#i feel like the book wants to have a discussion more than just danny and rebecca if theyre mutual or not

[thegirlisuedtobe]

Hi there! First thank you always for translating the Rebecca interviews they are really fun and interesting to read. Seeing some of your comments you made about the Korean Dannys views on romance/homosexuality I was curious. When I first read the novel which was a long time ago, my interpretation of Danny and Rebecca’s relationship was 50/50 maybe really lovers but could also just be some type of non-romantic attachment. After watching the Korean production I feel that there’s a stronger implication of them being lovers. Some Rebecca fandom friends that I know are on the skeptical side I guess about them being real lovers so this is a topic that interests me. I was curious do you think you would’ve still thought of Danny and Rebecca as lovers if it wasn’t for the Korean production/Ock Joohyun? Really wanted to know your thoughts about that! Actlly I want to think of them as lovers but like if asked to defend why I think they’re lovers I’m not sure I’d personally be able support my view properly with evidence or anything since I’m not the good at analysis type etc haha. I hope this makes sense? Thx

Tbh it's kind of hard to say I feel that way 100% with no bias but,,,

(lol under the read more bc i ended up rambling)

Actually, the way I got into Rebecca was I discovered joo hyuns performance > i read the wiki > i watched a subtitled version of the german performance > I watched the Korean production > then I read the book > then I translated the Korean script further and read interviews.

Joo Hyun's performance was only just her singing the Rebecca long reprise at the top of act two, it wasn't really a song that incredibly showcased her interpretation or feelings towards the dynamic between rebecca and danny. when I read the wiki I was already thinking danny and rebecca sounded gay as hell and even watching the albeit reserved german production i felt like the specific situation that danny was found it alluded to that lover dynamic. like im a lesbian LOL so I kind of immediately went hey theres another lesbian right there. When it came to how maxim talked about rebecca it only further cemented in my mind that rebecca was also a lesbian. so like even from the german production, i felt that rebecca and danny were lesbians and had something together. now whether that something was balanced is another story, but i deff in my heart knew that they were some kind of secret lovers.

i don;t think in my mind that i ever had any doubt that rebecca and danny had some kind of more than mistress and servant relationship, and i dont think that i ever doubted that it was ever one sided. idk i just felt it in my gut. But i also moved on from the german production quite quickly when i got a copy of the rebecca production. that initial feeling of theyre lesbians really bloomed into oh they really loved each other when i got to the korean production and joo hyunie was pulling out all the stops. like the way she was acting,,, there was this palpable sense of love, the kind of love that felt equal. i've also talked about this before in one of my review essays (on my writing blog) but i think the contrast of her age against the older german dannys did a lot of work to bring that love closer to "lovers" and a more balanced dynamic imo.

i remember talking to a german rebecca fan and they talked a lot about doing a lot of contextualising and rationalising, trying to bend the script into a way that danny and rebecca were something in a mutual sense. i remember being really confused about that. like they had to put a lot of mental energy into rationalising that they were "mutual lovers" whereas it felt innate to me that they were.

Re: the age contrast. When I finally got to reading the book as well, in my mind i thought danny and rebecca grew up together as children (the line where danny has been with rebecca since she was young). also please note that i'm asian so like cultural aspects of rebecca flew over my head at times, but when i read it thats what i thought that line meant. but i talked to a european rebecca friend of mine and they said danny is referred to as governess and usually theyd be at least like 20 so when danny says she was with rebecca since childhood she meant in an overseeing kind of way; child and carer relationship. me not knowing that cultural thing impacted the balance i saw in their relationship which is why its also interesting that a lot of the korean dannys felt the same way i felt.

i haven't read the korean translation of rebecca so i dont know how they translate that cultural aspect/line but joo hyun, shin young sook, jang eun ah and kim sun young as i have just discovered all thought that danny grew up with rebecca. that her mother was rebecca's nanny and because of their close proximity grew up together. even before reading the interviews where these dannys said that, i also thought that was the case. so maybe its a culture thing?

but because of that, the relationship felt balanced enough that i felt like it was mutual. compounded by the more emotive ways that joo hyunie was expressing just how much she loved rebecca, it felt like a no brainer to me that they loved each other exclusively. sure rebecca was out and about having sex, but it wasnt sex out of love, it felt like sex out of fun or a habitual need, it felt like it meant entirely nothing to her. ergo her "love" (the kind beyond just physical sex) was only for danny. ive always felt very certain of that.

i think your feeling of not being able to defend danny and rebecca mutual relationship is understandable. there's so much ambiguity in the original text that its difficult to say that this thing points directly to this, or lots of lines could mean different things to different people. i'm always the opinion of rebecca is a mirror and depending on what themes or ideas or messages that u pick up, it's really just a reflection of what u want to see most. now whether i agree with another person's image of rebecca through that mirror is an entirely differnt matter, but i can't help but feel that way with danny and rebecca. its like,,, all i can say is, have you looked at them?? dont they seem that way to you??

lol im sure if i put my head into it i could make an essay to "prove" that theyre in a mutual relationship, and i know theres plently of evidence that i could pick out, but the gut feeling has been there from the start!

#lmao not sure if this was entirely helpful to u at all since its really just a gut feeling #but ik that gut feeling isnt like a delusion either it exists i just dont have it in me to pick out concrete evidence rn #also i strongly feel this way mostly just to the korean production #i feel like the book wants to have a discussion more than just danny and rebecca if theyre mutual or not #i really like the ambiguity of rebecca the novel as a whole so im not really of the mind the try bending over backwards proving their #relationship in that either #i think it only features so prominently in the musical because of what themes they picked out of the book to create a musical narrative #if u asked me to watch the german productions and based on their performance if it was mutual or not i wouldnt be so quick to say yes it wa #mutual as i would with the korean production now that i have hindsight lmao #actually theres smth interesting about all these adaptions and productions and how that relates to that are they mutuall lovers question #that i would like to talk about but i think this is getting long as it is #generally speaking i do think theyre mutuall in love but for different iterations i think that degree shifts between mildly disagree to #110% strongly agree #illa answers #rebecca #rebecca das musical #rebecca korea

[thordottir45]

The Outlaw's Spirit

After a reveal gone wrong, whether intentional or not, Danny books it. Sam and Tucker have to stay behind in Amity to prevent Maddie, Jack, and the GIW from following their best friend. The trio is 16~17 or so at this point.

Jazz, being the best big sis that she is, has been taking college classes online to protect Danny. She helps the two destroy the Drs. Fenton lab before grabbing her go bag and getting out of there. She plans to start anew in a different city so that Danny can eventually join her. She's thinking Gotham, with the ambient ectoplasm, and high crime rates, it'll feel more like home than Star City, or Metropolis.

Danny, meanwhile, keeps running. He comes across a high-tech jet and hides in it, pulling a stowaway.

This jet is a Batplane, but is currently being used by The Outlaws for a mission.

Danny's ghost sense has no idea about how to react to Jason, so it causes him to cough, revealing his location to the group.

"B." Artemis instructs Bizarro with his nickname.

Bizarro moves in slowly, while Jason pulls out his guns, and Artemis her sword. Bizarro opens wherever Danny is hiding, revealing his black hair and blue eyes of his human form. Seeing the shaking teen, B gently pulls him out and 'restrains' him via hug.

Danny is freaking out at the sight of these out-of-the-norm people, and his ghost sense is triggering a coughing fit, aggravating whatever wounds he may have.

"One of your brothers?" Artemis asks Jason, despite keeping her guard up.

"Not that I know. What are you doing in here, kid?" Jason lowes his guns, but doesn't holster them, wanting to keep them in hand in case this kid is an enemy.

Danny, coughing, takes a closer look at the three surrounding him.

"Red Hood? Artemis of the Bana-Mighdall? Bizarro? What? Huh?!"

"Worry, we hurt you." Bizarro says soothingly.

Tensing, Danny prepares to use his powers, but Artemis explains what Bizarro means before he does.

"What are you doing in here, kid? You're hurt." Jason reiterates before noticing just how the boy is breathing other than his coughing fits.

Feeling safer with these three than he had with his parents in a long time, and with them all not being entirely human themselves, Danny is willing to explain some things, but not everything.

"My parents, they're scientists, they found out that I'm not entirely human... I had to run. I saw this jet, and it was a chance for me to get further away from them before they track me down."

"They can track you?" Artemis asks while Bizarro releases Danny, setting the teen down on a bench. Jason pulls out a med kit and sets it down next to Danny.

Jason then gets the Batplane into the air while the other Outlaws get to know the stowaway more.

Jason's inner bat wants to do so much research that he resembles the Replacement more than himself, but more of him sees himself in the kid and, as much as he loathes to admit it, pull a Bruce to take care of the much-too-thin teen.

Setting the autopilot to Gotham, Jason re-joins the discussion, noting that the kid's coughs get worse the closer he gets. Odd.

Bizarro and the teen have bonded over video games and movies, even with Bizarro's speech mannerisms.

Artemis, on the other hand, is patching the boy up, not offering much to the conversation other than clearing some things up for B.

"Course's set for Gotham. Figure we'll want Alfie to get some proper food in ya. Now, can you explain all the coughing?" Jason plops down across from the teen, keeping some distance to not make the coughing worse if his hunch is right.

Danny explains in the broadest terms for his ghost sense, that it can tell when people have died, and that Red Hood didn't come back right.

Tense, Jason's vision bleeds into green as he questions, "How?"

"I can tell because I didn't come back right, either..." Danny then tries to explain ectoplasm as glowing green goo, causing Jason to tense even more.

"Lazarus Waters."

"What?"

Taking off his helmet, the lenses of Jason's domino are glowing, "Lazarus Waters. They threw me in mostly dead, and I came out mostly alive."

"That shouldn't..." Danny tilts his head, thinking of the lessons from Frostbite on the nature of ectoplasm and what happens when it gets corrupted. All part of his training for taking the throne. "Huh. Sounds like you got a batch of the more corrupted stuff. With pure ectoplasm, it would bring you back fully, with few side effects."

"Ectoplasm?" Bizarro asks from Danny's right.

Explaining in more detail, since Red Hood is some sort of subject of his and needs help, time passes and soon the autopilot is landing the jet.

"Come on, kid. Let's get some food in you, then we can see what to do about the Lazarus Waters." Jason puts a hand on the door to the Batplane, opening it to reveal the Batcave.

Just something that was floating around in my head. Not sure if I'll continue it, it's unlikely.

#dp x dc #ghost king danny #danny phantom #danny fenton #jason todd #red hood #artemis of bana mighdall #bizarro #the outcasts #jazz fenton #possible future anger management? #dc x dp #just the utter chaos that can ensue from the outcasts taking in danny #imagine danny coming along on their missions #phasing through things going invisible and causing utter havoc #there are times that jason would love it #other times he would be regretting taking in this chaos gremlin #the outlaw's spirit

[poke-me-with-a-stick]

Chapter 14 of 'Artificial Wingman'!

For the full story, click here!

Enjoy!

---

Jason stared dubious at the redhead in front of him, letting what she had just told him sink in. "So, let me get this straight," he shifted in his seat, the leather of his couch creaking underneath him. "You and your brother are from another dimension." He paused, waiting for her confirmation. Jazz nodded. "And your brother only came here because he wanted to test a 'potion' that he found the recipe for in an old, suspicious looking book that he found in your aunt's attic?" 

"That's right." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, clasping her hands together in her lap. In the background, the TV chattered, some news channel discussing the latest scandal. 

"Then, when he didn't come home at the agreed upon time, you followed him here. And you've been tracking him around the city, because he leaves an invisible trail?"

"Well, technically it's visible. But only to certain people? And it's less of a trail and more of just spots he's been where his emotions got high enough to leave an ectoplasmic imprint." She corrected gently, a sympathetic smile on her face as she watched him run his fingers through his unruly hair. 

"Right, right. Remind me to ask how that works later. After I've had at least one good night's sleep." Jason sighed, dropping his head in his hands. This wasn't the weirdest case he had ever taken on, but it was definitely up there. 

"So, can you tell me just how it is that you're tracking him?" 

"Well.." She brought her clasped hands up to her chin, resting her jaw on them while she tried to put it into words. "Basically, when my brother is in a situation where he feels an exceptionally strong emotion, happiness, sadness, rage, what have you, he lets off this, um. Energy signature?" 

Her thumb nail pressed at her lip as she thought about it. "Yeah, let's go with that. So he lets off this energy signature that some people can track. It can differ from person to person, but for me I can see it. It looks like a blue-green mist, and feels kind of cold when I walk through it." She laughs a bit. "Actually, there was one in that restaurant we met at. We sat in the middle of if.

"Is that what I felt when we sat down?" Jason couldn't help but ask. He had felt something odd at the time, a cold sensation paired with some sort of intrusive emotion. At the time, he had brushed it off, sure that his lack of sleep was messing with him. 

"Yeah, I noticed you were kind of tense when we first sat down." She admitted, her index finger rubbing her chin as a pretty red blush dusted her cheeks. "I should probably apologize for that. I sometimes forget that it's not necessarily normal for other people to sense Danny's signature." 

Silence fell over the two of them again, the only sound in the apartment muffled noises from the city outside, and the rambling of a weather reporter on the TV. Both of them fidgeted in their seats, not quite sure what to say. Taking a breath, Jason pulled his drifting gaze back to Jazz. Before he could say anything, both of them were startled by a quick knock. Immediately, both of them turned towards the door, staring at it cautiously. No one in his family ever used doors, and there were very few people that knew where Jason lived. It made sense to get a bit tense. 

After a minute of silence, another knock echoed through the apartment. Both of their weary looks turned to confusion. That sound didn't come from the door. In fact, Jason was sure that it was coming from behind him. Twisting in his seat, he searched for the source of the noise, shoulders tight and hand twitching towards the gun on his hip. 

Again, the noise sounded. A tap, tap, tap, noise that sounded more impatient than the precious one. 'There', Jason spied a shift of color against the dark tint of the window. Standing quickly, he motioned for Jazz to get down, inching closer to the window. He didn't turn to see if she listened to him, but the sound of her clothes rustling put something in him at ease. He just hoped it was her listening to him and not her sneaking up behind him. 

Sidling up to the wall, he pressed himself to the peeling sheetrock next to the window. Pulling his gun free, he took a moment to collect himself before launching into action. In a blur of motion, Jason threw the window open and aimed his handgun, barrel pointed right between the eyes of… Damian? 

Blinking hard, Jason looked the teen over. Yeah, that was definitely Damian, frozen there while dressed fully in his vigilante suit with his hand raised to knock again. Lowering the gun, Jason eyed the teen suspiciously. "Robin?" Jason asked. "What are you doing here? Weren't you, like, missing or something?"

Damian, in true Damian fashion, scoffed at him, pushing his way through the open window and landing silently on the rough carpet of Jason's living room. "I need your help, Todd." He stated, turning to look at the man, ignoring his questions.

Jason groaned, looking at Jazz who was peeking over the edge of the couch. Giving her a thumbs up, he turned back towards his brother. "Sorry to disappoint pipsqueak, but I'm kind of busy at the moment."

Damian paused, his face scrunching up in contemplation, before a soured look replaced it. "Please Todd." He pleaded. That had Jason straightening up a bit. The demon brat never begged. Sarcastic? Yeah, always. Belligerent? When was he not? But begging? He would never stoop so low. Until now, apparently. 

"...what do you need help with?" Jason asked hesitantly. The soured look softened slightly at his words. 

"My beloved and I have been separated, and I need help finding him." Jason blinked at the teen. Shook his head, and looked him over again, not quite sure what he was looking for. Any signs of deception, maybe? Because this had to be a joke. But, the teen looked a hundred percent serious, like he usually did. 

"You have a boyfriend?" He asked incredulously. Because what else would he ask? 

The teen standing in front of him scoffed. "No, I don’t." He told Jason. The man breathed a sigh of relief. "...Not yet, anyways." 

Huffing, Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have not had enough sleep to deal with this." He muttered, walking back to the couch and plopping down next to Jazz, who Damian hadn't seemed to notice yet.

"Regardless of our relationship status, he isn't from here and is currently lost in the city with the Joker on the loose. I need someone to help me find him before he runs into some of the more… unsavory individuals in Gotham." Jason tensed up at the mention of the psychotic clown, his expression hardening into something dangerous. 

"The Joker is loose? When did that happen? Why hasn't anyone informed me of this?" He demanded. 

"I do not know when this happened, Todd. I have been out of contact with the others for a week now. As for why you were not made aware of it, does the fact that you usually attempt to kill him on sight not give you your answer?" Jason huffed again, but conceded the teen's point.

"Alright then, what can you tell me about this missing 'crush' of yours?" Jason leaned back in his seat, letting his head rest over the back of the couch. 

"Like I said before, he isn't from Gotham, I'm not too sure where he hails from to be completely honest. What he has shared about his home life is quite concerning, but that can be discussed later." Striding across the room, Damian took a seat in the chair that Jazz had abandoned. "He has black hair and blue eyes, he is about five three in height, maybe five four. He has these light-colored freckles that glow under the stars, and little fangs. He's exceedingly pale and worryingly thin, though I'm not sure if that is because of his unique biology or not. His skin is cold to the touch, and he isn't very affected by colder climates based on his preferences."

The way he explained the boy made Jason think that the demon brat might have more than just a crush on this person. 'Wait…' Jason thought over the description he was given. 'No way. Could it be? Maybe…' "Robin." Jason made the teen pause in the middle of a description that he most definitely did not need. "This guy you're looking for. Is his name Danny, by chance?"

Damian looked over in surprise. "Yes. How did you know that?" He asked, suspicion clear in his voice. In response, Jason gestured to the woman sitting beside him. The teen's gaze flickered over to her briefly, before turning back for a closer look. He was silent as he scrutinized her. "Who might you be? And what do you have to do with Danny?" He asked finally, looking back at Jason. 

"This," Jason pointed to Jazz again, "is Jasmine Fenton. Danny's-"

Damian interrupted him. "You're Danny's sister? The 'Jazz' he talks so highly about?" He asked the woman. She startled for a moment, having been analyzing the entire interaction between the two, before nodding. 

"Yes. Like Jason said, I'm Jasmine, but all of my friends call me Jazz." She had her hand out to the teen, who shook it carefully. "So, how did you meet Danny?" She asked. 

Damian was quiet for a moment. "It was about a week ago, I had been fighting one of Gotham's rogues with Batman when I was thrown quite a distance. I had landed in a bird fountain, and Danny helped me out of it. He told me later that I had absorbed quite a large dose of a 'love potion'. I have been helping him to collect the ingredients to brew the antidote." He explained, tugging at the strap of a bag that Jason hadn't noticed earlier. 

Jazz nodded, like the explanation made perfect sense to her. Beside her, Jason was caught between finding the situation hilarious, or finding it devastating. Only his crazy ass family.

"Okay, as amazing as it is to know that I don't have to search for two missing teenagers now," the man drew both of their attention back to the original purpose of them both being in his home. "We should probably try and come up with a plan to find him, yeah?"

Before either of them could respond, the TV suddenly screeched. All of them whipped around to stare at it, their startled looks slowly becoming looks of horror. The channel had been hijacked, something not out of the norm for TV stations in Gotham. Many of the rogues had habits of televising their nefarious schemes all over the air, wanting their deeds to garner as much attention as possible. 

It wasn't much of a surprise to see the green haired clown in a purple pin-striped suit on the screen. Even less so to hear him announce himself loudly, like he was in a theatrical play. No, their horror came from seeing the two prone figures tied together in the background. "Hello Gotham City!" The man bellowed, his voice coming off as scratchy and static-ridden through the TV speakers.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? I suppose I'll have to make up for all the lost time! So I won't be telling you my plans so soon. What I will do, however, is give our local bats some incentive to get going." 

He strutted across the screen, coming to a stop behind the two figures. Their identities hidden by the brown sacks over their heads. They wouldn't stay that way for long.

"I have here with me, not one, but two hostages! And if you don't find me quickly, both of them will have a not so fun time!" He gripped one of the bags, pulling it up to reveal the split-died pigtails of a very pissed off Harley Quinn. "Our first guest is one you've seen before! Our dear old friend Halrey! We haven't heard much from you since your adventures with Ivy, have we? I thought it was high time that changed!" Jason was sure that it wasn't for the gag in the woman's mouth, she would have cursed the man out. Or bitten him. Actually, she probably would have done both. 

When the Joker pulled the bag off of the second person's head, two twin gasps escaped the two people who recognized the dazed-looking figure. Jason could tell on that alone who the mystery person was. "And this is our new guest! Why, with that hair and those eyes, he could be mistaken for one of ol' Brucie's brood, am I right? But, no such luck today, at least not as far as I know. Instead, he caught my eye for his odd reaction to my Toxin! A nice whiff, and none of the usual side effects! What a fun turn of events!" 

He grabbed the teen's face, turning him to face the camera. "He looks pretty out of it, doesn't he? Maybe we'll see just how out of it he really is later!" The clown cackled manically, his words causing even Harley to stare at the teen with a large amount of terrified worry. 

"Tick tock, Batsy! Wait too long, and our guests might get bored!" With another maniacal laugh, the screen cut to black, slowly fading in with a laughing cartoon Joker face, an hourglass trickling quickly below it. 

The three occupants of the apartment were settled in a horrified silence for a few minutes, the new turn of events setting in. 

Suddenly Damian lurched forwards out of his seat and towards the window with a murderous look on his face. Jason was quick to grab him, forcing him to a stop. "Hold it Demon brat! You can't just throw yourself head first into this. We need to find him first!" The teen growled at him, but stopped trying to pull himself from the man's grasp. 

"Talk fast Todd. I won't just sit here and wait while he's in danger." Damian snarled at him, jerking his arm from the man's grasp and backing away from the window. 

"Okay." Jason ran his hand through his hair, gathering his racing thoughts. "Alright," he turned, snatching up his laptop and setting it down on the coffee table. As soon as the screen was up, Damian was at his shoulder, glaring at the different programs that the man pulled up, as if to threaten them into working faster. "Fuck, the signal is messing up. I don't know if we can trace him like this."

It was then that Jazz, who had been scarily silent this entire time, spoke up. "Hand it here." She didn't wait for him to respond, pulling it in front of her before he could ask what she was planning. Damian rounded the couch to perch on the arm next to the woman. 

"My computer skills are a bit rusty, but it shouldn't be too different…" She muttered as she worked, a look of deep concentration overtaking her pretty face as she worked. After a few tense minutes, she broke the quiet that had fallen as she worked with a triumphant "Aha!" 

She slid the laptop back over to him, letting him see the blinking dot over a map of downtown Gotham, blinking right over the warehouse district. Damian jumped to his feet and began to search around his apartment, pulling out various weapons and pieces of his suit and tossing them over. It was obvious what he wanted. 

As he donned his outfit, he turned towards the redhead. "How did you find him so quickly?" He asked. 

She smirked, a tired and wry action that spoke of an interesting story. "My brother's friend taught me how to bypass some of the more annoying aspects that ectoplasm has on electronics. It's easier to look for a blank spot than to look over everything that you can see, after all."

He opened his mouth to ask more about it, but was cut short by an angry shove. "Move it!" Damian snapped, pushing him once more towards the window before hurrying over and pulling himself out onto the fire escape. 

Cursing, Jason hurried after him, turning around when he heard Jazz move to follow him. "Stay here." He told her.

Her expression shifted into one of exasperated anger. "I can-"

"I know you can take care of yourself." He cut her off. "But me and Robin have been doing this for a long time. We have a rhythm. I don't mean anything by this, but you'll just be in the way." When she still looked ready to argue, he sighed heavily. "Hey, look at me." Her teal eyes met his tainted blue. He tried to project sincerity into his expression. "I promise that we will get your brother back. We've fought this guy before, and we'll probably fight him a lot more. Your brother will be fine." 

She stood defiant for a few more seconds. Then, finally, she backed down. "Alright." She agreed. "But if there is so much as one scratch on him, I'll beat your ass so badly that death will look like a paradise." She threatened him. Her serious expression made even the pit retreated in fear. Yeah, he had no doubt that she would do that.

"You have my word." He promised. 

"Todd!" Damian yelled from the roof. With another weary sigh, he pulls himself through the window and onto the fire escape, hurrying after his brother as he takes off across the rooftops. 

Yeah, he definitely hadn't had enough sleep to deal with this. Was he gonna do it anyways? Yes. Yes he was. 'The things I do for this family.'

---

(I know there are probably some grammar/spelling mistakes, but it's okay because I tried my best!)

For the lovely person who made the prompt for this story, and all the amazing people who follow along!

@halfblackwolfdemon @manapeer @xxwintrynightzxx @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @blu-lilac @academicpurposes @secretdestinywerewolf @passivedecept @naluforever3 @postit-nope @spiteismymiddlename @2t-productions @plague-daisy @feet-achy @bubblecookies16 @thesapphiredragon13 @justwannabecat @magicalcollecter @adeniumdream @amuseofminds @lupagrim @readerkayden @dr-syko-pharm-4 @ladythugs @angelheartgamer @markthespot68 @kyrianclawraith @michikoy-yuki @servasvictoria02 @your-emo-nightmare @vala-dreams @scarlett-green-rose @t1dwarrior-of-earth @charlie-the-frogie @akikoyuii @mysticalcomputerdetective @roseuniverse999 @im-totally-not-an-alien @thefearfullone @weird-droplet-309 @jaytriesstuff @raventao @jacquelynwinchester @dragongoblet @tlise21 @longlivethefallen @the-archer-goddess @temple-of-jalebi @adepresseddwightsblogofjunk @plainly-colorful @the-legalHe-shipper @49saltpeppershakers @igotafewbadideas @tumbling-darkling @sparklygardenbouquet @sarcastic-yami @blueneko9314 @starscreamlover @liedboutmurder @do3y @roze-realm @some-mildly-happy-human @yinari-uchiha @azuera @chaoticmistake @altairsarts @kawaiikenna @heartsong18 @thetoyboxs @tricksovertreats @mnemovoid @lim4b3ans @horribly-lost-and-gay @keimiwolf @dryeraseslime @joey394

#danny phantom #dc x dp #danny phantom x dc #batman x danny phantom #batman #dead serious #danny phantom x batfam #danny phantom x damian wayne #love potion #miscommunication #anger management #ao3 fic #Artificial Wingman #long post #Jason's pov

[nicejewishcharactershowdown]

Nice Jewish Character Showdown 2023 - Round Two Eliminations

Another round has passed, one I'd liken to a bloodbath, and we're down to 8 competitors in the race for the NJCS 2023 title. Before the quarterfinal votes go live, let's check in with those disqualified contestants and discuss what makes them such Nice Jewish Characters.

Match One Elimination: Cristina Yang, Grey's Anatomy Probably the most well-known Asian Jew in television, Cristina Yang is canonically Jewish, thanks to her step-father who raised her in it (her mother converted). Grey's has a weird relationship with Judaism, like a lot of medical dramas, but it definitely gets points for the rare and definitely appreciated look at how diverse the Jewish population is.

Match Two Elimination: Tevye, Fiddler on the Roof It's the quintessential Jewish musical, it's one of the main reasons we've seen a shtetl-core resurgence, it's Fiddler! It was definitely the match-up of the dads this time around, and as much as I love this man, his success rate in reference to loving and supporting his daughters is, well... not a perfect score. Thank you Sholem Aleichem for the original stories, thank you Chaim Topol for your iconic portrayal in the movie, alongside Zero Mostel, Leonard Nimoy (yes, Nimoy played Tevye for a bit!), Alfred Molina, Harvey Fierstein, Danny Burstein, and many, many more. Nothing truly hits like being a Jew in the diaspora and watching Fiddler. Still bummed I haven't had a chance to see Yiddler, the Yiddish remount. (Oh, and Fiddler tends to be free on Youtube, so if you haven't seen it before -- or want to revisit Anatevka, treat yourself!)

Match Three Elimination: Rebecca Bunch, Crazy Ex Girlfriend *hits top of a car* this baby can fit so many song titles from CEXG in it When looking for representation, it can often feel like no one else is singing your song. Sure, there are the characters whose Judaism is restricted to reminding you that we've suffered, or who become props for some Christmas Special. But then we get a gem in the rough, a girl in love, a Jewish American Princess who moves across the country to follow a former summer camp crush. Crazy Ex Girlfriend was a rarity, and the four season run blessed us with a lot of quality television, and something even rarer -- a multidimensional Jewish lead. If you haven't had a chance to meet Rebecca, the entire show is available to stream on Netflix. And yes, when I realized how much she was losing this round, this song was on loop in my brain. Apologies to Rachel Bloom and the rest of the CEXG team, I seriously thought you'd sweep this thing. What a twisted fate.

Match Four Elimination: Lily Moscovitz, The Princess Diaries Oh, Lily, I think the internet misunderstands you more often than not these days. But to ignore your Jewishness is an absolute faux pas, whether you're looking at the movies or the much more blatantly Jewish representation you get in the books. Seriously though, I can think of at least a handful of Jewish girls I grew up with who remind me of the headstrong public access host. Side note -- to all the girlies who grew up hating their curly hair because of the nightmare of a makeover Mia got, I'm right there with you, and we'll get through this together. Honestly, I think there's something to be said about Jew-coding's relationship with makeover scenes, but we don't have the time for that right now.

Match Five Elimination: Francine Frensky, Arthur I've mentioned before how I grew up on public access television, so is it any surprise when I say that Francine was (probably) the first time I saw myself on television? Even if it didn't come up a lot outside of holiday episodes (at least in the seasons that aired when I watched), Francine's Judaism felt recognizable. Plus, if you told her she was just token representation, she'd probably sock you in the face. Oh, and something I found while researching -- THE GOLEM IS A PLOT POINT IN A HALLOWEEN EPISODE?! Seriously, props to PBS.

Match Six Elimination: Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller's Day Off Finding good representation in any 80's movie is going to be an uphill battle, considering well. The 80's-ness of it all. So when looking for a good Jewish character, it's much easier to default back to the transitive property of Jewish media (art made by Jews being Jewish by way of their perspective being translated into the text). Since Matthew Broderick, Ferris himself, is Jewish, who's to say the most beloved delinquent of his era isn't too? Plus, he's a stock standard rebel against restrictive institutions. Listen, I have the original Footloose on my coded Jewish representation Letterboxd list, I have no room to judge. *Points to Ferris* That's a NJB right there.

Match Seven Elimination: Truman Burbank, The Truman Show Speaking of my coded Jewish representation Letterboxd list, this movie SCREAMS Judaism to me. Come on -- it's so critical of Christianity that it almost falls backwards into Judaism. Free will in spite of a higher power? Disagreeing with authority so much that you flee your home, your world, your reality? Helps that his hometown is so heavily designed after post-war 50's suburbia, which has its own relationship with being Jewish. So is Truman Jewish? I think he can be -- watch the movie and make the call for yourself. It's a classic for a reason, and I won't rob you of the experience.

Match Eight Elimination: Wall-E, Wall-E Wall-E, my robot blorbo, the most Guy of any Pixar protagonist -- what makes him Jewish? He loves Barbra Streisand, collects tcotchkes, and is relentlessly working to make the world better, even if he's the only one still doing it (tikkun olam has NEVER seen a cuter mascot).

#post round analysis #nice jewish character showdown round two #nice jewish character showdown 2023 #nice jewish character showdown

[tybaltsjuliet]

1, 3, 19

01. the character everyone gets wrong

sandy from grease and i will die on this hill. “oh, sandy changed herself for a man-” and danny was trying to change himself for a woman, but people only remember sandy doing it because of the leather pants!

what i think people tend to ignore, or miss, is that by the point of the “sandra dee” reprise, sandy is not happy. like, even if you are willing to accept that sandy *was* happy as the good girl, once - and i fully am willing to accept that; i do not think a fondness for cheerleading and pastels speaks to a void in her soul - by that time, she is not! and it is not just because of danny being kind of a dick to her. there’s a *reason* sandy’s change starts with a reprise of rizzo’s song that was mocking her, and it is because pretty much everyone, bar frenchy, is a dick to her. (i feel like this is a little less apparent in the movie, but in the original production, the t-birds are right there cackling along with rizzo during “look at me, i’m sandra dee,” and even patty simcox gets catty about sandy behind her back!)

so, by this point, sandy is alienated, and lonely, and an object of mockery, and she wants things to be *different*. here’s another point that got home better onstage than in the movie, in my opinion - because, originally, the “sandra dee” reprise comes RIGHT ON THE HEELS of “there are worse things i can do” - and rizzo sings that song, not alone after sandy walks off, but directly *to* sandy. just before the song, rizzo snaps at her, “now wait just a minute, miss goody-goody! who do you think you are? handing me all this sympathy trash! since you know all the answers, how come i didn’t see zuko here tonight?” and all this after sandy has done nothing but show riz a little kindness and sympathy over her situation, and try to remind her that she does not have to go through it alone.

being a good girl, a nice girl, has gotten sandy nothing and nowhere, with anyone, for the whole two hours’ traffic of our stage. who can really blame her for wanting to change?

now, obviously, this is all pretty watsonian, and sandy is one of those characters where there’s tons of great discussion to be had about the ways misogyny *does* influence the way her story is presented. but there are a lot of other interesting things to unpack in her, too, and it frustrates me that everyone just stops at the most obvious part.

03. screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

gods, just one?! mentally rifling through the disney princess takes alone has already exhausted me. that said, i might have to hand it to one of the particularly devoted ambassadors of this website’s jedi defense squad, who insisted that the jedi were A Beautiful Culture requiring no reform whatsoever, and A Wonderful Found Family to the children they brought up, and Committed No Mistakes.

like, come on, now. even if i leave all my personal religious baggage at the door, there are nine movies and a massive extended universe because THE JEDI FREQUENTLY COMMIT MISTAKES. anakin skywalker was not an inherently rancid nine-year-old; he was a case study among many on why the jedi needed fixing!

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

i’m kind of mad that i still like frozen as much as i do. it wounds my pride in otherwise being the haughty and pretentious flavor of disney adult.

i’m not mad that i am properly getting into ASOIAF, because i am loving these books. i *am* mad that the only reason i first put on my clown shoes and walked all the way to westeros in them is because rhys ifans hot. it’s almost as embarrassing as the number of times i’ve watched anonymous.

but the really embarrassing skeleton in my closet is that i have written more pages of HP drawerfic since i started listening to the shrieking shack podcast than i wrote any fic for it at the height of the fandom way back in ye olde FFN/livejournal days. and that’s terrible.

#;answer games.

[pantherlover]

An Artificial Night Re-Read: Part 1

Hello again! It took me a little longer to get started on this book, but I'm back to re-read An Artificial Night. I'm *very* excited for this book; this was the one that made me a ride-or-die reader of the series, so I'm interested in seeing what I can pick up from it now that we know about the series. Please feel free to discuss things with me! It makes everything much more fun.

Chapter One:

Is Dame Altair ever mentioned again? I don't think so.

This might be one of my favourite openings. Low stakes job! Danny's trying to get Toby to have a life! The Brown kids!

I feel like Danny's reaction to the Barghests being 'awww! This thing that kill people a dozen different ways is so cute!' and to adopt them all demonstrates the biggest reason why Toby and Danny are such good friends.

We get an April mention! It's nice to see her enjoying herself, even (especially?) if its' at Toby's expense.

'I don't know. How about you call that King of Cats guy I used to see you with?' How often did Tybalt follow her around, even when they 'hated' each other, that Danny knew him? I don't think they met each other in the first book, and they didn't see each other at all in the second.

Do we know what age fae children typically start going to mortal school? Toby mentions that the only Brown kid that's currently living on a mortal schedule is Cassandra. Karen's eleven, so she should have control over her magic by now, so it's not learning how to hold illusions that means that hey can go to school. Do they just go for high school? Or is it just the nobility that sends their kids for a few years of mortal school?

I *love* that the Brown kids call Toby Aunt Birdie. And the Brown kids love her soooooo muuuuuuch.

'If I'd been juggling that many kids, I would have demanded whiskey and duct tape instead of offering them things bound to make them even more hyperactive.' Says the woman who's house is going to be a second home for, like, half a dozen kids? And I'm pretty sure routinely hosts pizza nights? Although maybe she thinks it's different 'cause all of her kids are teenagers.

Here's a mention of how little Stacy's aging and how much all of the kids look like her.

Andy's cake sounds amazing; I want Kerry to make me a cake with sugar dinosaurs.

Chapter Two:

Poor Spike; the cats are always ganging up on him. You would think the fact that he has *thorns* would make him a little harder to bully, but smaller animals seem to have a knack for intimidating animals who should definitely be able to handle them.

Re-reading has definitely made me feel much worse for Rayseline and Connor. Rayseline's nature was literally fighting itself, and she wasn't getting anywhere near enough support for what she'd gone through. And it was very unfair to expect Connor to be able to 'fix' her when he barely had any support of his own. I don't know if they would've been capable of being friends if Rayseline hadn't been tearing herself apart, but I'm sad that they never had the chance to try.

May's here!!!! Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!

So here, May's says that the reason she's here is because Toby's going to die soon. In later books, Toby says that Fetches aren't *actually* portents of death, it's just that the people who'd create Fetches tend to be the type of people who have short lifespans (correlation does not equal causation). Wouldn't the Fetches themselves know that? Or does it normally work like that and it's just that Toby's an unusual case?

I am veeeeeeeeery curious about where Toby's met a Fetch before.

Has anyone ever written a fic of May trying things out and figuring out what she likes? I think that would be interesting to explore.

'Fragments of plate crunched underfoot, cutting my feet. I didn't care. It didn't matter. When you're waiting to die, you have bigger things to worry about than a little bit of blood.' I cannot believe I didn't pick up that Toby's pain tolerance/healing abilities were above average. Who just walks over *shattered plates* and is? Fine??

Chapter Three:

We're already getting into the quest and Toby a) hasn't slept enough and b) hasn't eaten enough. This isn't a great start for her this book.

Karen, Jessica, and Andrew were very lucky that Blind Michael didn't realize that they were Titania's children. It's interesting to think about how Titania would've reacted if she'd known who she was - I can't decide if she'd take it as an opportunity to get rid of them or be deeply insulted that a son of Maeve would Dare steal *her* children and just raze everything to the ground.

Spike reacting so strongly because he was created from a Blodynbryd is a neat detail I didn't pick up the first time.

Oh, poor Mitch. His kids keep getting sucked into things much bigger than them, and he can't do anything but watch.

That's it for now! As always, please come and discuss things with me!

#October Daye #An Artificial Night #Reread Project

[slowsweetlove]

From Variety.

‘The Bikeriders’ Vrooms Into the Awards Race With Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy Riding Shotgun

By Clayton Davis

Jeff Nichols brings pure Americana to the Telluride Film Festival with his luscious period drama “The Bikeriders,” which feels like the distant older cousin of “The Outsiders.” It stands as his single best directorial outing, and in tow are a trio of invigorating performances from Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, all putting their stamp on an awards season that will be undoubtedly competitive.

Based on the 1968 photo and interview book by Danny Lyon, “The Bikeriders” tells a fictional story inspired by a Midwestern motorcycle club, seen through its members’ lives over a decade.

Nichols, who writes and directs, has carved out a special lane of talented American filmmakers who are able to wrangle honest and moving performances from the likes of Michael Shannon (“Take Shelter”) and Matthew McConaughey (“Mud”). He does it once again with his actors including Butler, Hardy and Comer.

Butler shows he can do far more than just play Elvis Presley. Fresh off last year’s inaugural nom for “Elvis,” his role as Benny, much more internalized than you would expect, will offer another opportunity to invite him to the ceremony.

Hardy has been a dynamite actor with his fair share of critical darlings and blockbusters to his credit. As Johnny, the leader of the motorcycle gang, you see the British actor skirting the line between Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” and Robert DeNiro in “Goodfellas.” Hardy’s first and only nom was for best supporting actor for his villainous turn opposite Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Revenant” (2015). This could put him in contention of a second.

The past few years have shown an industry flirtation with a possible Comer Oscar nomination, following her surprise Emmy win for BBC’s “Killing Eve” in 2017. When Julie Huntsinger, executive director of Telluride spoke with Variety about the festival lineup, she said she didn’t recognize her. “I left the screening and went to IMDb on my phone because I wanted to know who this actress was, and I was shocked it was her.”

She was right. What a delight as she anchors the movie sporting a Midwestern accent and managing to steal focus in almost any scene she inhabits. Much of the discussion will surround where she decides to campaign, either in lead or supporting actress, which will also be the case for Butler and Hardy.

Like many movies with a sprawling cast, expect the film to be a candidate for the SAG Awards cast ensemble category. It features Nichols’ frequent collaborator Shannon, in addition to Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Wallace, Norman Reedus and Emory Cohen.

Though most of Nichols’ six films have garnered critical acclaim, only a single Oscar nom has come for any of his movies: best actress for “Loving” star Ruth Negga. Under the guidance of distributor 20th Century Studios, perhaps it can tack on more.

Artisan categories are beautiful to look at, featuring stunning cinematography by Adam Stone, and crisp editing by Julie Monroe.

Will it be able to ride into the Oscars? As the starting gun of Telluride, I would suggest so.

#the bikeriders #austin butler #jodie comer #tom hardy

[dp-marvel94]

Meta for Face to Face Chapter 54

First off, thank to anyone who read this chapter and this long post. This chapter was one of the most self indulgant things I have ever written. XD So many concert memories went into it. I'll talk about some of them below. There are also links to the songs "performed in the chapter" as well as some videos of each band performing live. As I told my sister after I wrote the scenes at the beginning when the trio met Josh and Travis, writing dialogue for the real people felt like playing with dolls, but in the worst, most embarrassing possible way. (Don't worry, I actually got permission from everyone featured, but more about that at the end). So I watched a lot of videos and tried my best to make everything accurate and use actual quotes when I could.

Chaotic Resemblance- Travis and the rest of the guys are from Oklahoma if that helps with imagining his accent. It's not particularly unique but when I was writing him this chapter and trying to remember how he speaks, that twang is what my brain kept remembering. Travis and all the guys are super nice, awesome to talk to. And on the short list of irl people who know about my fic writing.

Two songs are mentioned in the chapter. First- "Virtual Reality"

And Second- "Riot Anthem". Live video here. The band played this song the first time I saw them and I remember that set vividly for how much fun this song was. It definitely pushed me to run back to the merch table and buy a cd.

Relent- The first song mentioned is "Ghost," of the famed T shirt which I have Danny buy and which I bought irl. XD

"Heavy" - (Video of this song at Uprise 2022). The words I have Miggy say before the song are based on his commentary on the lyric book for their album. "Rape. Sexual Manipulation. Sex Trafficking. The devasting emotions that come with it. This song is my wife’s story, and I'm honored to tell it. She’s been through so much. She has come out victorious, and now her story will help millions, breaking the silence around topics not talked about enough." Admittedly, much heavier (no pun intended) than the blurb in the fic. But when applying the song to Danny and his story, I needed to make some changes.

I have Heavy be a emotionally significant song for Danny in this chapter. When I was thinking about his reaction to each band and songs I wanted to feature, I realized that it made sense for that song to be the token "song you cry to". It just made sense, having previously said that he listened to the album a bunch of times and having him list Heavy as a favorite, that that song would have had an emotional impact. I really wish I had thought to put that fact in the text before now so that little character moment doesn't feel like it come from nowhere. But what are you gonna do? 🤷‍♀️

(A bit of religious discussion below)

Also, I have Danny talk to the band a little bit about what the song meant to him, something I've done and seen done with many bands before. The band offers to pray with him and though that has never happened personally with me with Relent (of the 4 bands here, they are actually the one I have seen the fewest times and know the least), I have had other Christian musicianaries (musicians who view their touring and performing as a ministry) offer to pray with me and I have accepted that offer. Not including that moment would have been a disservice, considering how much I love all these groups and respect what they stand for. But I decided to cut away from the actual scene to give a sense of privacy. It felt right for something often so tender.

And the last song, played when Danny first spots Johnny- "Last Days"

GFM- Cries in GFM broken up. 😭 Seriously though, this band consisted of three sisters, who went they started we all teens. I realized after writing the chapter that for the time I am imaging for the story (just before they disbanded last year), calling the oldest two teens would be inaccurate; CJ and Maggie are both in their early twenties. But I decided to keep it since them all being teens would make the group cooler in the Phantom trio's eyes. And I should mention, they're not entirely out of the scene though; the basest and screamer, Maggie, still tours and makes music under her name, Magdalene Rose.

As for the songs featured- The one during sound check is "Give me a Sign"

S.M.I.L.E- (Live video) The song where Jack gets in the circle pit. XD Inspired by my dad getting in circle pit at metal shows. He's 53 now and broke his leg last year, messing up his knee pretty badly, so his moshing days are over. But as recently as Warped tour 2017, he was still doing it. I'm over here too clumsy and short to even think about it; just head banging is good enough for me, thanks. 🤣

And the last song- "I don't need your fantasy" A Sam Manson song if I've ever heard one. Also, this is the song with the famed cupcakes. (Sadly, I couldn't find a video of this on YouTube to demo 😥) I really wanted to write about the ridiculous fanatical joy that comes with having icing and cake thrown at you during a metal show. 🤣 Words can't really capture the experience but I tried.

The Protest- In the chapter, the trio meets Josh at the merch tables before the show. This is very reminiscent of when I met him actually. This was in 2016. My sister and I drove about 2 hrs for the show; they were playing with another band we knew of and we'd heard a few songs by The Protest on a local radio station. We arrived super early and went to the door of the tiny church they were playing in to beg to use the restroom before the doors opened. Josh came right up to us before we even got to the restroom. He introduced himself as Josh, asked our names, shook our hands, and said he was excited we were here tonight. And the whole time, I was thinking about needing to use toilet and didn't even realize who he was until the show started. XD The band was significantly less popular then but I know from going to a dozen plus shows since then, he (and the rest of the guys in the band) are like that with everyone. So I am being absolutly serious in the chapter; Josh Bramlett is one of the kindest, most genuine people I know.

The first song is "Paper Tiger." The sound goes out because of Shadow, during this song and the guitarist stales for time. His name is Adam, nickname Sarge, but I couldn't figure out how to put that in the text. The joke that he tells in the one his real life counterpart suggested when I asked him in March. I also based rest of the what he said during technical malfunctions (the joke about being voted out of the band) during their set when I saw them last October with Disciple.

The next song- "Welcome to the Freakshow" This is my favorite song of theirs to hear live. It's so much fun to head-bang/dance to! Also, Maddie films her son instead of the band, as my mom likes to do to me and my sister. 😝

This message in between the songs- This is word for word part of what Josh said during their set at Kingdom Come Festival 2022; I looked up the video (Message starts at 31:40) and recorded what he said word-for-word to be accurate to Josh and the guy's conviction and the heart behind what they do. It was really important to me that I was authentic there, since I love these guys and what they stand for so much.

And the last song- "Valor." When I was trying to pick which song to end on, I wanted a very specific feeling. I told my sister I was trying to describe that rare moment when you're singing your heart out and you met someone else's eyes and they're singing the same words with the same passion. There's a moment of connection and you know you both believe every single word. I asked what Protest song it should be and she said "Valor." So I went with it.

Guardians of the Children- From their website.

Guardians of the Children is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization comprised of motorcycle enthusiasts  that use motorcycles as tools to help children who have overcome child abuse, ages 0-17, become strong, confident, and courageous again. Once a  child has made an outcry of abuse and the criteria for our support is met, that child is “adopted” into our family as a Little Guardian. Members of G.O.C will escort the child to court, attend school and social events at the child’s request, provide protection and support, and sponsor “Little Guardian” private events, yearly. The goal of these events is to provide a safe space where the Little Guardians can have fun,socialize with others that have experienced similar trauma, and forget for a moment about the fear, doubt, and insecurity that was forced upon them at such a young age. Every child has all the  power and strength within themselves, just like a motorcycle on the  open road, and the biker behind it, we just encourage them to unleash it  as we fight their demons together.

A few years I went to a show they hosted at a local park, featuring GFM and Chaotic Resemblance, hence the similarities to the concert here.

Gotta Rock ‘em all Tour - This is the name of the tour The Protest hosted in March this year, thought the line up was different from the one imagined here (In real life, Behold the Beloved, Relentless Flood, and The Protest). I was lucky enough to see them on this tour. And got to tell the guys about this chapter. 😳😅😊 Honestly, it was one of the most embarrassing thing's I've ever done but in good conscious, I couldn't not say anything, especially since I have talked to Josh about my writing before.

(Religious discussion to follow)

Their song "Greater" had been really important for me, to remind me about why I do what I do. And at KCF last year, I talked with him about that song and our shared conviction for a little bit. From the song:

"I don't do it for the money Don't do it for the fame As long as someone listens, I don't care who knows my name I don't do it for the glory Don't do it for the game I do it all to make them see this is all for something greater than me"

My goal isn't to write for the comments, hits, or bookmarks. Not being well known in the fandom or well liked by people. I write for a greater purse. And this greater thing is Jesus Christ and his kingdom. I love Jesus for who He is and what He's done for me, in and through me (and that is a whole long, complex story there). But a small part: I fervently believe writing these stories is one of the reasons God put me here and gave me the interests I do (yes, including DP) and the talent in writing I have. From the messages I sent to The Protest and the other bands in this chapter, asking if they wanted to take a look at the chapter.

"I write this story for fun and post because I love the characters and the community of other people who do too. But I also see it as a mission field, as a way to write about God's love and grace and show it to people who otherwise wouldn't hear. This chapter is also a love letter to the Christian Rock community as a whole. I love you guys, your music, and the community a lot. The Protest, other bands, and fellow fans have had a huge impact on my life: encouraging me, inspiring me, reminding me of Jesus's love and strengthening my conviction to serve Him. The Protest inspires me to write, ministering in the way I know I've been called."

The point is: I put a lot of heart into this story and all my others. I pray that God will guide my words and be glorified in them. I pray that the people who need to read them will, and they will be encouraged, strengthened and inspired. And most importantly- that God will speak to them, not me. That they will, that you will, see just a hint of His love and grace in what I write and in how I interact with people in this community. I pray that lives will be changed, even in small ways. That seeds will be planted, even if I never see them grow.

I love all of you.

#Youtube #My fic #My Fic extras #Face to Face #My post #christianity #tw christianity #tw religious #religious

[georgiapeach30513]

Very controversial opinion because I know how some people feel about the Russo brothers:

Their films outside their big four marvel films : TWS, civil war, infinity war, and endgame - some are questionable. I watched cherry and I was like….are these even the same guys who did those other movies???

But. One thing I really believe, and you mentioned here before:

The Russo brothers can pull an amazing performance out of Chris E. He is their muse and they are his. it’s clear to ME that he is very probably their favorite. Even during TGM you could 1000% tell the Russos lived for Lloyd. They knew it was a six franchise so Lloyd was one and done but if they could they would have had Chris as six. And we know this.

They were able to pull something out of him rarely other directors besides bong joon ho, rian Johnson, and Danny Boyle were able to. I’m actually going to add David Yates to this because I’m still convinced Pete Brenner in PH was one of his most poignant performances of recent memory. He was underused but David got something out of him. I disagree with critics.

Anyways - back to Russos. They got Steve and Lloyd out of him. I know people poo poo the action comic book stuff because it’s not awards worthy or Martin Scorsese and Leo but seriously?

Are yall CE fans or Leo fans?

I really think people ought to start looking at the actor they Stan/fan and stop wanting to put him in a book with another actor.

Nobody knows if and or what he will do next. But I do think it’s a good sign that the Russos were able to repeatedly direct Chris into a version of himself that’s not only memorable, but iconic.

That’s why I’m totally ok if for some reason in the future, he does end up working with the Russos again.

Super super bold statement: you can call me delusional all you want but if there were a pair of directors that could actually pull an Oscar worthy performance out of CE, it would be Joe and Anthony Russo. I’m serious.

TBC, Im not saying the Russos are ever going to make any awards worthy content nor that they’ll work with Chris again or that Chris wants to do that or anything. I’m just saying, their connection is unique and mutually beneficial/special.

We do not know if Chris’ dinner with the Russos will result in a project. We don’t know what was discussed, or why they met. They are friends. But let’s assume it was work related. The next project they’re casting for isn’t even action. Let’s not forget the work the Russos did on Community. They can do some great work. I just feel in recent years they became all flash and no substance. So that Amazon project isn’t pure action. it is about cryptocurrency.

I was talking to someone this morning on discord about the whole damn comparison thing, it’s tired and old. Sebastian and Chris get compared all the time because Steve and Bucky. Sebastian clearly wants to be a critical darling. He takes risks and makes award baiting movies. That is what HE wants with HIS career. Chris wants to make more popcorn flicks. Do not come at me. There is nothing wrong with that. It is HIS career, and that is what HE wants. It’s like comparing Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise. Does Tom still have a great career? Does he make popcorn flicks? Has he pretty much stuck to popcorn flicks with some random critically praised movies? Yes. Now look at Brad’s career, early on Brad was making award baiting movies. Legends of the Fall, Seven Years In Tibet, A River Runs Through it. And he has continued to do that. But does that make either actor better or worse than the other? No, it doesn’t. Do they still have careers to this day? Yes, they do. So can we squash comparing actors to actors? Instead compare Chris work to his other work?

I get a bit annoyed that Chris continues to work with the same people all the time, but doesn’t Leo work with Scorsese all the time? I just hope whatever his next project is something he is passionate about. I hope he enjoys the time he has on set, and the people he’s working with. And I’ve got my fingers crossed for something, and I hope that the rumbles and mumbling as I’m hearing about February are true. So let’s see.

[denimbex1986]

'The act of writing is intrinsically solitary. But for Max Porter getting it down on the page is only the first step. The acclaimed English author loves to play around with his work, bringing it to life in many formats, and the more people joining him in his creative sandbox, the better.

Porter will give a multi-disciplinary and improvised performance of his most recent novel Shy at the Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival in Cork next month. It is a perfect fit for Porter in more ways than one. Like his work, the festival — curated by Mary Hickson, actor Cillian Murphy, writer Enda Walsh and Aaron and Bruce Dessner of The National — defies expected boundaries and nothing is off the table when it comes to collaborative experimentation.

“Collaboration is the raison d'etre for me,” says Porter. “Trust is the whole thing, so if Mary says ‘this is a good person, do you want to work with them' I say ‘yeah, because it’s you’. I adore working with her — ‘anything for Mary Hickson’ is my motto. Also my work only comes alive when I put it up against music, try it in a different space or read it to an audience, so it is the dream festival for me, it’s everything I want an arts festival to be, actually.”

Porter previously worked as a bookseller and later in publishing before making his own mark on the literary scene with his sensational debut novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers, a whirling blend of prose and poetry about a grieving widower and his two sons who are comforted, tormented and protected by a crow. Shy, his fourth and most recent novel, is a virtuoso portrayal of one night in the life of a troubled teenage boy. He says that expanding Shy’s universe through improvised performance is a continuing revelation for him.

“It’s a little bit scary sometimes but then that’s also when it’s most exciting. I want the books to be unfinished until they meet the reader anyway. So what you've got is an incredible opportunity for 200 people to meet it and make it their own — it’s their unhappy teenage relative, troubled son, or their grief. I want to make something in the room that is completely unique to those people in that space. And I absolutely love that. It feels like a corrective to all the things that scare me about my job.”

Porter, who lives in Bath with his wife and three sons, is no stranger to Cork, his most recent visit being in April, when he performed at an event in the Glucksman Gallery with musician Elaine Howley and writer Danny Denton.

“It was brilliant, I loved that. I’m very fond of Cork and I’m pleased to be coming back so soon. I did the West Cork Literary Festival one year as well which was incredible, I had one of the nicest swims of my life. I went walking around the bay there and found a nice little spot to swim in the morning. Swimming and reading are the two best things a human can do really.”

The author also loves Irish audiences, who he says embrace the fluidity of his performances.

“They don’t flinch. I don't know what I must have done in a past life to have earned it. I have always felt that my work is welcome. Maybe it's because there’s a sort of unEnglishness about the way I work. But also your culture industry is just so positive — unusual collaborations across different forms get a yes, whereas in the UK, they often get an ‘ah, sorry things are a bit tight or audiences won’t like that’.”

One of the most fruitful creative partnerships of Porter’s career has been with Cillian Murphy. Their friendship blossomed when the actor starred in the stage show of Grief is the Thing with Feathers (adapted by Enda Walsh). Porter and Murphy then collaborated on a short film, All of This Unreal Time, directed by Aoife McArdle, which will get its Irish premiere at Sounds from a Safe Harbour.

“That was a beautiful thing, actually, because that was written for Cillian as a gift for him to think about and read, and then he turned it into a more personal thing in the workshopping of it, and then in the film, it became more about Aoife McArdle’s thoughts. And that’s what I love, that my text isn’t owned by me, it goes off to be changed by them. It is exciting to show it in Ireland.”

Porter says Murphy, currently wowing the world with his performance in Oppenheimer, has been a big influence on him personally and professionally.

“Working with Cillian is an absolute joy always. He’s a master of his art and has been a real influence on me and the way I think about language and performance. We have great irons in the fire. It is just beautiful to have a good creative friendship like that. And obviously he has gone off and conquered the world.”

Murphy’s performance in Oppenheimer is ‘astonishing’, says Porter, adding: “It is mad… a biopic of a nuclear scientist doesn’t scream box office. It is incredible to see my 13-year-old son discussing it with all his mates on Snapchat.”

The struggle of what it is to be human and the loss that underpins our existence is never far from the surface in Porter’s work. Grief is something we all experience at some point, he says.

“We are all experiencing it at some point — the lady in front of you in the queue at the checkout, the guy you just tutted at because he couldn’t get his bus pass working. And if we all lived in a world where we based our behaviour slightly more on that truth, wouldn’t that be an incredible thing?”

Art and the sharing of it helps us reckon with loss while finding joy, something that those behind Sounds from a Safe Harbour are also tuned into.

“We’re all coming together, we’re using art, music, language, dance, even smell — all to come to terms with stuff that happened last year or 20 years ago. Because it’s a shared thing. And I love how close to the surface that is — maybe it’s Mary's genius, maybe it's the nature of the festival, or the place. I don't know. But I run to it, I absolutely run to it. Because it creates extraordinary joy as well as deep gratitude and all the good things that we should be. It’s literally like hydration. And I need it.”'

#Max Porter #Grief is the Thing with Feathers #Cillian Murphy #Oppenheimer #Sounds from a Safe Harbour #Cork #Enda Walsh #Shy #All of This Unreal Time #Aoife McArdle

[violetren]

Aether Chapter 27

This is the official start of my "Give Chance Rights, and also all their stuff back!" 2k23 campaign.

Of fucking course the government would lock away all their assets under the context of "we don't know if they count as a person" but that doesn't mean I'm not furious about it.

I am curious if Focus made the holo projector based on old knowledge, or if she just had one lying around as a remnant of her world/her travels.

Emilia might give her wife shit but she broke the mood perfectly after the "time at a different scale leaves us impossibly lonely" convo. It's nice for Maggie and Chance that they have each other to discuss that feeling with even if its not exactly a one to one comparison, they are the closest each other has got.

Also another instance of Varsha being a sweetheart.

Eurion is a total softie when she wants to be huh? Ordering ahead for Varsha and Maggie because she knows Varsha's metabolism, and because Maggie has been working hard and jumping on board with Jia Li's suggestion of teaching some special dragon meditation techniques the second the topic came up.

If Maggie and Varsha ever do dip a toe into polyamory they'd be far better off with Eurion than Sierra. And Eurion has been through a lot surrounded by all these hot unavailable lesbians, she deserves a little extra love.

I am ecstatic that Chance has jumped aboard Focus's peanut butter obsession train.

Oh that's what Bitch Boy Ragusa needs. Ties to a shady international cabal of criminals. He wasn't annoying enough already. Follow up book where Danny and Ayanda kick his ass into obscurity when? (mostly joking)

Also I fucking called the Unitarium funding Garrett theory! Nomi will be PISSED.

"How the fuck do you miss a whole ass fucking moon?" made me laugh because I can imagine the distress threaded into the annoyance at the levels of incompetency being shown.

I can't believe we got Chance, Stupidhead and Maggie in a room together and we didn't even get to see Chance snark at Stupidhead for how she's been treating Maggie the past couple of days because plot was happening.

Don't get me wrong, it's good plot. It's a fantastically comic-booky superhero plot and exactly the kind of story I expect and want to be happening as a vehicle to carry my messy lesbian romances. I just really want to see Sierra go from grumpy to speechless to defensively furious while Maggie puts her face in her hands and internally debates just teleporting to the other side of the planet instead of peace keeping, after Chance calls her Stupidhead to her face.

Using Emilia's origin story to explain what the potential threat was in a way that makes it clear and yet limits what we know another characters limited knowledge and perspective was a very cool way of going about this section. It expands on what we know of Airheart, it gives us an idea of the potential threat levels, and it just helps unfold more world building all in one go. Just a very clever use available writing resources, I like it.

I was so ready to just start laughing at the idea of later down the line Maggie purposefully trying to arrive to brunch after all the dragons so she doesn't accidentally get thrown into the aether when the assorted dragons roar their way in, and circumstances just never quite letting it work out. Just every other brunch Maggie's got some french toast, or a mimosa half way to her mouth and "Roar"*pop*"dammit"

But then she had some kind of revelation and now I have to balance the fact that I need to be up early to run the shop with my desire to read the next chapter rn immediately.

#chirping wren #aether #maggie bennett #chance woodward #emilia rose #hua jia li #varsha patel #eurion #sierra gomez #lesbian fiction #super hero fiction #sapphic fiction #lgbt fiction #sci fi #queer fiction #rights for chance 2k23

[anotheruserwithnoname]

I saw someone on Twitter say that Jenna Coleman was playing Clara as deliberately unlikable, the person was praising her for it but I don’t think Jenna Coleman did. Clara has many of the same flaws 12 has but I don’t think either one is unlikable just very flawed people who needs to communicate their feelings better. Sort of similar to how I kind of disagree that 12 and Clara were a toxic relationship. Yes they had flaws but had things gone differently I am sure they could have stayed together

I have heard this before. It's basically some people's way around saying "love the actress, hate the character." Clara was likeable from the start, but because she wasn't Amy, and because she was more deeply involved with the Doctor's history (appropriate for the "Golden Companion" who represented all who came before her over 50 years) some folks didn't take to her as quickly.

The question as to "toxic" is one that was discussed a lot. It was certainly toxic from a "cosmic" perspective, as Missy, Ashildr and the Doctor himself recognized how the longer they were together the more they pushed each other, culminating in Clara's death triggering Time Lord Victorious which, in theory, could have resulted in the universe ending in a paradox; contrast with Dark Water in which Clara nearly becomes a human version of Time Lord Victorious until she's talked down by the Doctor. But by the time Hell Bent happened, they'd been together a lot longer (maybe on the order of years, we don't know how long they were together between Last Christmas and Series 9), Danny had given Clara permission to move on (something I think the Doctor witnessed), and their feelings continued to deepen (Exhibit A on that being the loving looks Twelve began giving her in S9 that most certainly weren't on display in S8).

I wrote a post about this before, but one of the big takeaways from Hell Bent (and the Whouffaldi era in general) is that it is downright dangerous for the Doctor to fall in love with somebody. We saw with Rose, River (at least as retconned by THORS) and Clara that the Doctor is willing to go to extreme lengths at times to save someone he loves. And once more for the "But what about..." crowd: the Doctor wasn't in love with Adric and hadn't experienced thousands of years of loss, time war and other unpleasantness when Adric did and the Doctor was still very much "by the book" about such things. The Fifth Doctor couldn't "Time Lord Victorious" if he tried, in my opinion. So when Tegan demanded Five save Adric in much the same way Clara demanded Twelve undo Danny's death, Five did not agree because he had far less experience - though as the Earthshock storyline linked Adric's death to the evolution of life on Earth (specifically the extinction of the dinosaurs), I doubt he could have done anything even if he wanted to as that was a pretty major fixed point in time.

The big irony is that with Clara becoming functionally immortal (and likely Jack Harkness-level indestructible) she could have stayed with the Doctor for a much longer time than she did. But some day she'd still have to return to the Raven and I can't see the Doctor allowing that, so we'd be back to Hell Bent.

#whouffaldi #whouffaldi meta #clara oswald #asks answered #jenna coleman #hell bent

[coll2mitts]

#15 A Star is Born (1954)

When life unfortunately imitates art.

A Star is Born is a tale of addiction and fame that has four film adaptations that have nothing to do with the fact it's clear Oscar bait (although Judy did famously lose this one to Grace Kelly).  Did you guys know the entertainment industry changes and exploits people?  I surely didn't realize this until now, and that's why the academy has consistently rewarded movies that talk about how weird Hollywood is.  Y'know.  Cause there's so few of them.

I'm being glib, as this movie is probably one of the more sympathetic views of the big studio system, for all its flaws.  It focuses on Esther Blodgett, a singer in a touring band, and how her encounter and subsequent relationship with big-star actor Norman Maine changed her career, and thus her life.  This film is 3 hours long (it used to be both shorter and longer, for reasons explained later), and it *feels* that long.  For every moment of levity there are 30 minutes of pain, and while this feels tedious sometimes, it does a great job of illustrating the highs and lows of caring for someone struggling with addiction.  They burn so brightly in those small moments when everything is spectacular that it's almost worth slogging through the periods of grim instability that does nothing but foreshadow a bleak future.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story I will give a rundown below.  If you're curious how this 1954 version differs from the other three films, Be Kind Rewind has an excellent video that you should watch after reading this.  Seriously though, check out her channel, it's incredibly informative.

Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) and the Glenn Williams Orchestra, lead by her buddy Danny McGuire (the adorable Tommy Noonan, who will forever be Gus in my eyes) have booked a gig during a benefit concert.  Norman Maine, a famous Hollywood actor, is supposed to perform as well, but he shows up drunk as a skunk and is having much more fun harassing the cast and crew than he is preparing to go on stage.  While his PR agent Matt Libby has correctly identified Norman is in no position to be in front of people, he tries to distract him by sending him to the dressing rooms to be interviewed.  This works for about 5 minutes until he hulks out and joins Esther and the gang on stage just for funsies.

In the sprit of 'fuck it, we'll do it live', Esther succeeds in getting Norman involved with the act as comedic relief, he gets the positive attention he craves from the audience, and everyone laughs like this isn't a big disaster played out in public.

Norman tries to thank Esther for saving him from looking even more like an ass by trying to get her to go to a second location with him.  Even though Esther finds this strangely sweet, Danny wisely helps her escape to their next gig and Libby takes Norman home to sleep it off.  That would be the end of it if Norman didn't arise from the grave like a vampire at 2:30am to hunt down Esther like she's his prey.  He finds her at a club on Sunset where her and her friends are rehearsing, and oh my god, it's so glorious.

I love Judy's voice; I get goosebumps every time I hear her.  She's such a powerhouse.

Also, FUN FACT: The composer of this song, Harold Arlen, scored Gay Purr-ee, so if you also think "The Man That Got Away" bares a striking resemblance to "Paris is a Lonely Town", there's a legitimate reason for that.

A now-sober Norman bombards Esther with metaphors about her excellence and gradually isolates her from the group by physically dragging her around.  Danny tries to separate them, but Esther leaves with Norman all the same to go back to her place and discuss her career goals.  When she reveals she wants to get a #1 record on Hit Parade, Norman retorts that Esther's dream is not big enough and she's wasting her time paling around with undignified gig musicians.  Esther is only slightly insulted by Norman's blatant disregard of the work she's already put in to get where she is, but buys into his promise to snag her a screen test.  Esther then breaks Danny's heart by quitting the band and asking them to move on to San Francisco without her.  Danny tries to change her mind by suggesting she might not want to trust a flake (no matter how charming he is), but Esther believes Norman sees potential in her nobody else has, igniting her desire to aim higher.

Of course Norman gets loaded after leaving Esther's house and his late night call to the head of the studio, Oliver Niles, is completely blown off as Norman trying to impress some broad he likes.  Instead, the studio ships Norman out to work on his next picture, completely abandoning Esther for 5-6 weeks.  Esther, never hearing back from Norman, moves into a cheaper place and gets a job as a roller skating waitress in an attempt to make ends meet while she attends auditions.  She manages to book a VO gig singing in a shampoo commercial, which helps Norman locate her upon his return because he recognizes her distinct voice on the television.  After tracking Esther down at the boarding house she's slumming in, Norman finally follows through with his promise and lands her a screen test.

This montage of Esther and Norman separating and reuniting is particularly bizarre as it is presented as pages in Esther's scrapbook - still sepia-tinted images with the character's dialogue dubbed over it.  It didn't feel intentional, as some of the scenes are live action, like a car or a bus pulling away from a building, or a shot of a woman's hand dipping into shampoo.  I initially assumed this artistic decision was to cut down the film's length, but the dialogue was still there, so it wasn't succeeding if that were the goal.  I later discovered the version of the film I was watching was the "restored" director's version, as the original wide-release had 30 minutes removed by order of the studio in an effort to cut down its considerable runtime.  Unfortunately, when Ron Haver, the film curator at the L.A. County Museum of Art, attempted to find the lost footage for the film's 1983 re-release, he discovered these scenes were truly lost to time (literally, as they could not find the original film reels).  Their "remedy" included displaying production stills with VO from the audio tapes they were able to locate.  Honestly, I think all of this particular section could have stayed on the cutting room floor, as it's a 30-minute detour that ends with Norman getting Esther the screen test, anyway.  I'm assuming these scenes were included as a way to show Norman struggling to help Esther despite his alcoholism, and Esther's new commitment to become famous.  We get those impressions through their initial interactions, so this not-so-little side-quest truly feels redundant. Later lost scenes, however, such as (spoiler alert) Norman's marriage proposal to Vicki, are pretty baffling omissions. I don't think the cuts robbed Judy of her Oscar win like Lorna Luft does, but it does fuck up the movie's continuity.

Upon Esther's first visit to the studio, the makeup department completely change her look after going into great detail about her flaws.  Norman hates the outcome and redoes her makeup to restore Esther's natural beauty.  Although Esther is nervous, she nails the audition and starts to book small parts, like those that require putting on a full face of makeup only to wave out the window of a train.  They even yell at her when they see her face, which is as blatant of a metaphor for being a woman in showbusiness if I ever saw one.  After the studio changes Esther's name to Vicki Lester, Norman convinces Oliver to cast Vicki as the lead in a new picture after their previous one bailed.  Upon release, the film becomes a wild success, and Vicki Lester's star quickly rises.

Y'know, I really want to take a tally of the percentage of the musicals on this list that feature their white stars in blackface or parody other racial stereotypes, cause it's more than I thought it would be.  Judy's daughter Lorna has mentioned Judy's foray into impersonating other races was "of its time", but I'm finding it incredibly exhausting and lazy that blackface is consistently used as shorthand for being poor or othered.

While the first half of this movie isn't necessarily incredibly upbeat, the rest of it goes downhill from here.  While Norman's newly released movie is getting terrible reviews, everyone is now obsessed with Vicki.  Feeling as though he's done what he could to introduce Esther to the world, Norman tries to leave her, citing he's an too-old disaster that will only drag her down.  Esther responds to this by confessing her love to him, and instead of Norman bailing, they quickly get engaged in the creepiest eavesdropping-est way on the back of the promise that Norman will quit drinking.

The pair first run to the head of the studio because apparently they need his permission to move forward with this doomed marriage.  Oliver gives his approval hoping that Vicki will be the positive influence that helps Norman stay on the straight and narrow. While Libby feels as if they're setting a trap for Vicki, he agrees to spin the story for the positive in order to give Norman some much needed good press.  Of course they exhaust any temporary good-will Libby was extending to them when the embarrassingly-named Mr. Earnest Sydney Gubbins and Esther Blodgett elope to a tiny courthouse to get married in secret.  When they reach their roadside motel honeymoon destination, Vicki hears her new song "It's a New World" on the radio as it reaches #1 on Hit Parade, implying that all of Esther's dreams have now come true.

They start their new life by purchasing an expensive house on a ocean-side cliff, only for Oliver to break the news to Norman that the studio has decided to let him go because of his inconsistent behavior.  Libby publicly plays it off like Norman is pursuing other opportunities, while in reality he's relegated to a house husband, making sandwiches, taking messages, and pensively putting golf balls.  While Norman seems generally supportive of Vicki's budding career, a delivery man calls him Mr. Lester and the bruise to Norman's ego sends him into a bender.  This starts to jeopardize Vicki's career when Norman decides to crash her Oscar acceptance speech by stumbling on stage and publicly declaring he needs a job. 

3 months later, Norman is in rehab and Vicki is on set filming her latest movie.  When Oliver comes to check on her, Vicki breaks down to one of the few people that understand her predicament, as she's both frustrated and scared by Norman's behavior.

Judy serves a heartbreaking performance during this monologue, with many speculating that this particular story hit too close to home.  Judy's life somewhat mimicked Norman's, as she was fired from MGM because of her inconsistent behavior as a result of her own addictions.  She was forced into the entertainment industry before she turned 3 years old, and even as a child was given amphetamines to keep her working and skinny. As she got older those habits became harder to break, especially when barbiturates were added to the mix to help her sleep. Most of her life had been spent earning money to provide for her parents, and then her own family, without the ability to choose if she could keep her pregnancies, or take time off after she was allowed to have Liza, in order to keep the checks rolling in for the studio. After years of constantly working with the help of prescription drugs, Judy struggled with mental health issues that the studio went through great lengths to hide, and the press was ecstatic to exploit.

Judy's husband at this time, Sid Luft, produced A Star is Born in order to cast Judy in this role and make the movie a musical.  Filming was difficult, but both Judy and James gave outstanding performances, as you feel the love between them while the heartbreak of addiction takes a toll on their marriage. Judy and Sid's relationship similarly didn't work out, as Sid confessed it was too difficult being with her.  Judy hated him toward the end of her life as custody battles kept her from her children. If you've listened to any interview with Judy or her kids, she was incredibly loving and supportive of them, valuing her family over everything else. She ended her life completely disillusioned with the same industry that lifted her up, because they were even more gleeful in knocking her down by depriving her of her own voice.

Judy is mostly remembered as a young girl belting out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", or bounding around with Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire in romantic comedies, but this movie (specifically this scene) shows how underrated as a dramatic actress she was. The end scene of this movie between Esther and Danny legitimately scared the director, as Judy had never screamed on camera before. During Judy's eulogy, James Mason said "she could wring tears out of hearts of rock," and he's not wrong.

Upon Norman's release, he runs into Libby, who lashes out at him in frustration, leading to a physical altercation that Norman follows up with another bender.  After several days of no-contact, Oscar and Esther find him in jail on a drunk and disorderly charge after he crashes his car, and Esther begs the judge to let him come home with her so she can take care of him.  She puts Norman to bed and confides in Oliver she's quitting the business to take care of her husband and give his sobriety a fighting chance.  She has forced herself to believe that love will now be enough, and that Norman can be fixed if she can devote her time to him.  When Oliver protests because Norman's career is through, Esther reiterates she wouldn't have her career without Norman's connections and encouragement.  Unfortunately Norman overhears this conversation from the other room, and takes it upon himself to release Esther from the burden of being his wife by wading into the ocean and drowning.

As much as Esther wants to process her grief in her own time, her good friend Danny pushes her to rejoin the land of the living by attending the same benefit concert she performed at a year ago when she met Norman.  Norman was incredibly proud of the fact he discovered Vicki, and Danny posits he would be disappointed if she threw it all away because of him.  Vicki decides to show up at the shrine, and when she takes the stage to introduce herself as Mrs. Norman Maine, the crowd goes wild.  While they were dismissive of Norman and his disease while he was alive, they revere him and support Vicki after his death.

This is not a movie I would revisit often, as it emotionally takes a toll, but this is an absolute must-watch. Judy's performance proves why she's considered a legend - she's funny, flirty, hopeful, frustrated, heartbroken, and devastated, and all-the-while her voice is a goddamn masterpiece. James Mason similarly does a splendid job at portraying a charismatic and caring, but flawed and proud protagonist. I'm fairly uninterested in seeing the other versions, as I could easily be happy with this being the definitive telling of this story. Judy is absolutely everything, I don't know why anybody else would even try competing with her performance.

Thanks for reading!  If you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider helping me fund this project by donating to my ko-fi :)

#unwarranted opinion #100 best musical movies of all time rotten tomatoes

[theold-ultraviolence]

bestie,

sorry for disappearing, again! I might have been ignoring my duties for this entire time, comprehended being active here. I also honestly didn't have much to say and I am always worried of being annoyed!

first of all: I don't know why but I wanted to say that I low key think that aemond might wear 'hero' by Burberry as a more everyday fragrance (like he has his own for special occasions) and this isn't just because I utterly enjoy it and it has a subtle tone.

(me now smelling the male perfumes to find aemond's own? more unhingedly likely than you might think).

secondly: oh gods, that whole ask about religious guilt in aemond. as a fellow person who feels it, my own take is that it'd impact - even more in canon - his own view on sexual life. like he has already had a whole traumatizing experience, but also imagine being taught to perceive the act as somehow just reproductive per se. like he can see that his parents don't have any desire and aegon's own appetites are just disgusting to him. I don't know... I just think that he'd struggle with intimacy and with truly feeling like he even deserves pleasure (and not only in a strictly sexual setting).

finally: oh gods THE THOUGHT OF HIM BEING WITH YOU ON DAILY TASKS... I... alright, again: I hate clingy couples, but also as your average anxious girlie, to have him by my side, I'd be... blushing and twirling my hair. also this bestie - even more as a museum curator - would be always busy so when you get some time together. he is attached to your own ass and not in an oppressive way, he is just there if you need him.

need somebody to hold your purse while you tie your shoes? he is there.

need to tell the waiter that they got your order wrong and you can't have it because you have a food allergy? he is already calling the waiter over and assuring you that you told him (is this very specific and self-indulgent? yeah).

need a kiss of encouragement and some reassuring about your body while shopping? he is your man.

ok, feeling fuzzy inside and I think that you look very Victorian De Angelis-coded with your new look by the way! I am also low key thinking of getting curtain bangs, as well, when I go back to dying them (time to go back to being a full on ginger) but I shall hear what the hairdresser says as the time I asked he warded me off as my bangs were too short, ugh. we shall see. but you are definitely rocking them!

have a lovely day!

-🌗

HELLO BESTIE! omg don't apologize, please! I totally understand. But rest assured you're never annoying, and I'm always super happy to receive messages from you!

BEFORE I FORGET, I've been listening to Manuel Agnelli and I LOVE HIM! I still have to go through the rest of your recs (listening to new music is such a slow process for me). But I really loved his music! He kinda gave me some Danny Elfman in his Big Mess album vibes so that was an instant love for me.

Now onto Aemond, aaaaah I haven't gotten a chance to smell 'Hero' but I just know it must be amazing simply because Adam Driver did the campaign lmao!! But re: religious guilt. OH FOR SURE. Obviously, we all love to write him as a sex god in fanfic but taking his circumstance into consideration, he really hasn't got any healthy examples of sexuality around him. If anything, if he wanted to seek out some answers for himself in books and such, I imagine he'd feel guilty for even being interested in it. I remember being super young when I first started thinking about sex and being curious about porn and always felt like, watched. I seriously felt like all my ancestors were suddenly watching over me in shame LMAO, which was so awkward! and something very difficult to shake off. So it's exactly what I think must be going through Aemond's mind in that scenario.

And on lighter subjects...ahhhh yes yes yes!!! telling the waiter of your allergies and him assuring you when going shopping aaaaaaaaaaah my heart! for sure, we discussed clingy couples before but I think this is totally different! this is, wanting to be with the person, not feeling like you NEED to be with them. That thought about him waiting for you while you do your errands is totally based on me going to get a haircut and imagining Aemond waiting for me in the salon, in his own little corner with a book, and being all happy and hyping me up after seeing the new 'do aljflksjglkjg. Self-indulgence to the max honestly. But I need me a freak like that. The whole domestic of it all? I'm WEAK.

And on that note, AHHHH thank you so much!!! that is exactly what I was hoping to go for so I'm over the moon with your compliment! ngl I'm still getting used to the bangs because I haven't had them since I was a kid lmao! but the change was such a mood lifter and I'd definitely encourage you if you're also hoping to go for a change in hairstyle! Thank you sooo, so much!! <33333333

Hope you have a lovely start to your week, my dear! x

#🌗

[threewaysdivided]

As someone who just recently rewatched some of young justice through clips on YouTube for nostalgia, perused a little around the tags and found the absolute goldmine of writing analysis in your blog I just wanted to say thank you! Your knowledge and your care for these characters really shines through and reflect some truths that I feel are more appropriate than ever: no one individual should be pedestaled for the success of a narrative, especially when he seems to misunderstand his own themes. It's very refreshing to see criticism so pointed and razor sharp, especially for a series I wish was better than it is. Your essays certainly gave me a lot to think about in my own writing!

Thank you! 💜 That’s really lovely of you to say.

It always makes me happy when someone stops by to tell me that they enjoyed/ got something out of my analytical posts.  Part of why I write things like the YJ Narrative Breakdown Essays is to get the thoughts out of my head, but a lot of it is that I want to share them with other fans who might feel similarly and want to talk. (I’m especially proud of the YJ: Invasion Case Study - it doesn’t get a lot of love because it’s so long but I’m super happy with how it came out as a capstone to the set.)  It’s really gratifying to hear that someone found them useful or that it helped articulate a feeling they were having or gave them some new concept/ framework to use when thinking about other stories.

If you want more Young Justice stuff, I’ve done some Season 1 metas on The Light, A Different Take on Martian Racism and Dick and Wally’s Friendship.  I also made a short list of other stories that I think capture similar vibes to Season 1 in aspects of their theming/ genre/ character-writing/ structure/ tone etc. which might help any lingering cravings.

I also have a general writing tag if you’re looking for writing discussions, as well as this resource primer for analytical readings.

pssst!  If you want to see me try to put some of these ideas into practice, I’m also writing a fic.  It’s a YJ crossover (canon-divergent post S1) and Arc II which started this year at Chapter 18 is intended to emulate some of the things I really liked about S1, including an overarching mystery and missions.

When it comes to pedestalling individuals, I completely agree.  I think Auteur Theory and Great Man Theory are mostly fallacious - not only in art but in general.  A lot of successes are collaborative (“self-made entrepreneurs” who were actually financially supported by family or succeeded through connections etc.) and, while the lone-visionary idea makes for a simple and compelling story,it can also cause IRL problems in how it disproportionately elevates certain voices, devalues less visible work and creates unrealistic expectations.  It’s good to have a healthy scepticism about those narratives, especially when they centre on people who already had privilege greasing their wheels.

I also think we often underestimate just how many people are involved in commercial art production.  Even Books (one of the closest mediums to sole-creator) often involve input from editors and possibly a publication house - as well as potential ghost-writers, co-writers etc.  Television teams can have dozens of staff across multiple production areas, and for big-budget films and AAA Games that number can balloon into the hundreds.

The role of developer/producer can be a real mixed bag in that space.  Some are close to the visionary/ auteur type - very involved with their teams and in steering the creative process - but others can be coattail-riders or even active liabilities that their teams have to work around.  (The Danny Phantom fandom has some real showrunner war-stories).  

Still, it’s easy to see how we could go from talking about a team lead/ spokesperson as convenient shorthand for the idea of The Author™, to accidentally treating that person like they are the only significant member and attributing all the credit to them personally.

Whether by accident or design, Greg Weisman definitely presents as the visionary type on the surface (something that the fandom and the wiki creators have unintentionally and well-meaningly contributed to).  His ask blog’s visual style certainly makes him look like The Gargoyles Guy™, and the Young Justice wiki editors put a lot of emphasis on him, often directly inserting information from there and his social media straight into main page content as “unconfirmed canon”.  That ask blog also creates a very parasocial environment; I’ve seen fans write posts like they’re talking to/ about him as a friend, and directly attribute specific lines or episodes directly to him.  To look at the wiki, his blog or hear the fandom talk he is the mind behind.

However, once you look closer, he has much fewer direct creative credits than you would expect for that reputation.

And, as it turns out, Young Justice is one of 3 separate series to see substantial drops in story quality after Weisman assumed control as primary writer, with common complaints including weak/inconsistent character-writing (even for characters he supposedly helped create), poor story structure and a seemingly shallow understanding of those stories as a whole.

Now, if it was just a case of Weisman just being a passionate doofus - someone sincerely having fun exploring ideas that interest him but who shouldn’t be left creatively unsupervised because he can’t hack it narratively - that would be frustrating but ultimately fine.  It happens.  Unfortunately though, there has been… quite a bit else that has pushed me more towards parasocial enemies territory.

As I’ve mentioned before, all three series contain instances of Weisman disempowering strong female characters; rewriting their narratives to centre on men and/or a sudden desire to conform to traditional gender roles.  Plus other sexism that resonates uncomfortably closely with pick-up-artist/ incel rhetoric.  His work on both Magic: the Gathering and YJ: Outsiders was also criticised for casually racist and overtly queerphobic writing - especially in his treatment of feminine bisexuals.  A lot of the most egregious instances can be found in the book - the medium where Weisman had the most direct creative input.  Weisman also doesn’t seem to understand the difference between organic character-conflict, manufactured “negative drama” and abuse - something that combines really badly with his seeming unawareness of the invasive implications of telepathy; which results in several telepaths being written as borderline predators/rapists, only for Weisman's narratives to either make no comment or take their side.

I also find his conduct very disingenuous.  I have no problem with ask blogs but the fact that over 80% of Young Justice’s critical narrative content can only be found there, and the implied attitude that fans who are surprised by the sudden appearance of information that was never previously set up in-story are at fault for not seeking it out strikes me as creatively dishonest.  I’m also not best pleased with his responses to the criticism over his insensitive writing (discussed above).  One instance that’s really emblematic to me is Weisman getting kudos for posting a snarky twitter-clapback to a bigot asking him to remove the diversity from Young Justice, despite himself having actively attempted to erase the sexuality of one of Magic: the Gathering’s fan-favourite queer characters (a scandal that made it onto his Wikipedia page).  Respect is something that really needs to be Shown not Told, and Weisman’s work frequently shows the complete opposite.

And look, I don’t know this guy; I can’t claim to understand what Weisman’s deal is or what’s going on in his head.  Maybe he’s always been like this and it just passed under the radar until recently because previous co-creators were skilled enough to pull him up with them.  Maybe he used to be better but let the success of other series he’s been involved in, and the showers of personal praise from his ask blog, go to his head.  Or it could be something else entirely.  I think the only answer we’re going to get is that we’re not going to get an answer.

Which is super disappointing and frustrating.  Like I said in this post, we come to stories in good faith; we want to put our trust in the promises made by the narrative, we want to be able to take the creators at face value, and we want to see the love and respect we have for their story and characters reflected in the effort they put into telling it.  Fandom in part reflects the passion creators have for their work, and when those creators start treating that work carelessly, cynically, or taking their audience for granted, the fandom can start to wane.  (Danny Phantom being one of the only communities I’ve seen thrive after completely severing ties with their producer.)

Circling back to the pedestal/auteur thing, I think that mindset makes it much easier to take this kind of thing personally when it happens.  It starts feeling like a single person chose to make all those promises and show that potential to you, only to intentionally betray them; rather than the Swiss-cheese model of compounding changes, failures, mistakes and/or poor choices from multiple people that more likely happened.

In these situations it helps to remember that we are the ultimate arbiter of our personal relationship to a story.  We don’t even have to be part of fandom; our fan experience can be just between us and the part of the work we found compelling, or us and a small group of buddies who feel similarly.  There’s no rule requiring us to perform fannishness or conform to the mainstream fandom consensus.  A good book/ game/ movie/ season/ comic can stand on its own, even with a few unresolved threads - we don’t have to personally accept subpar sequels, poor-quality prequels, rubbish retcons, superfluous side-content or extraneous add-ons just because they happen to exist.

a good plot was one which made good scenes. The ideal mystery was one you would read if the end was missing. -Raymond Chandler

There are fine things that are more brilliant when they are unfinished than when finished too much. - François de La Rochefoucauld

And, for stories that are created by multi-person teams, it can really help to change how we talk about them; to step away from that auteur mindset and start giving credit where it’s actually due.

So, in service to that, here is a breakdown of main episode credits for Young Justice Season 1:

Putting this together actually made me realise that I’d had too narrow of a focus; I’d previously speculated about changes to the writing staff but I completely overlooked the impact of episode directors. Which is nuts because directors can potentially have major influence over the structure and presentation of the finished narrative.

A few things strike me.  First is that Weisman doesn’t have a lot of direct writing credits; he has the most (albeit only by 1 episode) but it barely amounts to 25% of the season, and you can see that the specific episodes he scripted aren’t ones that put a lot of character focus on the main cast or paying off the emotional narrative.  (Which isn’t to claim that he wasn’t doing other developmental/ production work behind the scenes, but it does make sense; characterisation and narrative resolution are not things Weisman is good at).

The two names that really started to stand out were Jay Oliva and Michael Chang; each individually credited as director on over a third of episodes, and covering more than 75% of the whole season between them.  That’s not to say that they alone were the secret sauce that made S1 so good (that would just be applying Auteur Theory to a new target and, while their IMDB resumes are impressive, it’s likely that other, less-visible team members were also involved) but having that level of direct input across so much of the season would have given them opportunities to maintain consistency and provide structure/ guidance.

And notably, neither Oliva nor Chang have any major credits post Season 1.   For whatever reason, the directors who handled over 75% of the episodes never returned for future entries.  (Compare most of the Season 1 writers, who do make repeat appearances - although no writer other than Weisman or Vietti gets more than a single episode per season of the revival.)  Which is a pretty substantial gap to leave behind.  From that perspective it’s not surprising that the show saw big changes going forward; to some extent it really wasn’t the same creative team driving things.

At this point we might be tempted to speculate that, if Oliva, Chang and the rest had stayed on (or come back for the revival), then Young Justice would have stayed good or at least been better than how it turned out.  But the truth is, we can’t know.  It’s possible that Season 1 was too much a product of that specific team, time, production environment and media landscape to ever last.  Maybe it was always a doomed venture; the lack of proper planning, Weisman’s creative weaknesses and aversion to endings, Vietti’s relative inexperience with original storytelling, Cartoon Network’s infamously awful treatment of “less marketable” PG-rated series, and executive mandates from DC Comics as they pivoted to push the New 52 and got increasingly spooked by the astronomic rise of the early MCU inevitably destined to force changes which undercut the narrative.  The only answer we’re going to get is that we’re not going to get an answer.

But, you know what?

Despite everything, as frustrating and disheartening as things may have turned out… Young Justice Season One is STILL really good.   It has a distinct creative verve with its combination of espionage-meets-superheroics, grounded-but-still-positive tone, character-focus and interwoven plot threads that pay off as a remarkably self-contained fair mystery.  There is a reason why Season 1 is so enduring; why people still make art, and write fic and reference those characters even now.

So, to that original team; to Michael Chang, Jay Oliva and all the other creative staff - be they writers, directors, story-boarders, animators, colourists, composers, sound designers - who are so rarely mentioned when we gush about how clever and good Season 1 was: thank you for what you gave us.

Because that first season, when Young Justice was just trying to be itself?

It really was lighting in a bottle.

Hats off to them for that.

#Young Justice #Greg Weisman #Greg Weisman Critical #Michael Chang #Jay Oliva #Anonymous #3WD Answers #Scattered Thoughts #YJ Essays Collection #I’m really really flattered to hear that you like my approach to criticism #the rule I try to go by is that (even when I’m being uncharitable or unkind) I should still try to be fair #(believe me there is a LOT in that book that could easily be used to make Weisman look very terrible) #(including some Humbert-Humbert-adjacent nonsense) #(but doing that would be intentionally misrepresenting him and I don’t believe in that) #Weisman’s writing strikes me as that of a deeply incurious person who aestheticizes intelligence and progressivism #someone who wants to see themselves as those things (because it makes him feel good) but who doesn’t do the work to embody those values #which is how you get things like token 'girlboss’ moments for female characters who are still written in fundamentally chauvinistic ways; o #empty dialogue about ‘pronouns’ or ‘identity’ from characters who are still written in fundamentally prejudiced ways; or #lines that sound superficially profound/philosophical but turn out to be contradictory/meaningless/nonsensical when examined. #it’s definitely the mistake of thinking ‘I used the language of [thing] therefore I am [thing]’ #Not 'I am [thing] because I try to act in ways that show respect to [thing]' #It's telling that Weisman wants to release tweets positioning himself as better than the bigots #and yet he has a million excuses for why THE SAME bigotry in HIS OWN writing is 'not his fault'/ 'not a big deal'/ 'a misunderstanding' #he looks down on others for not meeting a standard while effortlessly carving out exceptions for his own substandard behaviour #it's all very hypocritical (and in ways that are consistent with other patterns of right-wing conservatism throughout his work) #In short: a deeply tiresome and condescending fellow #I think a much healthier approach would be to talk about the people who made YJS1 good than dwell on the guy who bollocksed it all up #So I propose that we henceforth refer to Weisman as ‘That guy from War of the Spark: Forsaken’ NOT ‘the YJ/Gargoyles Guy’ #and talk about the season 1 production TEAM instead #Weisman's writing credits could be covered if every other writer picked up just 1 episode. Meanwhile Oliva/Chang would need 20 substitutes

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2024

#22 - Art Before Breakfast: A Zillion Ways to Be More Creative No Matter How Busy You Are, by Danny Gregory

Rating: 3/5 stars

The ethos of this book speaks to me: it's possible to make time for anything (in this case, drawing) if you prioritize it and/or break it down into small chunks. The "before breakfast" part is encouraging the reader to put their drawing practice first, and in this case I mean "practice" as daily observance rather than action meant to gain or improve skill.

The idea being that gaining skill will come naturally if you just do the thing.

And I think for a lot of people a lot of the time, that's true, but there's very little practical instruction in this book, it's a week-long course of exercises to get started (which I am doing; I read the whole book in a day but this morning saw me on Day 4 of the first week of early-morning art-making) and then a bunch of inspirational exercises in no real order with no real difficulty curve. A lot of the ideas I like, and quite a few I don't--especially the one telling me to "borrow" someone else's child to draw, since I have none of my own...that's a little weird; and the one telling me to skip a meal and draw instead, or that I'll end up eating less if I'm drawing my meals frequently because they'll get cold. I'm not down with bringing food into a discussion about forming an art habit beyond "hey food is fun to draw," the author shouldn't be telling us not to eat.

Back on the positive side, there's also an explicit permission in the book to do art badly, to suck at it. Which is something that a lot of people need to hear.

But do I think this book has really found its way into the hands of the target audience? That audience feels narrow, because this isn't for Real Artists, it's self-help for "busy" people who want to make art but don't feel like they have time. I already make art frequently, so I don't really "need" this book, though as with many ADHD peeps I go through phases with my hobbies and will probably never devote myself fully to one type of art or craft forever. And it's not going to satisfy anyone looking to get more serious about drawing (or whatever type of "art" they end up doing for their 30 days, if they stick to it) because of the lack of practical instruction.

I grabbed it off a library display about art (with another, very different book I'll review soon) and said, "sure, why not, my art journal's been neglected recently" but since I already have a strong interest in art, I can't really judge how successful this book is at what it sets out to do--get a busy newbie started on an art journey. I don't think it's terrible (beyond those exercises I find questionable) but I'm not sure it's all that great, either.

#booklr #book review #nonfiction #self help #art