as well as sex of course.

Some hilarious and perfect parts I have to quote here:

“Don’t worry, I’m sure my brother’s card will work.” He tries to communicate the name issue to Sam using only his eyebrows, but he probably just looks like he’s having a small seizure. Luckily, Sam is fluent enough in Dean-ese to catch his drift. He steps forward, pulls out his money clip, skips over a couple of possibly risky cards, and hands the clerk their brand-est, shiny-est, new-est American Express. He’s also doing a very good job of not looking like he wants to set his brother on fire with his brain. Dean’s so proud.

…….

Dean lies on the cheap comforter for a few minutes, then shifts his head to the side and calls out, “Hey, Sam. D’you think that ‘fraud’ could be the name of a bird?” Sam pops his head out again, holding a washcloth this time, and gives Dean a weird look. “Y’know, like a ‘black-breasted fraud’ or something.” Dean kicks off his boots as best as he can without unlacing them. “‘Ivory-frauded warbler’.” Sam just stares at him like he’s lost his mind, then shakes his head in mock exasperation and ducks back out of sight.

…..

Sam looks adorably touched at Dean’s stupid little display of affection and gives him a much broader smile in return. Dimples and everything.

…..

They eat shitty sausage pizza, and watch some mind-numbing documentary Sam found about health insurance, and recover until the sun goes down.

2. If the dam breaks open many years too soon deirdre_c

Author’s summary: Sam’s soul springs a leak, and Dean’s the one who can repair it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/559187

My favourite lines:

Dean is an asshole.

My Favourite Lines:

Dean is an asshole.

Okay, Sam will admit Dean can be heroic and generous and loyal and stupidly sentimental, but the rest of the time he’s a fucking asshole. Especially right now.

Dean is nesting. That’s the only way Sam can describe it. He discovers Craigslist and spends hours dragging Sam around the streets of the Upper West Side bargaining with old ladies and empty nesters over a sofa and lamps, a table and an old television.

It’s amusing and bemusing, this new side of Dean. He buys towels and an ottoman and a colander and other mundane things Sam never would have imagined Dean caring about. Sam purchases the few items he needs for his room—an old double bed that’s slightly too short, a nightstand, a desk—and leaves it at that. Dean on the other hand, is displaying an unexpected talent at trash-picking and trolling estate sales and is swiftly filling up the apartment with stuff.

3. The Bedtime series by Marie_Tomas

https://archiveofourown.org/series/219962

After a night of drinking, Sam and Dean accidentally cuddle. Sam secretly likes it, but Dean seems to hate it. Then it happens again, and again, and again.

My summary: A very sweet series with lots of fluff and shmoop and eventually some sex too. But is a slow burn, lovely fic with an endearingly confused Sam and a canon compliant Dean who wants nothing to do with expressing feelings or heaven forbid TALK about what is going on but finds himself wanting to cuddle Sam every night and going slightly mad because he can’t accept why.

4. Convince Me by WincestSounds (Cammerel)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/721717/chapters/1338514

Sam proposes that he and Dean disguise their selves as a gay couple, looking to become parents, while on a case dealing with Changelings. They end up getting a lot more than they were expecting.

My notes: Beautiful characterization of Dean, revealing his sensitive side. Very sensual and hot sexy times and a parent!fic done superbly.

5. I feel your hunger in your touch by whispered_story

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13314924

Sometimes, in a post-hunt rush or when emotions are running too high, they have sex, but it doesn't mean anything. They don't talk about it, but there's an unspoken rule between them: They are always back to normal the next day and they never let it affect their relationship.

Until Dean sneaks into Sam's bedroom in the bunker one night and changes the rules on him.

6. The Claiming by waywardelle

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5166644

Read everything by this author!!

At age 32, Sam Winchester presents as an Omega. No one is more surprised than Dean, the Alpha who's been pining over his little brother all his life. Canon divergence after scene with Piper in 11x04, "Baby."

7. jesus christ, dad, i sure hope not

https://candle-beck.livejournal.com/117393.html

Again-would recommend everything by this author!

Dean gets stuck in his head like a song sometimes. It's usually when Sam is tired or sick or bored out of his skull, and he's learned to take it as it comes. It's no good fighting it.

It's another thing they can blame on their father. He gave Sam to Dean seventeen years ago, and there Sam has remained, locked into his brother exactly as far as Dean is locked into him. John put them in the back of a car and drove around for a decade while only occasionally glancing over his shoulder to check on them, and in the meantime Dean became every constellation and every guidepost, the single element of Sam's life that has never changed.

8. Give the Lie by dreamlittleyo

It turns out Dean was wrong when he said there was no such thing as unicorns. It also turns out that when a unicorn steals your memories, you have to play nice to get them back. But what's a Winchester to do in the meantime?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/178577

A lovely crack-y fic with a case and amnesia and romance and angst and a happy ending !

9. Five Times Dean Winchester Accused His Brother of Being the Antichrist and One Time Sam Actually Was (But Dean Didn’t Care) by leonidaslionhttps://archiveofourown.org/works/402101/chapters/662748

Brilliant and funny! I would recommend anything by this author!

10. charmer & gentle by Askance

A delightful little fic about an outside POV on the relationship between Sam and Dean.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932184

The afternoon girl calls them Big and Tall, the strangers who come in late every now and then, buying this or that. The night girl doesn't think those names fit quite right.

#wincest #wincest ficrecs #wincest fic recs

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valerie-royeaux · 5 years

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Tagged by the lovely @enchantment1385! Thank you so much, I love these tags! And I’ll do all of them, believe me!

1. Favourite game of the series? Dragon Age: Origins, by far. In every aspect, in every category I can think of. The characters are better, the story is better, the origins themselves are mind blowing, the companions are unique... The only thing I think Origins does worst than the others is Character Design. Leliana and Morrigan are obviously made to please the BroGamerTM, whereas Sera, Cassandra and Josie are muuuuuuch better designed.

2. How did you discover 🐉 Age? Pure luck. My wife got me a bunch of games she bought in a bundle, and DA:O was among them. It was 2010, and ever since then, the quantity of games I play dropped *significantly* because DA:O became the bar by which I measure other games. Bioware ruined gaming for me.

3. How many times have you’ve played the games? To quote the wise words of @enchantment1385:

Ahahahahaha… Umm… I don’t know..?

So many multiples times since 2010 I honestly have no idea.

4. Favourite race to play as? Given my OCs, I’ve played humans and dwarves. I can’t say I have a favorite. Wait, I can: dwarves.

5. Favourite class? Sword & Shield warrior. I’m the tank, and will always be!

6. Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? Quoting @enchantment1385:

I kinda vary it, but not as much as I sometimes want to. I’ve never done a pure ‘asshole’ playthrough, even though sometimes I would like to see how it ends up. I blame Bioware for making the NPC’s likeable.

That being said, I do have two OCs already lined up for DA4. And one will be a slave-owning, selfish bastard mage.

7. Go-to adventuring group? In DAO, battle dictates the group. I play on PC with friendly fire on. So I can’t carry companions just because I like them. The party to go is John, as sword & shield warrior, Leliana for Ranged Damage, Morrigan for Crowd Control, and Wynne as Support.

DA2: Meh. Not Varric, Not Isabella.

DAI: Unless I’m out for dragon killing, I take those that have to do with the story. So, for instance, Blackwall will tag along with Crestwood and Adamant. Bull and Sera will never go to Halamshiral. And so on. But for Dragon Hunting, Junia as a dual wielding Rogue for a lot of damage, Cassandra as the tank, Cole for even more damage, and Solas for Support,.

8. Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

I’d say both of them saw the same amount of effort. John’s and Junia’s stories are intertwined from almost the very beginning. And it shall remain thus!

9. Favourite romance? Sera and Morrigan. Simply for the sheer amount of content and cutscenes, which is more than the other romances.

10. Have you read any of the comics/📚? Nope. o.O I don’t like most comics.

11. If you read them, which was your favourite 📓? N/A

12. Favourite DLCs? Awakening. I wish it had romance, but I still it’s awesome.

13. Things that annoy you? Varric’s book cover art, or anything he opens his mouth about the publishing industry, really. It breaks immersion for me in a way I can barely deal with.

14. Orlais or Ferelden?

Wise words again:

Who in the shit picks Orlais? For Ferelden!!

15. Templar's or Mages? Templars. I know when it boils down to it, it’s abuse. But when you boil down to it, if left free, the mages will rule. It’s either them of us, unfortunately.

16. If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? The same one. John and Junia are interwined, as I said. I never managed to bond to a Hawke, though. So my Hawke is a parallel universe version of my wife’s Hawke.

17. What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc.) John had Thorand, Maker rest his soul. Junia never had a Mabari.

18. Have you installed any mods? Only for DA:O. None for Inquisition. I love the ones that enhance the romance with Leliana.

19. Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? Not. Really.

He was forced to do so because his twin sister had been conscripted - not only Gwen had more chances of restoring the Couslands if not bound to the Wardens. He also had to protect her - give his life, so she wouldn’t have to give hers. And he broke his promises to Junia in doing so - spelling the end of their relationship for many years to come. It’s complicated. More details here.

20. Hawke’s personality? None. I don��t have a Hawke. I use my wive’s who’s 3/4 Purple. 1/4 red.

21. Did you make matching armour for your companions in Inquisition? Not really. I don’t think I got the question.

22. If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? John would change everything. He regrets the most having joined the Wardens, despite carrying his duty as a Warden loyally. That one decision, he thinks, doomed him and Junia to a good deal of suffering that could have been avoided if only the told Duncan to go to hell, and not have nor him nor Gwen.

Junia wishes he hadn’t given her son to the care of her mothers. The convent where they lived was sacked - and she never saw her child again.

23. Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? ALL OF IT.

24. Are any of your character(s) based on someone? John is a shameless self insert. Junia came to life all on her own. She’s this... thing, that exists, that came to life in a way I could not fathom... And I am in love with her.

25. Who did you leave in the Fade? No one. This Inktober sketch shows well what happened with the Nightmare:

26. Favourite mount? Junia, given her height, prefers Harts. John, knight to the bone, horses.

#tag me like one of your french girls #junia cadash #john cousland #about me #enchantment1385

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thatuncoolasianpotato · 6 years

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11 Questions

Rules: answer the 11 questions posed by the person who tagged you, then write 11 questions & tag 11 people to answer them.

OOF this took me a long time to finally do ahahaha

Hallooooo !! now I know this is very far from the kind of things i post on Tumblr but my friend @readmancy tagged me and I genuinely enjoy being tagged in stuff so here ya go !!

Questions for me !!

1. When are your most productive hours of the day?

Tbh I’m very inclined to say I have no productive hours of the day because I’m usually always procrastinating AHAHAHAHA but uhhh for weekdays I’d have to say 6-10 PM (or 4 AM when I occasionally have to cram something) and for weekends 11 AM-4 PM

2. What’s something about yourself that you really like and/or are really proud of?

Not gonna lie, I actually had to think about this question for a while. . .

I guess I’d have to say my emotions and my ability to convey them? Usually I really hate it when I get emotional, but I found that when I’m acting (which I find so much fun to do) being really emotional is an absolute must so that makes me kinda good at it !! Also occasionally my singing voice on really good days

3. What tips would you give to someone who has to stay up really late for school-related projects but doesn’t drink coffee?

I actually fall under this category since coffee does not work on me lmao

Here’s the stuff that I usually do (I hope some of them work out for other people out there !!)

Splash some really cold water on your face (sometimes I literally just dab ice on my face ahahaha)

(If you don’t get easily distracted) play some really loud music, TV show, or YouTube video in the background

Eat some chocolate or some other form of sugar

Take a five minute break to do some jumping jacks or do some really energetic dancing

Motivate yourself using fandoms !! (Ex. “If I finish my math hw right now, I bet Pidge would be really proud of me.” • “If Hamilton could write the other 51, I can write the last three pages of this research paper !!”)

Drink lots of water

Take 10-15 minute naps after completing a certain amount of work (BUT MAKE SURE TO GET BACK UP AGAIN)

4. What do you listen to when you study?

I listen to this playlist I made that consists of instrumental songs/piano covers (so I don’t get too distracted while studying ahaha). It contains songs from Waitress the Musical, Your Lie in April, Doki Doki Literature Club, Yuri On Ice, Angel Beats, Anohana, Undertale, Dodie Clark, and Liana Flores !!

5. What are you like when you have a serious crush on someone?

OOF I am a total mess omg

I can’t speak when I’m near them (or end up saying something really stupid in a futile attempt to impress them), I freak out over every little thing they say or do to me and spend up to weeks overthinking and over analyzing it, i daydream A LOT, I write about them A LOT A LOT, I plan to low key give them things or do something to express my attraction towards them but in a super subtle way but I usually just end up chickening out, I talk about them to all my friends (and apparently if I really like them enough I start blushing like crazy)

So uuhhhh yea,,,,

6. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever done to you?

So many people have done so many nice things to me that I really wouldn’t be able to determine the nicest thing ever.

But the one that immediately came to mind when I read this question was this one time my best friend helped me out when my house almost burned down on my birthday. I was a complete mess and I couldn’t stop crying because my house might burn down and on my special day no less. My best friend’s mom came over to me and asked if I wanted to stay over at their house first (since we were neighbors back then). At their house, they ordered pizza in honor of my birthday and we watched movies and played and joked around a lot. My best friend and her whole family made me feel so much better and they genuinely made me forget about all the stress I was feeling at that time :))

(Also if anyone’s curious, my house didn’t actually get burned down BUT it was very close to)

7. Why did you join Tumblr and is it still the same reason you’re still here?

Well,,, I joined Tumblr because I wanted to find a place where I could find people who had the same interests and fandoms as me !! I also really wanted to see some really cool fan art and read some amazing head canons and fanfics. Oh and a lot of my friends had Tumblr and I was just really curious about what all the hype was about.

It’s still the same reason, although my blog has become ahmm way more Voltron & Plance-centric that I intended it to be AHAHAHAHAHA

8. What’s your favorite soda?

Hmm I’d have to say either Coke or Royal

9. What makes you weird?

Uhhhhh,,, I used to think I was a really weird person but then I interacted with people on the internet and I realized what I thought was weird about me wasn’t actually that weird or that some people were way way way weirder (and I generally mean weird in a really nice way !!) so um idk if any of these things are really that weird:

I am allergic to dogs but I own one and I will absolutely pet yours and hang out with them even if that means that my allergies will attempt to kill me later on

No matter what is happening, I will leave a room if someone mentions “mangoes” or “Havana” starts playing

No matter the context, I will start laughing so loud if anyone says “watermelon” or says “You’re cute, but you’re not my type”

When I find something really really really funny, I start crying

I talk to myself A LOT and I’m pretty sure people question my sanity because of that

I feel really bad about calling anything “it” *cough* because of DBH *cough* also I apologize to inanimate objects profusely when I hit into them

I get really triggered by colors ((I blame Voltron for this one))

10. Where do you like staying that’s all yours?

I guess I’d have to say my room. I don’t really have any other place that’s completely mine. It’s cozy and is one of the only places where I can genuinely be alone in my house.

11. How many things do you know how to ride?

Um,, cars, trains, and jeepneys so three things (yesh, Idk how to ride a bike,,, embarrassing, I know)

Questions for you !!

1. What’s your favorite book quote ?

2. Stargazing or cloud gazing ?

3. Sunrise or sunset ?

4. What’s an object that reminds you of home ?

5. What’s your opinion on handwritten notes ?

6. Who are the people that inspire you the most ?

7. What‘s the funniest/most creative ship name you’ve ever heard ?

8. Song that you will always dance/sing along to, no matter what ?

9. Hobby that you’ve never tried, but really really want to?

10. Would you rather swim in the ocean or in a freshwater river/lake ?

11. If you could live in one fictional universe, which one would you pick ?

Tag, you’re it

((Oof i don’t know enough people to tag 11 people ahahahaha))

@starsofaurora

@neutraladvocate

@misoan

@cxmp-14

@sirkookiekat

@ anyone who sees this and wants to do this, you’re very much welcome to do this !! <3

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cinomar · 6 years

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My top 10 movies of 2017

As December draws to a close, and year-end lists dominate social-media feeds, I thought I’d share my own views on the crème de la crème of what has been an extraordinary 12 months for motion pictures.

Full disclosure: I have not yet seen a lot of the heavy-hitting Oscar contenders (The Post, Phantom Thread, All the Money in the World, I, Tonya...), so my favourites will be limited to the movies I’ve managed to watch so far.

Without further ado, let the countdown begin!

10. Mother!

Perhaps the most polarising movie this year, Mother! is a toe-curling exercise in endurance cinema that recasts parables from the Old Testament. Within a suffocatingly claustrophobic house, whose creaking groans and seeping blood only augment the sinister storyline, this nightmarish scenario plays out before reaching a harrowing symbol-crash of a crescendo. There were moments in Mother! when I looked down at my hands and they were convulsively shaking. Is it my favourite Darren Aronofsky? No. Will I be watching it again? Absolutely.

9. Get Me Roger Stone

“I revel in your hatred, because if I weren’t effective you wouldn’t hate me.” So says Roger Stone, the polemical political strategist who has been getting rich off his moral bankruptcy since his involvement in the Watergate scandal. This Netflix documentary traces the life of the self-defined agent provocateur, from his encouraging Donald Trump to run for office in the 1980s to his intentional thwarting of the Florida-election recount in 2000. Guaranteed to make your blood boil, this film offers maddening insight into the extent of corruption in Washington.

8. Baby Driver

Baby Driver is a triumph, resplendent in its tyre-screeching glory. By seamlessly embedding music into the film’s narrative, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) delivers a startlingly original heist movie that marches to the beat of its own drum. Boasting an eye-watering rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, a hyper-stylised sensory richness and adrenalin-inducing car chases, Baby Driver is a cinephile’s film par excellence.

7. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

They say people cope with grief in different ways, and this certainly seems to be true of Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) who takes her local police (led by Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) to task after the rape and murder of her teenage daughter. The expletive-spewing Hayes plasters accusatory messages on billboards challenging the town’s law enforcers to reopen her daughter’s unresolved case. She is a reckless firecracker of an anti-heroine. Whether she’s kicking a schoolchild in the crotch or flinging a petrol bomb at a police station, Mildred has an infectious desire to put these killers behind bars that makes her a treat to watch.

6. Good Time

Robert Pattinson is unrecognisable in the Safdie brothers’ nerve-shredding thriller Good Time, turning in a career-best performance as a petty criminal hustling his way through a colour-leached Queens to save his mentally ill brother. Since he earned a six-minute standing ovation at Cannes, it’s unsurprising the actor is being compared to De Niro in Taxi Driver.

5. BPM

Set in Nineties Paris, BPM (beats per minute) provides a brutally heart-wrenching take on the AIDS crisis without sinking into sentimentality. The movie, which scooped up the Grand Prix at Cannes, centres on the LGBTQIA activist group Act Up. Through heated, strategy-focused meetings – where the blood-hurling advocates clash with the big-pharma sympathisers – the campaigners raise awareness of the epidemic, forging relationships along the way. I’m thoroughly disappointed that the Oscars snubbed this defiant, sincere film in the foreign-language category.

4. The Disaster Artist

The Disaster Artist is a hysterical behind-the-scenes exposé tracing the making of Tommy Wiseau’s self-financed vanity project, The Room (widely regarded as the worst film ever made). James Franco – who also directed The Disaster Artist – has earned plaudits for his sensitive, yet hilarious, impersonation of the filmmaker. I was so intrigued by the trailer that I fought my way into a (massively oversubscribed) advanced screening at the BFI, where I full-on cried with laughter, then collapsed on a Tube platform when my sister quoted a line to me on the way home. Funniest film of the year without a shadow of a doubt.

3. Get Out

The flash of a camera. The clinking of a teaspoon. The humming of crickets in a suburban street. Get Out’s accumulation of seemingly banal details makes it so masterfully unsettling. The movie is something of a modern-day Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? that sees an African-American (Daniel Kaluuya) visit the parents of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams) and gradually discover an unsettling truth brewing beneath mind games and micro-aggressions. The film marks the sketch comedian Jordan Peele’s first foray into cinema as a writer-director, and has already established him as one to watch. Get Out is a sucker punch to the status quo that is impossible to forget.

2. Lady Bird

Lady Bird is an astounding addition to the coming-of-age canon, a feel-good film exuding a sincerity and warmth that quickly confirms its status as one of the cinematic highlights of 2017. Raw and relatable, the movie is a show-stopping masterpiece that ushers the actress-turned-director Greta Gerwig into the pantheon of blossoming auteurs. The film faithfully captures the essence of what it’s like to grow up female; the awkwardness of that disconcerting stage of adolescence in which you are unceremoniously prised from the familiar embrace of girlhood and thrust towards womanhood. In the tradition of great cinema, Lady Bird takes a profoundly personal story and transposes it with such dexterity that it feels universal.

1. Call Me by Your Name

“Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine,” whispers Oliver (Armie Hammer) as he gently caresses the cheek of his lover Elio (Timothée Chalamet) in the soft darkness. The blossoming romance between these two men, that unfurls over six sun-dappled weeks in northern Italy, is utterly ravishing. The director Luca Guadagnino creates a sensory masterpiece by lingering over the finer details of their relationship: peach juice trickling down a chin, bicycle pedals whirring into action. Call Me by Your Name is a shining beacon of tolerance and acceptance, with a heartbreaking ending that will bring tears to your eyes.

#film #movie #awards season #Oscars #best #Call Me By Your Name #lady bird #get out #bpm (beats per minute)#good time movie #three billboards #the disaster artist #baby driver #get me roger stone #mother!

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hereidinathoreauwrites · 7 years

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A Balanced Review of the Magic School Bus Reboot

The good, the bad, and the genuinely surprising about the Magic School Bus Rides Again.

Here we go.

First off, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge fan of the original. Like genuinely huge. I have all the episodes, can quote most of them, and openly promote theories that Ms. Frizzle is a Time Lord (because honestly, it’s obvious).

Second off, I have a huge gay crush on the fabulous Kate McKinnon.

But who doesn’t?

So expect these to weigh into my analysis.

Let’s start off with the good.

The Good

Fiona

From the moment I heard Kate was onboard, I knew I was going to love this character. And she did not disappoint. Fiona is exactly what she needs to be. She is Ms. Frizzle without being...well, Lily Tomlin. She still has that zest for adventure and thrills at new discoveries.

And while there is a multitude of similarities between her and Valerie (old sayings, clever wordplay, impeccably questionable fashion sense, a flair for danger) she’s decidedly different. She’s more excitable than her sister and treats her students more like peers than children she is supervising. And while she’s never quite as all-knowing as her big sister seemed to be, she knows when to talk and when to let her students suss something out on their own.

And while her past is a bit of a mystery, just like her older sister, she seems just as accomplished and well-rounded. And just as eccentric.

I mean, she literally enters the classroom through a glass ceiling on a rope attached to nothing.

She is Kate McKinnon, who is genuinely thrilled to be here and loving every minute of it.

Sometimes she does get to be a bit much, usually when she’s too excited about a clever pun or a new discovery. But she’s not Valerie Frizzle. She’s Fiona Frizzle. And Kate does a good job of keeping just enough of the original enigma while bringing a new character who is more approachable, vulnerable, and emotional than Valerie was. Honestly, the only emotions I remember Ms. Frizzle overtly displaying on PBS were excitement and happiness.

In PBS, the kids relied on Ms. Frizzle a lot and she seemed to improvise a lot of the destinations and lessons for the day. Here, Fiona seems to already know what they need for a given day or be flexible enough to figure out a solution as they go. And unlike Valerie, who always kept a strong cloud of mystery about her and what she knew and didn’t know, Fiona makes it very clear just what she is aware of and not aware of. During the final episode, when the bus is unable to take the pressure of the ocean and things look dire, she is clearly panicking because her kids are now in danger. But she keeps resolutely chipper, trying to reassure and excite them even as her voice breaks.

And this makes sense. The kids are older in this version. At some point, there’s no reason for her to hide her knowledge and planning from them or the true scope of the danger they’re in. It isn’t going to teach them anything new, just reinforce how much more she knows. They aren’t going to freak out like they used to, instead, they will search for a solution because they’ve been in danger before and engineered their way out. She’s no longer their guide (like Valerie was), now she’s their colleague.

There is one thing I find a little off about her and that is her tendency to make sassy comments or judgments that are funny in the moment but really distinguish her from what one typically expects from a teacher. In the very first episode, she makes a comment about how dirty the boots they are examining for invasive species are and gets very high-and-mighty about it. I wouldn’t mind so much (the boots were pretty nasty) but she does this with the kids occasionally as well (she makes it obvious that she knows Arnold stole her plant in the first episode but still puts him through a lot of guilt-tripping and even some legit trauma before he finally fesses up). And while it’s good for a laugh, it seems a little harsh for an elementary school teacher. The kids dont seem to mind though so I’ll let it go.

The Class

The same class is back, which I found surprising. But smart. It would be too much work to establish an entirely new class and then introducing a new Ms. Frizzle would feel off. It would just be a remake, not a reboot.

We have 7 of the original kids here: Arnold, Ralphie, Carlos, Tim, Wanda, Dorothy Ann, and Keesha. In this reboot, Phoebe has been replaced with Jyoti, an Indian girl who is very into engineering and technology. I was originally very upset when Phoebe was replaced (she was the one I related to most in the original series) but Jyoti has earned a special place in my heart. She has her own section below.

In this version, the class is in 5th grade, which is supposed to be one year after the events of the PBS cartoon. I’ll have more thoughts on this later but for know, just know that all the kids are now 10 instead of 9 and it actually sort of works.

The kids are all really charming. Especially Ralphie (who may have eclipsed Carlos for the most laughs). Even Arnold, who I found incredibly annoying in the PBS version, was exceedingly likable here. And this was the series where he actively disrupts his new teacher’s first lesson! In the first episode, there is a great effort to make Arnold both reprehensible but also sympathetic as he resists the change Fiona brings to his life.

While their personalities seem less distinguishable at times, they still retain their characterizations. Ralphie is the lovable jock, DA the nerd (although she has swapped out her beloved pink bookbag for a Frizz-tab), Tim is the artist, Carlos the jokester, etc. Even though they retain these personalities from PBS, all of them have changed slightly, the same way you’d expect a child to change over the course of one year. Some of their traits have been updated as well for the new era this class is getting educated in (for example, DA’s tablet and their outfit changes).

The only one I have a problem with is Wanda.

We’ll get to her in the bad.

The kids are still the focus of the show: having conflicts, solving problems, making mistakes, and getting excited about science. Fiona remains as simply their guardian and enabler of their adventures. And while Kate’s performance is attention-grabbing, she doesn’t steal the spotlight from the kids. Their VAs are all pretty good and seem to have taken their own stylistic choices when bringing back these beloved characters. They keep some core similarities but give unique performances.

Jyoti Kaur

I was so excited to learn another POC had joined the kids. I was even more excited to learn that she was a southern Indian POC [for context: I myself am not of Indian heritage but I spent a semester in southern India and I admire the culture very much and made some good friends there]. She seems to have taken on both the mantle of wide-eyed newcomer (that Phoebe used to carry) and fearless adventurer in the class (that used to be Wanda’s thing...). And she fills the important role of being the gear-head for the class in this new era of technology.

She even gets one of my favorite moments in the reboot: when she’s alone with Ms. Frizzle discussing an engineering competition and we learn that the Frizzle sisters built the bus.

It’s such a powerful moment for me because Jyoti is the new kid and Fiona is the new teacher and they use this moment to bond and expand the canon of the series.

Watching her watch the bus in action is genuinely endearing. She always seems like she’s both in awe of the magic and trying to figure out how everything works. There’s a moment in the first episode where she watches Ms. Frizzle turn Carlos and Wanda into animals and gets very disappointed when she doesn’t get a turn.

This may make it seem like I have no problems with Jyoti, but unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. She has a section in “the bad” as well.

The Adventure

The series certainly didn’t pull punches when throwing people into peril.

In this reboot, we see the kids fall down two different rivers, raft a volcano, get attacked by T-cells, jump out of a plane onto a glacier, get attacked by a plant, get stalked by sharks (twice!), lose the bus (also twice!), get lost while they’re the size of atoms, almost get torn apart by a barracuda, go flying around the Earth at maximum zoom, and get stuck at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

One thing that is different is that they don't dwell on the suspense as much as PBS did. PBS milked its commercial breaks for all they were worth, drawing out intense situations to make them feel more perilous. The reboot...doesn’t. When there is a threat, the resolution is less than 30 seconds away. There are a couple of awkward fade-outs in the middle of some episodes at tense moments but it’s not consistent and there’s not much point when there’s no ad break in the middle of a Netflix video.

This could turn into a whole critique of streaming services ruining suspense in tv writing but I’ll just make a note of it here.

The bus has also picked up some new abilities, which are utilized for these adventures. Shrinking down to the size of an atom genuinely thrilled me. I got so excited during “The Magnetic Mambo” when they just kept shrinking...and shrinking...and shrinking...!

A lot of the “new abilities” seem to include the bus’ infinite creative potential. It spits out new technology every other second, from personal vehicles to backpacks that are actually time machines, to a remote that is like a mini-bus that they only use once. I’ll discuss the bus more in the bad but it’s abilities fall solidly into the good category for me. It means new adventures and deeper dives into older adventures.

The Writing

I don’t know if the series writers are affiliated with the PBS cartoon in any way but they definitely know their stuff. The problem I have with most reboots is that they end up feeling and sounding like fanfics instead of continuations. This reboot does not. It carries just enough of the tone of the original through clever wordplay, puns, and wacky adventures while having a distinctly different look and feel.

They know where they came from but they’re not trying to return to that place.

Some of the episodes are very creative and well composed. These include Ep 1: “Frizzle of the Future” (which ingeniously uses the concept of invasive species to integrate Fiona into the MSB canon), Ep 4: “The Battle for Rock Mountain” (which uses superhero culture to teach kids about the rock cycle), and Ep 10: “The Tales Glaciers Tell” (which finally teaches kids about climate change in a way that is straightforward and as “uncontroversial” as it can be).

There are some “less good” episodes but overall, none of them were terrible. They were all funny and clever and presented their lessons well.

Nods to the original

It’s never overtly obvious or direct but the references to PBS are there. But in some ways, I think that’s better than flat-out insisting that the two are back-to-back canon.

They don't slap you in the face with call-backs but if you are a fan of the original, you catch them.

Here’s a few I noticed:

The perfect joke to explain Phoebe’s absence

Mr. Rhule (the principle from the original) is referenced by name

Wanda’s mom and little brother (William) have a cameo (with Wanda’s original VA as Mrs. Li, I’m pretty sure)

Ralphie’s face when the class travels inside Carlos’ nose (because in PBS, the whole class ended up in his nose)

Arnold freaking out when they end up in Ralphie’s stomach (because that episode from PBS was legitimately traumatizing for him)

The bus being attacked by white blood cells while in the bloodstream

Weatherman! (”sheika, sheika kaboom!” was sorely missed though...)

Keesha directing (with a megaphone of course)

Ralphie building a robot (again, for seemingly no valid reason and with a questionable amount of resources)

Arnold loving rocks and geology

Ms. Frizzle asks them if they’ve ever been eaten (there were several times in PBS but not in the reboot)

JANET! (dammit)

several VAs from the original make cameos

It’s refreshing in a way, to know that these things were done with fans like me in mind.

The Bad

I may love a lot about this reboot but it is not without a few glaring problems in my mind.

Here goes:

The BUS

I’m just going to say it: the original bus was better. It had more of a personality and felt more real than this cube.

In my opinion, where this went wrong was that technology played too much of a role. Maybe this was unavoidable due to the major changes in technology in the past 20 years. But it doesn’t even look like a bus anymore. It has a freakin’ tablet screen right on the control panel...do buses have those now? What was magical about PBS’s bus was that it looked like a bus but could change and mold itself into whatever was necessary with the push of a button. Now Fiona has to scroll through a screen of apps to find the “mode” she needs.

There is less magical about the bus this time; it more just seems like an incredible feat of engineering. There is even a joke about how the Frizzle sisters built the bus. Instead of turning kids into things, most of the time now, they just have their own personal vehicles to drive around the ocean or fly through space. That’s not magical, it’s just really well-funded.

Also, apparently now the bus can sustain damage? And then magically repair that damage? I guess the T-Rex did bite through the roof on PBS...

Also, the bus doesn't actually have to drive places anymore. Instead it just kind of...teleports. There’s an episode where the kids go inside the nervous systems of two of their classmates and both times, they just kind of vanish and reappear where they need to be.

(Also, the kids are oddly comfortable with the idea of the bus entering their bodies? Like I get it, if they’ve been through an entire previous year of a Frizzle using their body for science, maybe they’re okay with a bus shooting up their nose and their class spending half the day in their bloodstream. But a lot of the human biology episodes of the original were not consensual? Is this change really a bad thing? Is this tangent getting too long?)

On the plus side, the bus is solar-powered now.

So :D

The Timeline?

They kept a lot from the original, so much so that I think the intention was to make it seem like only one summer had passed between the two series. It makes sense on paper: this way fans of the original aren’t too put off and kids watching both series back to back for the first time won't be too confused by the switch.

But the problem with this is that it’s too unbelievable.

Technology really advanced this much in a few months? Wanda changed that much over the summer (see below)? Ms. Frizzle got her PhD in two months? Well, actually if anybody could do that, it would be Valerie Frizzle...

So the intention is good and logical but all the details don't really work out. I’ve coped with it by considering this an “alternate universe”, where the kids stayed together for another year (with some changes) after a year of similar adventures to PBS but with all the advanced tech present. So instead of being from the 90′s, this class was born in the late 2000′s.

If you’re not insane (like me), it probably won’t bother you. And it does make for a pretty funny opening scene.

Race Depictions

Not really sure if I should be bringing this up but I did want to address it. Whatever animation they used for the show does make certain characters appear...whiter...than they did on PBS.

But the whole color palette is different so I’m not sure if this was an intentional artistic choice or just unlucky circumstance. I really don’t know enough about animation to comment. But white-washing of any kind falls into the bad category for me (even if unintentional).

Wanda

*sighs dramatically* And here we are at last...

Wanda was such a titan of a character in PBS. She probably had the most character development apart from Arnold throughout all 52 episodes.

So I really don't know what happened here.

With most of the others, where they are at now makes sense given that it’s supposed to be “one year later” in their lives. But Wanda seems like she had a total personality change in just a few short months. She’s no longer adventurous and instead, she’s...really compassionate? I mean, she wasn’t outright mean in PBS but she was callous and occasionally unintentionally hurtful. Now she’s suddenly a bleeding-heart animal activist? I mean, in PBS she was definitely changing towards being more considerate and open but she still kept that adventurous edge and wild streak. Now she has mellowed out considerably. So much so in fact that she resembles Phoebe more than she does Wanda.

Who looked at the original cartoon and logically thought that she was the character who needed to be changed the most? If they were that desperate to include a character who cared for animals that much, why not make it Carlos?

They already have an episode where he adopts a pet rat. And on PBS, he was skeptical of Phoebe’s concern for the animals she tried to save but never dismissive. He even comes to care for natural ecosystems like swamps in the PBS episode “Get’s Swamped”. With this characterization, it would give this show something new and interesting: a compassionate male character. One who is defined by his gentleness and concern. Isn’t it good for boys to have a role model like that?

Also, no offense to Carlos but apart from being the jokester, he really doesn’t have that much of a character. Someone like Arnold has several defining traits: worrier, rock expert, cynical. For Carlos, I have trouble coming up with anything other than funny. This change to a passionate animal activist would have added a whole new layer to him.

So that was a real missed opportunity in my eyes.

The only change in Wanda I genuinely liked was her seemingly much closer friendship with DA compared to PBS.

I always liked how they became better friends in the final PBS episode (”Takes a Dive”) and wanted to see that expanded. Seeing that the writers kept it, it feels like a small nod to that adventure and an indication of how well they wanted to keep the series continuity intact.

Jyoti

So here she is again. And while I do love Jyoti as a character, as a writer I have some problems with her. First and foremost, she’s too good at what she does. The Mary Sue trope is strong with this one.

This kid has a literal invisibility cloak. And creates an AI. And she’s only supposed to be ten years old. While her high-tech gear certainly adds an element of intrigue to the show, I find I cant always suspend my disbelief when she does something too outlandish. Like make a functional 3-D printed model of a T-cell in under half an hour.

She doesn’t really have character flaws either. Granted, she’s only really the “main kid” in one episode (”Three-in-One”) but the most development she has is when she snaps at Ralphie and feels bad about it. She also gets mad when DA loses her locket in “DA and the Deep Blue Sea” (so much so that everyone reacts with fear, even Ms. Frizzle) but she gets over it very quickly. The only “mistake” she makes is not specifying to her AI which pot of water she wants to be boiled (resulting in the water her class is exploring turning to steam). So really the only flaw is possibly that she’s impatient?

She’s not too ambitious or too proud or too inconsiderate, all of which could fit with her character that we’ve seen so far. Instead, she’s just useful. Whenever she needs to be. My hope is that next season she has an episode where she genuinely grows and we see some character flaws.

Another thing about her that is confusing (but this may just be my lack of knowledge showing) is exactly what her Indian roots are. In the episode “The Magnetic Mambo” she insists upon dancing a “kathakali” which is a type of Hindu dance art unique to the Kerala region of India.

But in a later episode, “Three-in-one” we meet a robot she has invented that she calls “Naniben” which (she explains) means “little sister” in Gujarati, a language spoken by only one community in Kerala (to my knowledge). So I either take this to mean that the writers got very specific with her place of origin, or that her parents come from two different states of India (one from Kerala and one from Gujarat?). But I’m sure no one else is giving it this much thought...

The Plugs for Future Episodes

While Lily Tomlin is always a blessing, I have to admit her segments weren’t always handled as well as they could have been.

This is obviously the reboot’s way of doing the producer segments from PBS. It’s a clever way to address scientific shortcomings or tell kids “dont try this at home!”. This really shouldn’t bug me. But it did. While it was nice to see Professor Frizzle having her own adventures and seeing a glimpse of what was coming, having her explicitly say things like: “stick around” or “wait and find out” felt like overkill.

And I know this is for kids but they’re going to watch anyway! You don't have to have a hook for bingeing. Bingeing these episodes is worse because then the lessons don’t stick as well! If the kids are excited by it, they are going to come back the next day or week and watch more. Don’t encourage them to rush through their education.

Episodes I question

Not sure if these count as “bad” but there were some episodes that had me scratching my head. These fall under the “less good” episodes I mentioned before.

E5: The Magnetic Mambo - When I think atoms, I definitely think dancing! There seemed to be a bit of a leap here between the conflict and the lesson (being about magnetism and how atoms align in a magnetic field). Also, I had to watch the “lesson” part of this episode twice before I understood it. Not sure if that reflects more on my education quality than the writing but...

E9: Space Mission: Selfie - I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to have learned from this one. That satellites are a thing? That objects orbiting the Earth orbit at different heights? The lesson wasn’t really clear. Maybe if I watch it again, I’ll get a better idea...also, the Frizzle family has some kind of internet empire?

E11: Ralphie Strikes a Nerve - When your team sucks at volleyball, what’s the logical thing to do? Certainly not spend an immoral amount of time and resources building a giant Pacific Rim - inspired robot! But somehow that’s the logical conclusion here? Don’t get me wrong, it works for the lesson (learning about the nervous system) but not so much for the plot?

The Surprising

The Animation

I know this is an unpopular opinion but..the animation really isn’t that bad.

Sure it’s jarring at first but the more I watched it, the less it bothered me. The movements were still fluid, the characters were still expressive. And this is 2017. Hand-drawn animation is not as popular as it once was.

And this is honestly not that bad. There were even all the little details that were accounted for. Like how Fiona’s and DA’s hair float when they’re in orbit. And when they descend into Carlos’ bloodstream, they have to illuminate the scene. As you watch it, you get bothered by the style less. And the PBS cartoon had its animation errors that were laughably bad. My favorite was in “For Lunch” when Arnold is somehow inside the bus currently going down his esophagus. Watch it again and you’ll see what I mean.

The New Theme Song

I had somehow forgotten that the fabulous Lin-Manuel Miranda had signed on to do the theme. And he did not disappoint. I rock out to this version just as hard as I did to Little Richard’s version.

youtube

The Framing

In the PBS episodes, each episode usually only focused on 1 kid, the “main kid” who had a lesson to learn that episode. Occasionally, they had episodes focused on two kids but it was usually just Wanda and Arnold or whoever was fighting.

This time around, they really make an effort to include more kids in the lessons. A lot of episodes still have a “main kid” but they are less the center of attention. It makes the show feel less formulaic, which was refreshing to see.

The Original Ms. Frizzle Leaving

As well as it worked for a send-off, Valerie Frizzle leaving doesn’t make a lot of sense when you look at the two series together. During her tenure as the teacher on PBS, we saw Ms. Frizzle grow to love her kids and start to treat them more like colleagues than a class she was supervising. She genuinely loved her job and looked like she was going to be doing it forever.

So the fact that she switched gears to become a research professor is odd to me. Don’t get me wrong, the more women with Ph.Ds on tv the better but she had always seemed so content to be just a teacher. So maybe she’s just stepping down for Fiona’s sake? Maybe I’m just reading into this far too much for a cartoon?

Still, it seemed a little on the nose to have the original Ms. Frizzle essentially “graduate” from this series now that she’s too busy pursuing her own projects to be a voice actor on a kids show. But if they had to give a reason for her to leave that wasn’t her dying, this was a great one.

Still don't get why Liz didn’t go with her through...Goldie is fine but wouldn’t it make more sense for the new teacher to have a new sidekick?

Keesha’s moms!

Okay, this is unconfirmed but I’m pretty sure these two:

Are intended to be Keesha’s parents.

If so then :D

I’m always for more LGBTQ representation in cartoons and Keesha did seem to be the logical choice. Her parents were never introduced in the original, just her grandmother. So I’d love for these two to come back and actually have a line or two next season that confirms their relationship.

The Battle for Rock Mountain Episode

I have a whole post on this here. Just go read that for why I was genuinely surprised by this concept and its execution.

The permission slips?

I’m sorry but no. This is too much, even for a joke. How does Ms. Frizzle even go about writing these things with a straight face? Maybe it was more just a ploy to get one or two funny lines out of the cast. I think that was a common critique of the original as well; that Ms. Frizzle couldn’t possibly be sending her kids home with permission slips that said things like: we’re going inside an active volcano to study island formation.

Well, apparently she did...and still does...

Well played reboot...well played...

In Conclusion

If you’re still undecided about the reboot, I hope this review helped put it in perspective a little. It has its ups and downs and, like any reboot, necessary changes and unnecessary changes.

Based on what I’ve consolidated here though, I think I would put this in the “good” reboot category. It’s certainly no “Death Note” movie but there are some things that people hate on. But the showrunners clearly know that they’ve got 20 years worth of fans watching them and they make efforts to let those people know that they know the source material (see my list of references to PBS above). I enjoyed watching it. I am probably going to watch several episodes again, even a few years from now. I am genuinely interested in what concepts they decide to show next and if they are going to develop their characters as well as PBS did.

In my opinion, you cant really hate a show like this for being a reboot. Because it’s meant only to do good for kids by teaching them about science and nature. I would show this to my kids or students alongside the original and not feel like it was jeopardizing their education at all. The original cartoon was instrumental in sparking my love of science and I can totally see this version inspiring some young student to delve deeper into topics they learn in school.

#review #the magic school bus #the magic school bus rides again #the magic school bus reboot #good things about the magic school bus rides again #ms frizzle #lily tomlin #Fiona frizzle #kate mckinnon #the good and the bad #and the surprising #science #encouraging young scientists #science education #educational tv

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