#i have not seen anything jojo related in like 4 years

[soapofbar]

so I am a little scared to air out my spicy (probably lukewarm) takes without the guise of anonymity to keep people from telling me to unalive myself, but at the same time there are lots of thoughts that roam around in my head and I want to get them out in some fashion, so consider this sort of like, a public journal, of sorts? idk. my posts will probably be very rambly and expect me to hop from media to media as I post about whatever hot vomit is swirling in my mind.

anyway the brainrot currently going through my head right now is about RWBY, and specifically about power-ups in RWBY, and sort of how they relate to the show's action. More specifically, how the show (and fandom) is weirdly averse to them, how it kinda makes development less exciting, and stuff like that.

CRWBY have gone on record multiple times I think stating that none or at least the majority of the main 4 will not gain the power of the maidens, mostly because it is "too predictable". And like, I disagree on that heavily. Yes, if you did them all getting maiden powers in one fell swoop it would be trite and predictable, but like, Yang and Raven having an arc where it ends with Yang getting Raven's maidenhood (that sounds really bad out of context), or same with Weiss and Winter, or Penny and Ruby, etc. I don't think those would've been predictable, or trite or anything. Hell I think even if you did have literally all of them become maidens, you could still make it without being "predictable" because stories aren't really about the destination, but the journey, because the destination is usually obvious.

I think early readers of Dragon Ball Z, reading the Namek Saga in real time, expected somebody to become a Super Saiyan at one point. I think they probably knew that Goku would become a Super Saiyan. I don't think they were able to predict Krillin dying for it, or Frieza surviving the Spirit Bomb, or any of the little details that still make that ascension really fun to watch even years later. I think any arc about any of Team RWBY getting wizard powers could be written in a similar manner, where them getting the power in the end is very obviously likely to the viewer but still interesting to watch.

But fine, you don't want RWBY to become Maidens. Maybe the powers just put the team too out of balance, or their written too vague/powerful to make that member of the team anything other than invincible (you can make this interesting too, by the way, Jotaro in JoJo's Part 4 and 6 comes to mind) and you want to avoid that. Fine.

But why can't any of Team RWBY's semblances evolve?

Ever since the concept was introduced in V7, I kinda expected at least one of the girls to get a semblance power-up, but instead the idea has mostly been used for plot convenience, such as Ren's Character Development Locator and Neo's sudden power boost in V9. And it's kind of baffling to me because V7 also has the RWBY vs. Ace-Ops fight, which to me and several others I've seen at least was very narratively unsatisfying because RWBY's victory is very flimsily justified with stuff like "Then you trained us" "they lost their cool because Clover isn't here to restrain them" "marrow just ain't feelin it chief", all of which feel very easy to rebuke especially if you've got a more critical eye to the show.

But imagine instead like, Weiss, who should've been going through an arc the entirety of V7 but didn't, undergoes a semblance evolution while dealing with all her SDC and family trauma stuff. Imagine if Blake, while fighting against racism and classism in Atlas, or coming to terms with defending herself against Adam, evolves her semblance in some way. And then, because these were deeply personal developments that never happened in training, they pull them out in the fight against the Ace-Ops and they're completely caught off guard. It would make their victory in that fight feel like the consequences of narrative development "These characters have learned an important lesson and are able to defeat an otherwise superior set of foes due to abilities that evolved and subsequently surprised them because of that lesson."

And look, the obvious response here is "you're getting angry/sad/disappointed simply because thing didn't happen the way you wanted it to" and yeah if you're intellectually dishonest you can apply that to just about any criticism anyone ever makes about anything, so to highlight why I personally find it a problem

a) It makes the fights themselves less interesting since characters powers appear static and the powers themselves aren't versatile enough or aren't used creatively enough to make fight scenes interesting beyond raw spectacle (which wears off quickly if not done masterfully) and the writing behind the fight (which has never been of the best quality). The example here is most of the fights in V8, which I feel lacked in both the majority of the time.

b) it makes it feel as though the girls aren't really being narratively rewarded for making realizations/learning lessons beyond the immediate situation. That while yes, this development might help them out in the now it has no real lasting impacts. The example to use here is Yang, who goes a bunch of development in V4/V5 about dealing with trauma from getting her arm cut off, and needing to be more cool and collected in and out of battle. She has these beats and then the only fight I think she really shows off that development is the bandits in V5. Despite "coming back stronger", she doesn't feel it. And of course, outside of fights, she doesn't really show that at all, as it feels like she's the first one to lose her shit the majority of the time in recent volumes.

c) RWBY is, or at least started as, an action show. The original four trailers for each character, which are all collectively the most viewed piece of media for the show, are entirely about fighting, with minimal dialogue. I think for a show like this, which has that kind of heritage and is only occasionally good at writing subtlety, using fights as a way to showcase character development would be a really smart thing to do. It's only worked for every shounen manga ever produced, and I think RWBY taking tropes from a traditionally male-dominated industry and inserting them into a show about 4 women would do wonders, especially considering how much inspiration RWBY takes from anime already.

d) despite rising stakes and our main big bad finally taking an active role in the plot, the level of spectacle, as well as the abilities of our main characters, feels stagnant or even lesser than it was before. This is probably the most personal feeling of all and I imagine many will disagree. It's also not one I can really point to any example and articulate on.

the final word I'll leave off on is that I'm not gonna go into V9 because a) Penny and the way she was treated in V8 really made me uninterested in watching it and b) I've heard about the suicide tea and I will agree that having Ruby come out of the suicide dimension with a power-up would be uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

#rwby #rwby spoilers #tw: sui mention #this might count as rwde so I'll tag it that anyways #rwde #even though I am aware there is an extreme weirdness that goes on towards people posting in that tag #crtq #my rambles

[missingcastle]

I love Jojo so much.

I’m going to have a breakdown over Stone Ocean Thursday, I swear. This might be a mess of a read but I just want to type to the world some of my emotions about it. I got into Jojo not long before SO was announced just wanting to have a show to talk about since all of them we’re watching/reading it and I was having a rough time mentally. It was fun for 1 through 3 but once I got to part 4 I knew I was never giving this show up. Jotaro became my favorite then too. It didn’t solidify that he was going to be one of my favorite characters for life until SO when Jolyne was introduced (who quickly became my second favorite). Jotaro was alright as a angsty teen that was secretly a momma’s boy but seeing him become a adult and become a mentor dealing with the trauma was what made him my favorite character. I loved knowing that deep down he genuinely cares about the ones around him and that showed more through his actions in DiU that SDC to me personally as he went to this mentor state. Then I started reading SO and seeing him as this mess of a loving father stuck with me. This forever made him a character I’ll love until I die. I know he wasn’t there for Jolyne but he left because he knew he was a danger and wanted nothing to happen to Jolyne. When he goes to save her, it was nice seeing this usually stone cold very quiet man do things that many wouldn’t even see as odd but it was him opening up somewhat to 1 person in him life that he cared about more than anything. He loved his daughters and wanted nothing but her safety. I fucking love Jolyne too. Not only did Jolyne go on what I think is the best journeys of character growth in any Jojo part but she’s one of the most badass characters while doing it. I also just relate to her a lot. Despite loving Jotaro, his distance hurt her a lot. My parents did some similar things to me and it hurt me. It hurt me more than it should but as I grew older, I learned to accept that of my parent. Jolyne and I went on similar emotional journeys. I don’t want to go into to much but These 2 characters have helped me in life more that I even realized. Stone Ocean as a part is just amazing to me too. I do live in the US deep south, not Florida but in the general states around it. It’s the rare time I’ve ever seen somewhere close to my home get put in something like manga/anime ever and the rarely even get it in American animation so SO it this rare form of representation that I didn’t know I needed. There’s a even darker and kinda twisted way of SO representation too that I won’t get into either. It’s just nice to see some of the what I love and what I hate of my area represented in the first time in my life. There’s a lot more but SO has become something that means more to me that anything in the world. It’s been over a year since I finished reading it and unless part 9 is beyond good, Stone Ocean will forever be my favorite part of what has become one of my favorite animes/mangas of all time. 

#vent #jojo's bizarre adventure #jotaro kujo #jolyne cujoh #stone ocean #I love jojo #man im fucking sad right now. #idk what yall what from me in tags im just sad seeing it end

[beatnikbedlam]

Best New Anime of 2022

(reposted from cohost)

so i had cancer this year! which apparently means i actually watched enough new anime last year to do a top ten list? so i guess this is my first anime top ten! pretty neat! i’m only gonna cover shows that premiered this year because it would be hard not to put stuff like Mob Psycho and JoJo on here and there was so much great new stuff that i wanna focus on. here goes!

10: Love Flops: this show… this fuckin’ show y’all. the first few episodes are…. A Lot. some of the horniest anime bullshit i’ve seen. it takes over half the season to really show its hand. and look, i really don’t want to spoil anything, because it has some truly great reveals, but goddamn is it an incredible fucking hand. a show that is both absolutely demented and very touching

9: Aharen-san wa Hakarenai: translates to Aharen is Incomprehensible. just a really cute, chill little romcom about a couple of goofballs and their even goofier friends. was a very nice thing to look forward to during a pretty hard summer!

8: Urusei Yatsura: i originally had Spy x Family here, but y’know what? fuck that. Lum’s Back Bay Beeee and she looks better than ever. David Productions outdid themselves here

7: Bocchi the Rock: the most i've related to a character in ages. great music, great animation, great pals

6: Chainsaw Man: not typically my vibe, but it's so good i can't help but appreciate it anyway. i have trouble with “misery parade” stuff but Chainsaw Man takes it so far that it becomes hilarious. i really love its exploration of intimacy and control, very nuanced and looks at a lot of different aspects of it. Power and Denji’s friendship is super refreshing, Makima is scary as hell, and Himeno is… unfortunately very hot. don’t @ me

5: Ya Boi Kongming: time travel is always my jam, and this is one of the best. it subverts the whole "the character is dumb bc they're from the past" thing by making the MC a master strategist from the Three Kingdoms period. there's initial confusion, but he picks up quick, and it's more about him using his stratagems to help a girl become a famous singer. it also has one of the best OPs of the year too

4: Birdie Wing: it's the Lesbian Mafia Golf anime, what do you want from me

3: Akiba Maid War: legit one of the most buckwild first episodes ever put to film. absolutely has to be seen to be believed. all i'll say is that the title is literal, and it’s majestic. #1 fuckup gang of 2022

2: My Dress-Up Darling: immaculately crafted romcom, incredible characters. more or less a perfect show, would have been my top spot if the next one hadn't come to eat its lunch a few months later. the scene on the train after the con is one of my favorite scenes in anime period

1: Call of the Night: feels like a show made specifically for me. it's a romcom, but it's moody and there's philosophical shit and vampire fights? sign me the fuck up. then there’s Anko Uguisu, who is a fucking Problem 🥵 and to top it all off, it's the most gorgeous show i’ve seen in a long time. something like Demon Slayer has really fluid action sequences with amazing effects, but it looks pretty standard otherwise. but the composition and color and detail of every shot is so carefully considered in Call of the Night, it’s really something special. truly, absolutely cannot wait for season 2. i picked up the manga and am around chapter 100 now, it’s going in some really fascinating directions

and that’s my list! i was going to make this an honorable mentions section but ended up just mentioning basically everything else new i watched lol. so here’s that:

Ranking of Kings is a show i really loved but it just didn’t quite make the cut. the ending felt a little rushed and it started getting a bit predictable, but still great if you need a good cry

Shikimori Isn’t Just a Cutie was sweet and fun but felt a little thin

Spy x Family is really well-made and totally adorable but i have to take it in small doses for some reason

Reincarnated as a Sword i had no real issues with and i’m looking forward to season 2, but it just wasn’t a top 10

Eminence in Shadow: love the farce, fuckin’ hate the MC. still not sure where i come down on it tbh

Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting: liked it, didn’t watch enough of it

Do It Yourself! is really cute but it never quite hits the highs of something like Laid Back Camp. still worthwhile if you like that kind of thing tho

Lycoris Recoil: i really enjoyed it while i was watching it, but i keep forgetting it exists tbh

and as far as returning stuff goes Mob had such a great ending, i’ve really enjoyed the Stone Ocean adaptation, i just got into Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun this year and i’m having a great time with it, reminds me so much of that 00’s Soul Eater/HxH/toonami-type shonen but much less fight focused. and of course, Uzaki-chan was fucking incredible, as expected

it’s kind of crazy how much good anime there was this year and how many i haven’t even gotten around to yet! this winter 2023 season is seeming… a bit dry so far but at least Queen Nagatoro has returned to grace us with her presence. gonna wrap it up, but if someone found this and read all the way to the end… hey, thanks! you’re great!

#anime #best anime 2022

[gay-trash-shipping-trash]

Haven’t posted in a few days again so I feel like I should do something about that!

I’m preparing a few art posts regarding my mlp nextgen, but those will take a while as I’m preparing them in bulk!! While also doing them in birth order.

I’m the meantime I’d like to share with y’all-

THE UNIVERSE TRYING TO TELL ME SOMTHING FOR OVER 2 YEARS!!!

June 28, 2020

Starting on June 28 2020, I was scrolling through Pinterest. Ya’know looking at some JoJo’s art and memes cause that’s what I hyper fixated on for well over a year and a half.

So you know when your scrolling on there Pinterest will have a group of other things related to what you looking at that you can click-tap on. Some things were like “Fan Art”, “Funny Jokes”, stuff like that.

So. Nothing out of the ordinary, but then I see this

Wtf is that!? That is NOTHING like JJBA!

Also… THAT IS NOT DOCTOR WHO!? That ain’t no Sonic Screwdriver that I’ve ever seen!

July 10, 2020

Literally why!?

And it doesn’t stop there, nonono it keeps going!

July 17, 2020

This literally doesn’t make sense… I’m just trying to look at some jjba memes and Pinterest thinks I want to see this!

August 3, 2021

It came back after not seeing it for a minute. I thought I was free. I really did but no, it was back.

At this point I thought maybe it was some sort of glitch or bug or something.

August 4, 2021

It came back the next fucking day… at this point I thought maybe I was trying to be told something. Idk what but somthing.

I just wanted to look at pictures of Dio but instead I’m being told to look at “Sonic Screwdriver” that has nothing to do with tools or Doctor Who.

Today December 2, 2022

I see this on my TikTok for you page…

After not seeing anything related to “Sonic Screwdriver” this pops up outta nowhere!!!

WHY

JUST WHY

WHAT IS THE UNIVERSE TELLING MEEEEEEEE!!!

Getting closer to 3 fucking years of “Sonic Screwdriver” and I have no clue what I’m being told

#pinterest #sonic fandom #sonic the hedgehog #sonic screwdriver #but not in the way you think #the universe is telling me something #I think #but I don’t understand it #jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure #only mentioned #and shown I guess

[shirophantomvox]

Analyzing Kars' Character

Hello everyone! FYI I am not ignoring your requests. I have tried for a week to get them finished and I keep losing motivation. Then I had the brilliant idea of writing something else about an interesting topic and then I’ll be able to finish a few requests! Today’s post is another character analysis. This is still a multi-fandom blog; you will see content related to other shows besides Voltron. Today’s character analysis is on Kars, the 10,000-year-old vampire. That’s funny. He, Allura, and Coran are the same age!

Overview

I watched JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures about a month ago when I became frustrated that there were only 4 seasons of Hunter x Hunter on Netflix. Remember the scene in the election arc when the citizens were casting their votes for chairperson and Hisoka walked up with his arms forming an “S”? Many people were posing the question of it being a “JoJo’s” reference and for the life of me, I never understood what they were talking about. Finally, I watched the show for the first time and by season 2 I could understand what they were saying.

I have to admit that by the second episode I was bored because the nature of season one took place in the 1800s England and nothing exciting happened. Though I worked my way through a few more episodes. I noticed a creepy stone mask on the way and how it never fell unless blood was splattered on it. I concluded the mask was going to play the role of an antagonist or help the antagonist succeed. Although this post is about Kars, I would like to take a moment and say that Jonathan’s death was very heart wrenching and it made me angry. Jonathan was unnecessarily nice to Dio and living in a privileged bubble lead to his demise. Jonathan was stronger than Dio and he should have kicked his ass once and for all. Have you noticed that after Joseph’s father, all JoJo’s (at least until season 5) could beat the antagonist in the show?

Anyway, the mask is a key tool in the bizarre adventures that each protagonist experiences.

Kars is a 10,000-year-old vampire that designed the Stone Mask and is essentially responsible for the horrific events that have happened throughout history. Dio being turned into a merciless vampire and his minions resulted from the Stone Mask. After discovering that he and his people could not be out in the sun, he concluded he needed the Red Stone of Aja to complete his transformation. Lisa-Lisa, a 50-year-old human woman, has possession of the stone given by her foster father Straizo. Kars, along with the 3 remaining Pilar Men (Wamuu, Esidsi, and Santana, can only survive in the sun if they two wear the mask with the Red Stone of Aja. After awakening, it is quite clear that Kars is on a mission to retrieve the stone and will destroy anything in his way. He was the only one wanting to live a life outside of the darkness. This was the driving force of creating so many Stone Masks and later discovering the need for the Red Stone of Aja. Kars understood the mask would only work on him partially because of his larger skull size, aka body manipulation. This created an increase in hunger. The Pillar Men did not like this at all and sought to eliminate him so he could not ruin the flow of nature. Kars retaliated; he murdered 99% of his people only leaving his friend Esidsi, and two children known as Santana and Wamuu.

Kars’ character is very interesting. A dog was about to have its life ended because of drunk drivers. I don’t know if this struck a nerve in his soul, but Kars nearly cut off the driver’s head, causing them to crash their car and the puppy was saved. After being defeated by Joseph the first time, he landed at the end of a snowy cliff, making sure he did not land on a few daisies. Given these unique interactions with nature and secondary species, Kars has some vendetta against humans. What did they do to him or his people for him to care only about flowers and animals but want to wipe out Harmon users? He insists that Lisa-Lisa drink poison instead of fighting her. Fighting women is something he and Wamuu don’t take pleasure in doing. When I heard this for the first time, I didn’t know if that was something to be proud of or if he was being misogynistic (you know the stereotypical view society has about women). Even if he genuinely did not want to lay a finger on Lisa-Lisa or any woman, his intentions are very questionable. He mimics politeness. If Kars offered to pay for dinner or a drink, run. Just run because if you don’t, you’ll probably be turned into a vampire or be eaten alive.

This is off topic but I wanted to pose this scenario. After watching Battle Tendency for the 10th time, I always like to bring out the “soft” side in villains. Being a sucker for Fluff isn’t helpful. I know that’s defeating the purpose of villains and antagonists, but I can’t help and wonder how it would show in Kars. As I’ve previously stated, Kars seems to care for animals and plants more than humans...so there’s a soft spot somewhere in there. I had a rather amusing and odd thought involving Kars and Lisa-Lisa. Since Lisa-Lisa is the leader over Caesar and Joseph and Kars is the leader over the remain few Pillar Men, I can’t help but wonder how they’d react to each other. When Lisa-Lisa is ordered by Kars to stay at their hideout while Joseph retrieved the Stone, I know she didn’t stand there like a statue for nearly 12 hours. I imagine Kars offering a drink, water, or juice just to get her talking. I mean, she has to warm up to him or it’s going to be a horrible 12 hours. Then he’ll try to engage in conversation and will only try to flirt with her to see how she responds. He may make a comment about how clear her skin is, how perfect her makeup stays intact, or how her legs look better than his (well, duh, you’re 9,950 years older than her!). This way, he can exploit anything he deems as a weakness, but she is a smart woman. She would reveal nothing about her that could be used against her. As OOC as this seems, it could be something he’d do. Remember, he mimics politeness; he has a trick up his sleeve. Although that may be true, at the back of his mind, he really admires how young and enchanting she looks.

Although Esidsi, Wamuu, and Santana are Pillar Men, they are ancient humanoid superhuman beings who lived on the American continent. They have supernatural abilities that leave them invincible while the sun is down. They look similar to humans, but they are much bigger and muscular. Among the 3 remaining Pillar Men, I seem to gravitate to Kars than the others. Before you judge me, I’ll explain. Kars, like many male characters in this anime and others, has a unique character design. Contrary to popular belief, I like Kars better in his head wrap or while he is wearing his hat and cape. That outfit reminds me of a ghost/monster from the remastered Scooby-Doo series in the 70s. The one thing in particular that stood out to me was his eye shadow and mascara. The earrings didn’t surprise me as every time I draw my male characters, they automatically get a pair of earrings. While being physically fit, he can make ANYTHING look excellent!

Just like any villain, Kars and Joseph are equally arrogant and can exploit their opponent’s weaknesses against them. Making jokes about Lisa-Lisa while she is unconscious nearly sets him over the edge and while Kars thinks he has defeated Joseph, he is launched into space.

Last but not least, I noticed how the first two protagonists form an unusual bond with their enemies. As many of you have seen, Dio calls Jonathan JoJo but does not acknowledge Joseph or Jotaro in the same way. He does twice towards Jotaro but not after that. Kars refers to Joseph as JoJo and I have to believe that even if he knew his real name, he’d still refer to him as JoJo. Wamuu stated that fighting Jospeh was worth his time as he did not waste it and fight fairly. Throughout their battles, they somehow remind me of childish games with the name-calling and all. I wish Kars was not a “onetime” villain. I wish he could roll over to the next season. This is a preference, as I hate seasonal villains, like Chrollo Lucilfer or anyone similar.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading!

#jjba #jojo's bizzare adventure golden wind #jojo's bizzare adventure x reader #jojo's bizzare adventure battle tendency #jojo fanart #jojo's bizzare adventure diamond is unbreakable #jojo's bizarre adventure #stone ocean #kars #jojo kars #pillar men #esidisi #wamuu #battle tendency #jjba part 2 #caesar anthonio zeppeli #lisa lisa #jojo part 2 #jojo spoilers #jjba kars #shiro phantom vox writes #jjba vampires #stone mask #dio brando #jjba headcanons #jjba kars headcanons #anime #manga #jojo headcanons #jotaro x reader

[cryptidmads]

good evening nsr community, i went through the ama from today and came back with an armful or two of lore. there’s a bunch more than last time, and i included bbj as well as the npcs. cozy up, check under the cut, and prepare for a long read. enjoy!

today's ama featured wan hazmer and daim dziauddin again, as well as concept artist ellie and animator ben fong.

BUNK BED JUNCTION (FT. DK WEST)

- mayday and zuke live in the sewers because they're an underground band. it's a pun - there were originally two variations of bbj leaving the sewers - one with mayday hi-fiving gigi (which had a 95% chance of happening), and one with zuke awkwardly fumbling and attempting to hi-five gigi (which had a 5% chance) - one of the inspirations for mayday and zuke were the two main characters of samurai champloo (zuke was jin, mayday was mugen) - someone asked about if the rest of the cast had their own shadow puppets. ben suggested a lemur for mayday, while ellie suggested a zucchini for zuke. she may have been joking. - mayday's guitar solos were done by different people, but zuke's drum solos were all done by bruno valverde. - zuke was the one who implemented the canister thing into mayday's guitar. - someone asked who of the cast are the introverts and who are the extroverts. mayday is an extrovert, zuke is an introvert. - the team does have a bit of lore for mayday and zuke and how they met, but they want to save it in case of a future project. - mayday was inspired by both genevieve from company of thieves and the unbreakable kimmy schmidt. - ben did the animation for mayday swinging the hammer in the workshop. - haz recalls seeing some fanart of mayday being brought up as a rich girl. he doesn't remember the artist, but he does like the idea. - the japanese version has zuke say he has a phd rather than a master's degree. this is apparently a mistake. - the pattern on zuke's pants was inspired by jolyne cujoh and prosciutto from jojo's bizarre adventure. - zuke's toilet seat collection came partially from a story from one of the environmental artists where one of their high school friends pranked another friend with a toilet seat. - zuke does a lot of reading and is naturally inquisitive about things like tech and mechanics. - dk west's shadow puppet abilities might run in the family, and zuke may have it as well. - both zuke and dk west are connected by percussion (zuke with the drums, west with the hand claps) - zuke and west weren't always designed to be related -- west was originally designed as "some guy who comes and goes," but was made into zuke's brother later on in production - dk west is an extrovert.

DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA

- djss' dj name is obviously a stage name, but the team didn't have a real name for him in the script or anything. - haz joked that his name is bob salad. that's not canon but from what i seen the chat loved it lol - haz brings up the symbolism of djss spinning the planets around himself and how it represents that he thinks of himself as the center of the universe. - ellie helped design the districts, and something she noted about dj's is that it's supposed to look the "slummiest" because he cares more about himself and less about things like blackouts. - dj had some lines cut from his boss fight. those lines? mini lectures towards bbj during every phase. they were cut because the team felt like they were too much for the game, but they want to share them one day. - daim says that dj could be either introverted or extroverted becuase of how much time he spends alone looking at the stars. - dj was never planned to have an approach segment, but funk fiction wasn't told that, so he made him an approach theme anyway. - dodo ice pops are traffic light flavoured, which is a popular ice cream in malaysia. it's strawberry, pineapple, and lime flavored.

SAYU AND THE NERD SQUAD

- three of sayu's creators were based on staff members at metronomik. remi (voiced by ben) was based on one of the programmers and one of the environmental artists (ellie calls him "the lovechild of two dudes"), tila was based on (and voiced by) ellie herself, and dodo was based on danish mak (another environmental artist who also voices him). - sofa wasn't based on anyone in particular, he was more of a "general otaku guy" according to ellie (though haz joked that ellie could just say he was based on him). - dodo is daim's favorite npc -- he also designed him! - sayu was ellie's favorite character to design. she loves drawing mermaids. - the progression in sayu's fight where you go deeper into the "ocean" is supposed to be a metaphor for going deeper into the internet/the deep web. - ellie suggested that if sayu were to have a shadow puppet, it would be a cat. - as for the introvert/extrovert debate, daim says sayu is technically comprised of 4 introverts. sayu herself is the extrovert mask they wear. - sayu's ahoge is a submarine periscope. remi looks through it in one of the cutscenes. - sayu's not a mech. she's remotely controlled by her creators from their computer room. - the backstory between remi and tila is meant to show that artists can come from all sorts of backgrounds.

YINU AND MAMA

- yinu's promotional video was one of the first ones done before they brought in lzbros, so it originally looked different from how it looks in the game now. - yinu's mother's eyes are yellow because she spends most of the fight focusing on yinu (who is mainly yellow). when her eyes go blank white, it represents that she's momentarily forgotten what she loves the most. when her eyes become yellow again after the fight, it means she's remembered yinu and her piano playing. - the way ellie describes natura is that yinu is a plant and her mother is very protective of her, and one of the distinctive features is that there are a lot of domes with plants inside, particularly on the roofs of the houses. - yinu's commercial was not intended to reference little miss fortune. the commercial was shown in 2018, while LMF came out a year later. - yinu's mom turning into a giant tree monster isn't exclusive to her just being angry at bbj. apparently the whole plant thing runs in the yinu family.

1010

- 1010's concept as a boy band had been around since before the team started production, but they were the last to be fully designed -- their designs weren't finalized until way later on. - 1010 were ellie’s least favorite characters to design. she doesn't like drawing guys OR robots. - 1010's early designs had them wearing tuxedos. - 1010 do have memories. - the inspiration for the butt plates came from one of ben's gundam figures from his collection in the metronomik office. thanks ben. - ellie's favorite member of 1010 is purl-hew/blue. - eloni/green is apparently the rapper of the group. - the jingle you hear from the carousel in metro division is a carnival remix of 1010's boss theme. - the numbers underneath 1010's names on the autographs are completely random.

NEON J

- neon j is a dancer. daim explains that in addition to being in the navy, dance has always been his true passion. - in the final phase of 1010's fight, he was originally supposed to control the dance moves of the factory as he was fighting you, but it was cut due to limited resources. - daim designed neon j based on ellie's designs for 1010. - neon j's factory's dance moves were all animated by ben -- no mocap needed. the factory was also his favorite thing to animate. - daim says that "neon j is to tatiana as soundwave is to megatron." basically he is extremely loyal to tatiana. - neon j was one of earliest members of nsr. - neon j seeing 1010 as his sons wasn't planned, but daim loves the concept so much that he could see it being canon. - daim says neon j's brain is "probably" still inside the monitor head. somehow. - neon j is an extrovert. - haz likes the idea of neon j being blind and using his sonar to "see" things. ben joked that the screen worked like giant glasses. - neon j originally had red dots that would pop up on his face when the sonar moved by that were meant to represent acne, and that would've been the reason why he's mostly behind the scenes.

EVE

- in mayday's side of the room when eve splits up bbj, the hands all over the walls are meant to be there to show how eve is angrier at mayday than she is at zuke. - the time signature for the music in mayday's room during the fight is 6/8, whereas in zuke's room it's 4/4. - ellie suggested a platypus shadow puppet for eve. the rest of the team seems to be on board. - eve was ben's least favorite character to animate. he said he struggled with animating her dance moves because it was something he'd never done before, and he still doesn't think he did a good enough job. - eve was born with her split skin tone. - apparently eve's near scrapping had something to do with costs. haz was the one who stopped it from happening. - eve's outfit was partly inspired by beyonce, while her jacket was partly inspired by ariana grande. the team took some inspiration from bjork, as well. - the sleeves on eve's jacket were apparently limbs at one point. - eve is an introvert.

NPCS/OTHER CHARACTERS

- part of tatiana's symbolism is how she used to be a rock star, but her flame/passion slowly burned away, and now she's just a rock, referencing how she was literally on fire as the rock star kul fyra, but now looks burnt out. - daim thinks kliff is older than tatiana, probably over 50. - in addition to the neon j dance lore mentioned above, kayane rambling about neon j after the 1010 fight was supposed to be connected to her watching neon j dance. - ben and haz's favorite npc is mia, and ellie's is dj zam. - dj zam was inspired by one of ellie's college friends, who she says "makes you feel comfortable to be around". - ellie thinks dj zam's neck tattoo says "i love mom". - amal the unicorn was inspired by lady amalthea from the 80's animated film "the last unicorn". he was originally written to be a real talking unicorn, but it was changed partially because his horn wasn't in the right spot on his head. - zed was based on game designer dzaid and has hyperacusis, a hearing disorder that makes it difficult to deal with everyday sounds. - yiruk's name is an anagram of kiryu, the protagonist of the yakuza games. - chef sunshine's design is a homage to julia child. she originally had a bigger physique, but was changed to match lylia's bubbly performance.

#no straight roads #nsr #nsr ama #madison speaks #mayday nsr #zuke nsr #dk west #dj subatomic supernova #nsr sayu #yinu nsr #1010 #neon j #eve nsr

[fauzhee10069]

JoJolion chapter 107 review (starring Higashikata Caato)

Why not? This chapter does star her.

We’re finally almost free from the crap of Caato’s hypes because she finally does something right now. This chapter is about her fight against Tooru and more about her character.

Previously related post: 

The Long-Awaited Most-Hyped Character Finally Made Her Appearance: Caato

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD!! Don’t read more if you haven’t read the newest chapter (107) yet and don’t want to get spoiled!

JJL chapter 107: Kaato Higashikata's "Attack"

First, I’d like to try her recipe.

Actually, the reason she is in Higashikata’s house right now is to deliver Jobin’s favorite dish made by her… what a lovely mother. Too bad, instead she found her son’s dead body.

This actually should debunk some Caatofags silly idea of her as an evil person who doesn’t really care about her family. When it looks like more about Jobin, I think she does care to her daughters as well when she asked them to stay in their place.

Also, the speculation of Tooru’s tricking Caato also got debunked, obviously because Yasuho is there to tell her about what was really going on.

Yasuho in this chapter mostly just explains anything happened and her explanation regarding rock-humans and New Locacaca is because she has no reason to assume that Caato already knows about these things.

I like how Caato looks calm when Tooru was pointing knife (more like saw I think) at her, those tears in her eyes are still tears of grief over Jobin’s death, not due to her fear.

read it from left to right -->

That really sounds like a villain speech and it is said by Tooru. At this point I’m getting even more conviced that he is the true main villain of part 8.

Caato then revealed her Stand, the name is 「Space Trucking」 and I have explained its newest mechanism in my other post, so I won’t go in depth in discussing her Stand here. In short, she uses her Stand to hide some of Tooru’s limbs to incapacitate him.

Apparently, the one who called her “K-Kaato-san” in the last page of previous chapter was Yasuho and Tooru also knows about her (Caato). Just like what Maako, the girlfriend of Ojiro said that the news about her murdering a child 15 years ago is a well-known sensational news in Morioh, so it is not surprising if several characters in JJL know her.

I like Caato’s composure and softness here, kinda reminds me of Jolyne… yeah, she has been compared to Jolyne numerous times, her intro in prison is definitely a Jolyne’s reference. Araki once said that Norisuke IV is the JJL version of Josuke in part 4, as his elder counterpart so, what if Caato is also the elder counterpart of Jolyne in JJL? That kinda makes sense.

Caato already knows about the New Locacaca and so, does this mean that Caato was hiding another pot of the New Locacaca?? Or is that the same pot that Tooru and Yasuho had been fighting for in previous chapters?

My guess is that it is the ‘same’ pot, look how the pot that Caato reveals does not have any fruit either. I think Caato is just playing with her Stand’s ability while talking about the New Locacaca  or… perhaps, while she looks like she is playing, she actually manages to hide and steal a part of the plants(?)

Look, a flashback of Caato and Jobin! I think it officially becomes her trait to always barge in unannounced and startled whoever was in the room. They were in Jobin’s beetle collection room where he hid the New Locacaca there.

Look at the window that still looks intact there, then this flashback happened before the fight between Jobin-Tsurugi and Ojiro.

This is so wholesome this scene basically tells that no matter how old Jobin is he is still Caato’s baby.

Okay, I’m not into symbolization but now I want to talk about it just a moment, while this could be simply a JoJo thing that Jobin was wearing such impractical design for the sake of fashion, with that outfit he basically locked his own wrist which might symbolize of being handcuffed.

If you’re willing to take a look at the flashback scene in chapter 64, Jobin started wearing such outfit when he was a teenager right before Caato got caught by the police. Is this a form of Jobin's empathy for his mother who was in prison? Even though this symbolization is slightly missed because he was already wearing that outfit just before Caato got caught.

Told ya, the window still wasn't broken yet.

So, Jobin eventually told everything to his mom, about the New Locacaca, its equivalent exchange ability, the orchard burning and Tsurugi’s involvement.. and the most important thing that’s being revealed here is that the sap has the same power as the fruit! Those beetles show that we don’t necessarily need to have the fruit to get the effect of perfect equivalent exchange!!

Also, this actively debunk those wild theory of Caato being the mastermind of everything, she did not seem to possess any Locacaca before, she did not know the existence of the New Locacaca (and possibly about the rock-humans either), she did not know what truly happened during the orchard burning, she doesn't look like she is a secret rock-wahmen either, etc.

She is not as mighty as those Caatofags want her to be, however…

…her character remains consistent since the early of her introduction, that she actually had a conflicting view with Norisuke IV regarding the family’s ethic and moral value. This is about what we call “selflessness vs selfishness” again, and Caato’s view is more dominant in influencing Jobin.

Caato is not the mastermind controlling Jobin like a puppet like those Caatofags was promoting. Everything Jobin has done in this story is of his own will, starting from his cooperation with rock-humans, the struggle of the New Locacaca and the burning orchards. However, Jobin's way of thinking, motivation and ambition have been influenced by Caato's views and how she has nurtured him.

And in this chapter, Caato is being supportive towards Jobin like she had always been (read: chapter 59 and 64). Plus, Caato and Jobin’s Stand names being references to Deep Purple’s songs may signify their close relationship.

Looks like she just basically activated her Stand on the plant, it could be hidden whenever someone tried to come and get it but it wasn’t truly activated, at least that’s what the translation implies.

read it from right to left <---

「Wonder of U」 starts appearing behind Caato, does it mean that Caato really start harming Tooru? Another new feat of her Stand’s ability that it is able to fully hide a living being, which she uses to hide her grandson Tsurugi.

She makes Tooru to do equivalent exchange with dying Tsurugi while 「Wonder of U」is seen rushing towards Caato… end in cliffhanger. Probably my favorite page here. Basically, what Caato does is ‘two birds in one stone’ movement, breaking the Higashikata family’s curse by saving her grandson while eliminating Tooru.

And what could happen next?

My thought…

This chapter shows how awesome Caato truly is, starting from her soft side as a mother to her toughness against the enemy.

Araki is really doing her well, I thought there was no need to turn her into an antagonist with great power/influence or a silly plot twist that this unassuming grannie is the mastermind behind anything.

Caatofags had once described her as a mother who directs Jobin like a puppet and supervises Tooru as her subordinate whereas in reality, Araki has been portraying the three of them in a more balanced way rather than one being above anothers.

I really like her relationship with Jobin, I once said that they would make good partners if they were to be the final antagonists after Tooru, but sadly at this point I feel that Jobin is permanently dead.

There won’t be Yoshihiro-Yoshikage(like)’s cooperation against Josuke in this part… however, Caato continues to carry out her supportive role towards Jobin by trying to fulfill his main goal of curing Tsurugi and breaking the family curse.

Even so far, I haven't considered Caato as an antagonist, I still think of her as a 'wild card' for Josuke and Yasuho.

The mystery and next chapter prediction…

If this goes well, it looks like Caato's action in doing equivalent exchange to Tooru and Tsurugi will succeed in curing Tsurugi. The cracks on Tsurugi's face seemed to be diminishing. But with the 「Wonder of U」 following behind her, it shows that Caato's life too is in danger.

Then what will happen to the fully healed Tsurugi? Considering that the fusion happened to Josefumi and Kira does not make any of them 'alive' with their consciousness and instead creates a new consciousness we called “Josuke”, the new Tsurugi might not be the Tsurugi we know all along.

Besides, the equivalent exchange that happened on Tooru and Tsurugi is an exchange between rock-human and normal human and so far we still don't know what the effect will be. Will this be the answer to Tsurugi's weird behavior in the flashforward of chapter 83?

Then I also questioned about the harvest countdown of the New Locacaca in the flashforward, that in the previous chapter (106), the fruit in the pot was already gone. But in this chapter, there could be a possibility that Caato might hide the other parts of the plant (perhaps some branches) using her cards.

I think that there is starting to appear a slight hint linking the current events to the flashforward in chapter 83.

#jojolion spoilers #chapter review #kaato higashikata #tooru jojo #tsurugi higashikata #jobin higashikata #jjba part 8 #jojo's bizarre adventure #caato

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Sk8 2 - 8 | Kemono Jihen 2 - 3 | Wave!! 2 - 5 | Back Arrow 3 - 6

Sk8 2

What’s with the filter over the recap?

These dance moves are cool (a derpy kind of cool)…but I’m seeing them all with the volume off (due to background noise), so I’ll have to find out what the audio is like later. Update: Rude-Alpha! Someone I actually do know!

I was worried about Truck-kun causing another Isekai Incident ™ there…phew…*wipes sweat off brow*

Is Langa…left-handed, perhaps? Or are left-handers not necessarily better with their left foot?

Langa’s mother’s so funny! It’s rare to see a mother who isn’t dead or just not talked about in anime.

Why is it that parody Sailor Moon transformations always happen with the buffest dudes possible…? That’s why it’s rare to get something like Boueibu, where it takes itself (semi-)seriously.

Lately, the urban aesthetic is cool. HypMic, Akudama, IWGP and now this…

Langa is 17. *takes notes on eligible bachelors, LOL*

“A huge family only embarrasses you.” – *nods*

I see! Although I don’t know anything about skateboarding, I can relate to him when he’s fixing a board up for Langa because I can see it’s Reki using his passion for a friend.

Oh, that’s why they call it Sk8 the Infinity…!

I keep calling it “wiping out” in my head when I watch…I’m no surfer, but I guess I’m more used to surfing lingo.

Hitori piledriver = piledriver by oneself ( I guess…?).

Sk8 3

I’ve never heard of this Takuma Nagatsuka (voice of Miya Chinen). He sounds like Kohei Amasaki…

Hmm…normally skateboarders wear protective gear, right? Couldn’t Langa have gotten some of that (now that I think of it)?

I guess this is also Reki’s pride as a board mechanic on the line here…never saw it that way until I thought about it like that.

I think I remember reading a comment once about Bakugo and Midoriya from BnHA – about how Bakugo seemed sluggish in his progress because he’d been training his Quirk from day 1, while Midoriya was trying to catch up. I think Chinen is in a similar situation.

I think what Chinen has is stability, above all others.

There’s a piece of paper in the back that has “supoort” (sic) written on it.

Chinen’s not…“smiling with his eyes”, you call it. In retail, you learn how to smile with the eyes even when it’s fake.

Kemono Jihen 2

Inari? Like the fox shrine?

So Shiki is a spider-guy and…what is Akira? I’ve heard whispers he’s a yukiotoko, but I don’t know at this point in time.

Kabane’s kinda short, LOL, even in comparison to Akira.

Shiki is definitely Bakugo, Spider Version…LOL.

Oh, BnHA came out in 2014 and Kemono Jihen in 2016 (manga).

Oh, that drip apparatus. I’ve only ever seen it in real life, I think – my dad uses one for his coffee.

Kemono Jihen 3

…hmm, I don’t think I’ve seen much set in Shinjuku. I think there’s Mayonaka Occult Koumuin, part of HypMic…and that might be it.

I laughed at “small meeting room”.

Apparently “biddy bait”, according to Urban Dictionary, is meant to mean “a lure for hot women”. I don’t particularly like Urban Dictionary, because the editors who make these definitions are clearly biased in some way or another while writing their definitions, unlike an actual dictionary.

Aw, come on! Why is it fire from the tail?! Fire from the mouth like a dragon is cooler!

Kabane’s getting ahead of himself! (LOL)

Just noticed Kon’s hoodie has a design that says FOX, but the X is inside the O.

…thank goodness for Shiki’s hand…

Akira’s been a bit of dead weight recently, so I hope he gets developed soon.

Back Arrow 3

I wonder if Shu Bi is asexual and/or aromantic…?

“…inherited the spirit of the former sheriff…” – That’s Atlee’s job…oh wait. It’s about the undies again…

This is fishy…this whole “paradise is beyond the canyon” thing.

Ooh, I get the feeling Shu Bi and Arrow will either come to blows with each other or fight on the same side…

Sk8 4

I wonder if episode 8 will look weird in the titles…? I mean, it will be “Sk8 8”…

I would think Reki’s straightforward emotions would be spiky shapes.

I knew women were something objectified by S, but…Langa, the deuteragonist? That’s new.

It just hit me: This would be so good with a dub…!

*Langa casually eats 10 burgers* - LOL.

“This has gotta be way too late!”

So now an anime character has stolen a motorcycle…LOL.

Back Arrow 4

The title of this episode seems to be “Is Today Yesterday’s Tomorrow?”, the service’s title that I’ve got in front of me is “Does Genius Come When Least Expected?”

This map reminds me of +Anima’s continent.

I seem to remember Boueibu was constructed as half an episode of idle talking, half fighting. Why do I bring this up? Because Back Arrow seems to be constructed similarly, episode-wise.

The reason I like the hot-blooded mech series and not the serious ones…is stupid things (<- I mean that affectionately) like Shu Bi pulling out a phone in a world like this.

What’s with the shot of Elsha’s butt…? I know it seems somewhat justified, considering the position her Briheight’s in…but the leery angle is a bit annoying.

…I keep thinking Bit will get a Briheight one day and he’ll be like Zenitsu – powerful only when he doesn’t know it.

Shin Fusui, right? “Ren Sin” kinda makes sense, given we didn’t know any better, but so does “Ren Shin”…Sin as a first name though…? Anyways, it’s Shin Fusui, Kei Suiitsu, Nen Kasei and Ko Chisen. Their names match their elements.

I never realised how skimpy Kei’s outfit was until she was without her Briheight on the ground…eesh, women and their skimpy outfits in this universe…

Wave!! 2

I’m going to differentiate this anime from the other Wave (Wave, Listen to Me) with 2 exclamation marks…also, I’m not able to mark this episode down until 4 episodes have gone, or until AniList makes a TV entry for this. Update: AniList did eventually make an entry for the TV version (i.e. the version I'm working off) of this anime.

Nalu was playing an invisible ukulele even in the bath, LOL.

I noticed Masaki keeps his corgi between his legs so that the dog doesn’t run away. That’s probably only a thing dog owners do, because I don’t think anyone inexperienced with pets would know if they could do such a thing.

Why do I get the feeling the symbol on one of Masaki’s shoulders is (meant to be) Rip Curl…?

I read some of the 4koma for this series (found on the website) and…Sho’s so cute, envying this ‘warm family”. Nalu still has his ukulele, even at the dining table, LOL.

LOL, random rainbow. Every time I read subs about Masaki extolling surfing, I’m reminded of what I call “translator’s high”. It’s the feeling of working under deadlines and being inspired to churn out a high-quality release.

…well, this is a surfing anime. I should have known this would talk about places that get lots of hot weather and big waves (like Australia) because Joel Parkinson is from Tweed Heads, Sydney.

Who’s Jojo Pardinen?

Why does Masaki call Tanaka “Murphy”?

Wave!! 3

Oh, so that man is Masaki’s dad…Right.

The real spirit of characters is shown after they’re defeated…that’s my thoughts, anyway.

I know what a repechage is…in fact, I learnt about that through the FP and M manga.

Oh! It’s “Nalu”, but written “Naru”.

Wave!! 4

Is there a 3rd place in these competitions?

Wait, so the guy in the pink shirt is Masaki’s dad, but then the Hawaiian shirt dude owns the shop. Am I right on this now…?

There is a magical girl called Sally, IIRC, and the description does match.

LOL, I like how the teacher is so indecisive.

Back Arrow 5

Shu Bi’s so pretty…I had my eyes on him from the beginning and now that’s paying me back tenfold.

I wonder if Shu will ever get a Briheight…? (I wanna see it!)

Back Arrow 6

Pretty boy farms!!! It sounds like abuse in a sense, but it also sounds like a dream (?!)

Bit reminds me of Sousuke (Classicaloid).

Oh, so the funky gold hat-thing with the purple ribbon is what the head diviner wears.

LOL wut…his name is “Bruh”? *tries to hide stupid smirk on face*

Wait, if it’s a pretty boy farm, how do you produce new pretty boys without women…? *scratches head*

Question: What is Gote’s conviction?

Wave!! 5

Kadomatsu (the bamboo), huh? Must be New Year’s. Likewise, the bush warbler (uguisu) means it’s spring.

Sk8 5

Milk, straight from the carton…*sigh* Boys… Update: (This is referring to how guys are typically shown chugging straight from the carton. As you can tell from the comment, I don't particularly like it.)

I like how suddenly, all the barriers come down for these guys, even though Kaoru said at one point they shouldn’t be coming down.

Battle of Ganryujima.

Sk8 6

…this woman Reki has the hots for is going to be a dude…that’s normally how this joke works.

Oh well, that was also a funny moment.

“Dangerous stuff is forbidden.”

Hiromi in a swimsuit is…vaguely disturbing.

Kamata? Y’mean, she has the word for “scythe” in her name and she’s a “mantis woman”? Makes sense.

Even on their day off, the Sk8 crew are fun to be with.

Sk8 7

Whoa! Straight to the OP!

…I’m suddenly scared. What if Langa’s mother gets put in danger…? (Like in Kanon.)

Sk8 8

I want Langa to punch Adam. In the face. Now!

…is Snake…Ainosuke’s butler? I can sort of guess from the hair…and the matching theme [of Adam, Eve and the snake in paradise]…

It is the butler!

#simulcast commentary #sk8 the infinity #Back Arrow #Wave!! Surfing Yappe! #Kemono Jihen #Chesarka watches Back Arrow #Chesarka watches Wave!! Surfing Yappe! #Chesarka watches Kemono Jihen #Chesarka watches Sk8

[starwarsnonsense]

Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2020

Now I’ve got my embarrassingly late ‘Best of 2019′ list out of the way, I can finally proceed to the list that’s probably more exciting - my most anticipated films of 2020!

This list excludes films that have already been screened at festivals (otherwise, stuff like Saint Maud would be here). It’s also somewhat analogous to groping about for a light switch in the dark - these lists very rarely accurately predict my ultimate favourites for the year, so it’s more of a fun speculative exercise. Hopefully this puts some intriguing-looking films on your radar for the year ahead! 

1. Dune (dir. Denis Villeneuve)

Plot: The story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people.

Why be excited? The reasons to be excited about Dune should be pretty self-evident - it’s directed by one of the greatest filmmakers working today (Villeneuve’s Incendies and Blade Runner 2049 are all-timers for me), and is based on one of the best science-fiction novels ever written. The cast -  Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, and more - is absolutely stacked with talent. There’s every reason to believe that this will be something special, and I couldn’t be more pleased that Villeneuve is the man responsible for filling that Star Wars-shaped hole in the December release schedule.

2. Annette (dir. Leos Carax)

Plot: A stand-up comedian (Adam Driver), and his opera singer wife (Marion Cotillard), have a two-year-old daughter with a surprising gift.

Why be excited? You may not have heard of him, but Leos Carax is one of the most exciting directors working - he only makes around one film a decade, but the films he does make tend to be very special. I’ve only seen one film of his - Lovers on the Bridge - but that was filled with such ecstatic romance and wondrous visuals that it made me tremendously excited for Annette. Annette is a top-to-bottom musical with songs by American duo Sparks (if you know them for anything, it will be ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us’), and said songs will be delivered by Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. It goes without saying that both actors are extremely talented performers with great voices (see Driver in Marriage Story and Cotillard in Nine for evidence), and I’m looking forward to seeing how they demonstrate their talents here.

3. Last Night in Solo (dir. Edgar Wright)

Plot: A young girl (Thomasin McKenzie), passionate in fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer (Anya Taylor-Joy). But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences.

Why be excited? I’m not the biggest Edgar Wright fan, but I admire him greatly and the premise of Last Night in Soho is like cat-nip to me. Speaking to Empire, Wright explained the story as follows: “I’m taking a premise whereby you have a character who, in a sort of abstract way, gets to travel in time. And the reality of the decade is maybe not what she imagines. It has an element of ‘be careful what you wish for’.” I’m a sucker for a good, old-fashioned high concept, especially when said films play with genre and really challenge the viewer. The two female leads - Thomasin McKenzie (JoJo Rabbit, Leave No Trace) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Emma) - are among the very best young actors working today, and the supporting cast features absolute legends such as Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. Whether it’s successful or not, this film feels like a genuinely original prospect and I’m eager to see how it turns out.

4. The Green Knight (dir. David Lowery)

Plot: A fantasy re-telling of the medieval tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Why be excited? There has been a sad lack of films based on mythology in recent years - or, to be more accurate, there has been a sad lack of films that attempt to honour what the myths were actually trying to convey. The stunning trailer for Green Knight promises a film that genuinely engages with its source material, and is just as interested in the psychological truths of the tale as the spectacle of its fantastical scenarios. Dev Patel is an extremely talented actor coming off another great movie in The Personal History of David Copperfield, and the supporting cast (Alicia Vikander!) appear to be fully committed to their parts. I’m excited to see a true myth on the big screen again, and David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Old Man & The Gun) can be trusted to give an old tale a new sense of vitality. 

5. The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson)

Plot: The staff of a European publication decides to publish a memorial edition highlighting the three best stories from the last decade: an artist sentenced to life imprisonment, student riots, and a kidnapping resolved by a chef.

Why be excited? It’s a Wes Anderson movie! Of course I’m excited! In all seriousness, the trailer was all I needed to get hyped about this. It’s clearly Anderson’s quintessential style, but it also shows flashes of some very bold and striking compositions (yes, I’m thinking of Chalamet on the back of that motorcycle) that you wouldn’t necessarily think of in relation to him. I’m intrigued by the prospect of there being stories nested within a story, which feels like the perfect choice for the structure of a film about a newspaper. The cast features all of Anderson’s old favourites (Swinton! Murray! McDormand!), as well as some exciting new additions (Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Christoph Waltz, among others) that feel so well-suited to his style it’s surprising they haven’t worked together before. Bring on all those immaculately composed shots and exquisite colour palettes.

6. Tenet (dir. Christopher Nolan)

Plot: Unknown. The project is described as an action epic revolving around international espionage.

Why be excited? I hate to sound repetitive, but ... it’s a Christopher Nolan movie. That alone is enough to be hyped about this. Details of the plot are vague for now, but the teaser suggests the sort of intelligent, high-concept film-making we’ve come to expect from Nolan. John David Washington - who impressed in BlacKkKlansman - is a great choice for the lead, and I also love that Tenet will feature Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki (among my favourite actors) in prominent roles. There’s not much else to say given how little we know about this, but suffice to say I’ll be there on day one!

7. Wonder Woman 1984 (dir. Patty Jenkins)

Plot: Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) comes into conflict with the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the 1980s and finds a formidable foe by the name of the Cheetah (Kristen Wiig).

Why be excited? The original Wonder Woman was an absolute delight, and I couldn’t be more pleased that Patty Jenkins is back to continue Diana’s story. The decision to pick up with Diana in the 1980s is most intriguing (and paves the way for all kinds of exciting choices when it comes to the music and the fashions), especially since it looks like the film is actually going to explore the implications of being an immortal being in a mortal world. 

8. Raya and the Last Dragon (dir. Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins)

Plot: A lone warrior from the fantasy kingdom of Kumandra teams up with a crew of misfits in her quest to find the Last Dragon and bring light and unity back to their world.

Why be excited? The animation scene in 2020 looks kind of ... blah at the moment, with the notable exception of Raya and the Last Dragon. The setting was described by the film’s producer as  "a reimagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization that venerated the mythical dragons for their power and their wisdom”, and that alone is enough to fire up my imagination. Off the back of Moana and the Frozen films (which I all unabashedly love), I trust Disney Animation to instil this with plenty of colour and verve.

9. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (dir. Charlie Kaufman)

Plot: An unexpected detour turns a couple’s road trip into a terrifying journey through their fragile psyches.

Why be excited? Directed by Charlie Kaufman (writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), I’m Thinking of Ending Things is based on a prize-winning novel. However, despite the pedigree the main reason I’m looking forward to this is Jessie Buckley. Buckley gave a star-making performance in Beast a few years ago, and has since proven herself an actor of immense talent and skill (see Wild Rose for proof of what a powerhouse she is). I’m excited to see her career continue to go from strength to strength, and I’m Thinking of Ending Things seems poised to be a great showcase for her.

10. The Last Duel (dir. Ridley Scott)

Plot: King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) settle his dispute with his squire (Adam Driver) by challenging him to a duel.

Why be excited? Ridley Scott is a bit of a mixed bag for me, and has never come close to reaching the heights of Alien and Blade Runner with his recent work. Nonetheless, against my better judgement I can’t help but be excited by the prospect of a medieval epic with Scott at the helm. The acting talent attached to The Last Duel is top-notch, and I’m particularly fond of Jodie Comer (of Killing Eve fame) and Adam Driver (do you really need me to say more?). There’s a very real danger of the highly sensitive plot (the ‘dispute’ at the heart of the story concerns an accusation of rape, the truth of which is to be determined with a duel) being mishandled by Scott, but the involvement of screenwriter Nicole Holofcener gives me some hope. This could turn out to be a misfire, but my hope is that it will, at the very least, be interesting.

#dune #annette #last night in soho #green knight #the french dispatch #timothee chalamet #Adam driver #jessie buckley #the last duel #i'm thinking of ending things #raya and the last dragon #wonder woman 1984 #tenet #films #2020 in film #cinema

[loviswriting]

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Bizarre Beach! Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis!

JJBA part 4 fan fic. Chapter 2: Sand in the water, Stand in the water!

Summary: During his stay in Morioh, Jotaro needs to come up with a subject for his doctoral thesis in marine biology! Strange happenings in the waters of Morioh beach piques Jotaros interest, making him investigate strange sightings of a mermaid, followed by injured surfers! In hopes of finding a subject for his thesis he teams up with Kishibe Rohan and Joseph Joestar to solve the mysterious happenings! Is it the work of an actual mermaid or is there a Stand user lurking around the corner?!

Number of chapters: 9

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Total word count for all chapters: 12 749.

Chapter 2 word count: 1715.

Authors note: this is my first fan fic, I tried my best and hope you will enjoy it! You may also read it on my Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20937995/chapters/49778429

The next day Jotaro went back to the beach, which today hosted a festival, with lots of people, vendors and activities. None of it was of interest to Jotaro, he was there with a purpose and hired a small motorboat to go out into the waters. He drove around for two hours in the beautiful blue water, without noticing anything out of the ordinary, only seeing occasional surfers and swimmers closer to the beach. He did, however, notice how much trash that was floating around in the water in several places; plastic bags, old newspapers, cans and other things. Despicable, no respect for nature, he thought and sighed. If he weren’t able to find another subject for his thesis, he might just give up and write his thesis about the effects of trash floating around in the oceans, a subject many already written… his thesis would wind up being what its subject would be: trash. Just as he was on his way back to the beach, his face was hit with what he was currently thinking about; trash. A wrapping from some fast food had flown right into his face. He wiped it away, disgusted with some ketchup now on his cheek, and failed to catch it as it flew away in the wind, fuck, Jotaro thought with a sting of guilt for second-hand littering. Suddenly, his boat rocked a bit and waves were starting to splash wildly around him and he started to hear distant screams from the beach, which he was fairly close to by now. He saw people getting up from the water and running away from the beach. Jotaro heard a sudden roar behind him and quickly turned his head around and saw a huge wave of water quickly coming towards the beach seemingly out of nowhere. The edge of the wave was to swallow him in seconds, forcing him to act hastily. “Star Platinum!” Jotaro shouted and his fierce blue and purple Stand manifested, as he accelerated the boat and steered it to move horizontally along the wave, “ZA WARUDO!” A shockwave burst out from Star Platinum as time around them froze, but the boat Jotaro drove still sped on to ride alongside the wave’s front, leaving an empty trench in the water behind the boat. Star Platinum rose its fists as they approached the wave, “ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!!” the Stand shouted and delivered punches into both the wave and the water in front of it, until Jotaro finally made it to the other end of the wave, reaching his limit of stopping time. “Resume time!” Jotaro said and the gears of time started to turn once again, making the big wave burst from Star Platinums punches, whilst also being stopped by a smaller opposing wave created from the punches directed at the water in front of the wave. The empty trench from the boat sucked it all up, creating a broad geyser turning everything into a shower before the water stilled once again. The panic on the beach started to settle down and Jotaro slowed down as he went into the beach to return the boat. That wave was not natural, he thought, looking out over the ocean, which had gone from calm to calamity in seconds. Maybe he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that this was the work of a Stand, and suddenly he realized... Stand users are drawn to other Stand users. And this one seemed to be in the beaches water; the beach that Jotaro frequently visited. “Shit,” Jotaro sweated and thought, I’M the Stand user that is being drawn to the other Stand user!

Jotaro decided to go back to the hotel and regroup his facts and impressions. He knew the following: - People had been attacked out of nowhere with no provocation given quite severe injuries. - Attacked people had seen, what seemed to be, a mermaid. - He himself had been attacked by a huge wave that came out of nowhere without warning, that probably was the attack of a Stand user.

He sat at the table in his hotel room, with a cup of tea, pondering these thoughts. How could they be puzzled together? Logic dictated that the mermaid could not be a Stand, as normal humans could not have been able to see it, had that been the case. So the mermaid could instead potentially be a Stand user – if it was a mermaid or just someone mistaken for a mermaid. He knew he once had battled a water Stand and held his breath for a long time, so it was possible there were more Stand users with that lung capacity. But why would a Stand user attack normal civilians in the water? Did it want to lure out Jotaro and his friends? He had to find out the reason and to do that he had to find the user. He hoped it was not related to Kira and that it could be settled peacefully in the case that the user was an actual mermaid. He was not fond of the thought of beating up what could be a great subject for his thesis. Jotaro picked up the phone next to him and dialled a number, “Hey. It’s Jotaro. … No, JOTARO. JOJO. … Meet me at the beach tomorrow at 12am. … No, the BEACH. The B-E-A-C-H. … Good,” he hung up the phone and sighed, “Yare yare…” this was a gamble but he had to try it.

And so the next day came, and Jotaro made his way to the beach. He looked out over the setting to observe the surroundings. The festival was still on for another day, but today there were a lot of lifeguards around and warning signs to not get too far out in the water. Also, the coast guard had a boat patrolling. Yesterday’s sudden violent wave had made the town cautious and the number of people out enjoying themselves was slightly fewer than yesterday. Good, thought Jotaro, in the events of encountering the possible Stand again he would prefer there to be fewer people in the risk of being injured. “Aah, there you are, Jotaro-kun!” an old familiar voice called behind him, Jotaro turned around and saw his company had finally arrived, his old grandpa Joseph Joestar, but he was not the only one approaching them. “Good morning, Jotaro-san,” Kishibe Rohan spoke, walking together with Joseph. “Rohan-san?” Jotaro said surprised. “I ran into Rohan-kun at the bus stop! He was also heading for the beach!” Joseph answered before Rohan could say anything. “Yes, and I helped you get on the right bus... I thought that the recent activities happening here at the beach might be a good inspiration for my stories!” Rohan said and stroked a pose, sketch block in hand. “I see,” Jotaro said, not very surprised over the mangakas motive for being here but also not very interested either, “Listen up, old man. I believe there is a Stand user in the water. I need your help tracking it down.” “A sand user in the water, Iggy's alive?! OH MY GOOOD!” Joseph burst out in shock, putting his hands to his cheek. “Joseph, please, Iggy's been dead for years… I said a Stand user in the water, not sand user…” “Huuuuhhh?? Sand in the water??” Joseph said confused, “is there a problem with that?” “No, a STAND in the water,” Jotaro said louder. “Hahaha! Silly boy, you’re not standing in the water, you’re standing at the beach,” Joseph turned to Rohan, “he is standing at the beach, right? My eyesight has gotten worse lately, I wish it was as good as my hearing…” he took off his glasses and wiped them off at his jacket. “Uhh…” Rohan had a lack of words. “STAND USER. WATER. FIND THEM,” Jotaro said irritated, as Star Platinum manifested behind him, pointing towards the water. “There is a Stand user in the water?! Why didn’t you say so! We have to find them!” Joseph eagerly said, starting to walk towards the beach. “Joseph, wait!” Jotaro walked up to him, “I’ll take a boat out into the water and lure the Stand out, then you will use Hermit Purple to track it down and write a map in the sand and then we will come back and see its location on the map. I suspect it is a short-range power Stand with the ability to manipulate water. Therefore, I believe it is the safest choice that you stay at the beach.” Joseph looked up at him and nodded with a serious expression on his face, “Got it.” Rohan cleared his throat, “Ahem, excuse me, but may I be of assistance? I cannot see a better opportunity to observe these happenings than to be on the boat as well,” he politely asked, then changed his tone, “and if there really is a Stand user…” Jotaro nodded at him. Looking back at how he barely made it yesterday, he could need some extra help, although his motives were to only find the Stand user and not fight it – but if it were hostile he might have no other choice than to face off with it. “Let’s get the boat,” Jotaro said to Rohan, nodding towards the boat shack close by. “Oh, before you go,” Joseph said, “Could you spare me a paper and some Ink, Rohan-kun?” “Sure,” Rohan answered and pulled out a spare bottle of ink, handing it over to Joseph with a couple of papers, “Why?” Joseph smirked, “Just in case, you never know what may come in handy! Or I might get bored and feel like making a drawing!” he then let out a laugh which turned into a cough, “God I’m starting to get too old for this…” Rohan and Jotaro made their way to the boat shack, “Are you sure he is fit for this…?” Rohan asked worried, feeling like Joseph wasn’t the most reliable, although he knew Joseph at least had paid in time for a drawing commission he ha made recently. Jotaro smiled faintly, “No worries, the old man may not have a body as ripped and sweet as back in the days, but when it comes to getting things done, he never lets you down. Let’s go!”

CHAPTER 2 END.

Thanks for reading!

#jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #writeblr #writing #jjba part 4 #jjba diu #diamond is unbreakable #fan fic #jjba fan fic #jotaro

[therska]

Character Creation Tag

I was tagged by @bookishdiplodocus :D Thank you so much! This was so fun!! I love making up characters, and background stories!!! This is maybe why I never finish one story... Ups x’D

I’m gonna do Johannes, my boi, because he is such a character and need some love.

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

It was his nationality, then came his name. And that was all I had for years.

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Johannes is his own and live in a universe in his own mind. Please call me when he’s finally broken the glass wall and seen that there’s things out side of the bobble!

3. How did you choose their name?

All the names I chose has a meaning. Johannes or John in English, is at the same time the crazy cousin of Jesus living in the desert baptizing people, John the Evangelist and John "the disciple whom Jesus loved". How this all fits in one person is a bit more complicated.

4. In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts?

I think his family background. After all he is a baron.

5. Is there any significance behind their hair colour?

No, not at all. I think it is black, but I have changed it several times.

6. Is there any significance behind their eye colour?

Nope, the eye colour is something he inherited from his dad, but not much more than that.

7. Is there any significance behind their height?

He certainly is higher than my other characters, but I refuse to call it a pun!

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

All my characters has some of me in them, and I can relate to a lot of his feelings.

9. Are they based off of you, in some way?

Yep, there is.

10. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?

I really don’t know my characters that well at first. They are like people you meet on the street, it’s not the first thing you ask some one. I think I know now, but sexuality is not a straight line, so maybe he doesn’t know it himself either.

11. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: Writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

I find it hard to draw him, and especially him. He’s been there quit a while, but his face and his style was very blurred for a long time. Maybe it has to do with me not being too much into look of any person, but into their stories and personality.

12. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?

I have started before the canon events and I have some story line after the first book. But I need to focus on the first book x’D

13. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

He’s grown up, he can make decisions on his own. And he is a baron. His not just a spoiled runaway kid.

14. What is something about your OC that can make you laugh?

Even thought he is very athletic and is opinionated he is quit whimsy. Ending up in the most strangest and dangerous situations.

15. What is something about your OC can make you cry?

That I killed of his whole family. (I’m sorry JoJo!)

16. Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story?

Yes! I made his foster parents twins in the first draft. I have change that now, but I have no idea how on earth I ever could believe that was a great idea...

17. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

He has two castles! That fox tail didn’t care to tell about the one in France!

18. What is your favourite fact about your OC?

He has a stolen painting over his bed.

***

I made this aesthetic to catch his very shy persona.

I’m not sure if your already tagged, but I’ll tag @writing-is-ruining-my-life @writingwordsanddrawingpictures @eternalwritingstudent

#tag game #my wips #character creation tag

[liesonthefloordramatically]

TELL ME ABOUT WHY LINEAR TIME I S FAKE AND YOU CAN ONLY TRUST YOUR FISTS!!!!

Okay, listen, here’s a much longer and more heartfelt answer than you probably wanted BUT:

So a whole bunch of factors went into “linear time is fake; you can only trust your fists” but the ones related to linear time being fake:

I decided shortly after writing “Once all of this is over” that I wanted to write more about trauma in JJBA because…I don’t feel like I have to explain this (I’ll read anything as a trauma narrative if you let me)

but because I love weird superpower nonsense, I wanted to specifically write about the interactions of superpowers and trauma

this led to me coming up with one fic for every JoJo (I’ve managed to only write the ones for Joseph, Jotaro, and Jolyne [sort of], because I got so frickin’ sidetracked by how much I enjoyed writing Jotaro)

I had a moment where I was like “wow, Jotaro stopping time feels pretty similar to something that I do when I’m having a bad case of the good ol’ PTSD, where I will literally dissociate so hard that I just…stop.”  (It’s hard to describe, but imagine if you just froze in place for 20-60 seconds, including not breathing or blinking, but had no real awareness of it happening until you unfroze.)  I think I’ve also talked about this elsewhere, but the feeling of Time Becoming Weird is very much a PTSD Feel for me–the sense of foreshortened future or that the future doesn’t exist, that time is cyclical, that nothing happens linearly and the past is always omnipresent, etc.

So the only scene I had in mind when starting the fic (it was originally planned as a one-scene fic! what a naive child I was!) was Polnareff asking Jotaro about the timestop and time grinding to a halt for a moment–not because time was literally stopped but because Jotaro was experiencing a PTSD-related stutter through time

which, once I’d written that, I went, okay, but it feels like there’s more of a story to tell here about what it’s like to be someone for whom linear time Doesn’t Work–both because you can literally stop time and because you’re traumatized and your trauma has removed you from time.  So then I came up with the start of chapter two–time looping back on itself over and over.  (An aside: the way Jotaro experiences PTSD and the way I personally experience PTSD are very different, but there are a couple of nuggets in there that are similar to my experience, and the second paragraph of chapter 2 is absolutely one of them.)  And then I started adding more from there–I think the first scene in chapter 4, where Jotaro sees Polnareff in the hospital bed and the narrative immediately jumps back to a parallel scene with Kakyoin, was one of the next things I wrote.

Needless to say, I very quickly realized that this fic was going to be way longer than the 2k I originally imagined it to be (wwwwwwwww), and I decided that since it was going to be longer, I could do some cool, fun, weird narrative stuff with it–specifically, in this case, doubling down on the narrative structure reflecting Jotaro’s experience of time.

(If you are reading carefully, you may notice that there are A LOT of scenes and narration mirroring each other in the two halves of the fic–this is very much intentional, as I sat down and actually physically charted out the whole fic once I had a draft done.  If I did it right, basically every narrative thread that comes up in the first two chapters is looped back to again in the last two chapters.)

and then, of course, re: only being able to trust your fists:

So I’ve already talked about Jotaro’s relationship to linear time (which I really should have tagged as a & relationship and yet I didn’t because even I’m not that nerdy) but the other big chunk of the fic is obviously Jotaro’s relationship to Star Platinum.

I obviously have my own weird niche interpretation of their relationship, which was heavily influenced by: Jotaro apparently not using the timestop for ten years (referenced in the first episode of DIU), Jotaro’s suspicion toward Star Platinum at the start of SDC, the MASSIVE ARROWS pointing to Stands being spirit possession (or, at least, Jotaro understanding them as spirit possession), etc.

but I also very much see Jotaro as someone who–especially after SDC–is unwilling to rely on anyone other than himself (and, by extension, unwilling to trust anything but his own body), so I imagined that fundamental distrust extending to his own Stand

and then the question became: how do you coexist with something that’s an inseparable part of you but that you also cannot trust?

This is probably pretty obvious, but I imagine Star Platinum being very similar to PTSD–both in the obvious “these superpowers look like PTSD” way (hypervigilance! linear time becoming fake!) but also in the sense that I think having PTSD can very much be like coexisting with this thing that is trying to help you (the point of PTSD is that it’s your brain trying to help you avoid being in the same situation again!) but that is actually messing up your life really badly because it came crashing into you when your life hadn’t been built with space to accommodate its presence.

So I really wanted to play with the idea of Star Platinum as this alien yet friendly presence–but friendly doesn’t necessarily mean good for you, and friendly doesn’t mean that you don’t resent its intrusion.  An invader is an invader, regardless of whether its intentions are good.

There are obviously very clear parallels in spirit possession narratives (where people struggle with the possessing spirit before eventually finding an equilibrium) and certain types of trauma narratives (where you have this horrible, toxic thing that you’re carrying around with you, and the only way you’re going to be able to go on is if you build space in your life to accommodate it and find a new equilibrium), so I leaned hard into that.

“you can only trust your fists” also refers specifically to the super somatic way Jotaro experiences PTSD–if you look at the way it’s described throughout the fic, it tends to be very visceral bodily sensations rather than feelings or emotions.  This is partially because I do genuinely think that’s how Jotaro would experience PTSD (I could write a whole essay on Jotaro’s relationship to his own body but consider example A: his plan in almost every situation is “get real close and then punch”), but also because I very, very rarely see PTSD written as a somatic experience rather than an emotional one.  And PTSD can be a somatic experience!  For some people, it’s something that you carry in your body, that affects the way you inhabit, move through, and engage with space.

I didn’t actually have a title for the fic for quite a while–it was “Jotaro fic 2″ in my GDocs for a long, long time (we’re talking months).  I saw something that said “academia is fake; you can only trust your fists” like…four years ago??? And immediately was like, “Oh, this is real and true,” and then just adapted that for various other situations.  I think “linear time is fake; you can only trust you fists” specifically was spawned in a conversation (with Rowan, possibly?), but it’s something that I started saying because it’s relatable nonsense, my favorite kind of nonsense.  And then there was a point at which I was explaining the fic to someone via keywords (I have keywords and key concepts for every fic I write, often before I have a story), and I jokingly said, “It’s basically ‘linear time is fake; you can only trust your fists.’”  And I thought that was so funny that I immediately changed my draft title to that, and then I stared at it too much and it just…stuck.

On one hand, I’m like…90% sure that there are people who have seen the title on AO3 and gone “oh definitely not this pile of hot nonsense” and skipped over it immediately, but on the other hand…no regrets.  

anyway, LINEAR TIME IS FAKE; YOU CAN ONLY TRUST YOUR FISTS

#LINEAR TIME IS FAKE; YOU CAN ONLY TRUST YOUR FISTS #god I am so sorry for this WALL OF TEXT but HERE YOU GO #roughly 0.000001% of the things I can say about this fic ksjdfouweurldsjfliuwoudsg #ask Queenie #Queenie actually says something on this blog #parallelism palooza: the journey #also I should probably tag this #been there done that burned the t shirt #I don't know how much titles matter to people when they're selecting fic.......but if I were someone who cared about titles #I would absolutely look at linear time is fake and be like wow......no.......... #meta is fake; you can only trust your fists

[redgodredgod]

JJBA Writing Prompts

These are just some prompts that I will probably never have the motivation to write. Feel free to use, edit, and no need to credit.

.....

Prompt 1:

Reader gets sick and all the Brando family members take care of the Reader.

I actually wrote a fic on this but it's incredibly rushed and I was sick when writing it. I don't think I'll ever truly write it again but if anyone wants to go right ahead.

Prompt 2:

Phantom Blood but Dio has Anxiety.

As someone who has Anxiety I always found it funny (and exhausting) how much I overreacted to such simple situations and things that weren't even happening. In mind I wanted this story to be a comedy but please feel free to change it up.

Prompt 3:

Modern AU where All the JoJo's and Villains have a extremely extra af paintball or waterballon competition.

Now this is one I created on a whim but damn is it a good idea. I also imagine Jotaro somehow ends up ruining DIO'S eyeliner or makeup and DIO going bat-shit crazy about it.

Prompt 4:

Kindergarten AU. I didn't exactly have how I wanted to the story to go out but I did make a role list if anyone is interested. But I do have bits that are Reader Insert below the list.

Students:

Josuke (Joseph's child)

Okuyasu (Keicho's little Brother)

Koichi (Canon parents)

Jolyne (Jotaro's little sister)

Giorno (Child of Dio)

Johnny (Child of Jonathan)

Gyro (Valentine's Child)

Donatelli (Child of Dio)

Rikiel (Child of Dio)

Ungalo (Child of Dio)

Wammu (Child of Kar's)

Trish (Child of Diavolo)

Narancia (Child of Abbacchio)

Mista (Child of Bucciarati)

Gappy (Little brother of Josefumi and Kira, Child of Mamezuku Rai)

Weather Report (Little brother of Pucci)

Anasui (Hermés Child)

Foo Fighters (Hermés Child)

Boingo (Oingo's little Brother)

Hayato ('Kira's' Child)

Emporio (Y/N's Adoptive Child)

Mikitaka

Other:

Kira (Vice Principal)

Jonathan (Principal)

Rohan (Art Teacher)

Kakyoin (Student Councillor)

Tonio (School Chef)

Stroheim (Gym Teacher)

Bucciarati (Student Council)

Iggy (School pet and Mascot)

Sandman (History Teacher)

Reader ends up being Josuke's hero: Reader meets up with their squad and gets drunk. Reader's friends mess around with makeup and jokes about how Reader looks like a delinquent. Reader puts on a pompadour and clique outfit. While drunk Reader goes out into the snowy night to buy more beer but gets into a fight halfway. Reader continues walking and helps Josuke and his Mother to help the car move again.

Weather Report hates his brother Pucci and Reader tries to help fix their relationship.

Reader is like Hella old and actually taught the kid's parents yet looks young as if they using Harmon.

Prompt 5:

This prompt is a little more dark I guess but not really. The story behind this prompt is that I've seen make fic's (no hate tho) about DIO finding and taking care of Giorno. But yet many of the fic's rarely include the other children of DIO.

So the prompt is basically: Ungalo, Rikiel, and Donatello meeting each other in Highschool and finding out that their all related to each other. They slowly become good friends and brothers to each other and basically support each other. Ya know that good sibling stuff 👌

I guess this prompt also came from the fact that I feel scammed from Part 6 since my baby's didn't get to shine just as much as Giorno. But that's just a personal opinion.

Also I was going to name this fic: The Other Side of Paradise (Inspired by the song from GlassAnimals)

Prompt 6:

A little background for this prompt is that I always thought Jotaro and Midler would make a good couple of maybe the circumstances were different. But sadly I also feel scammed from not seeing more of her.

Prompt: Reader is child of Midler and instantly falls in love with Jotaro on first sight. The Midler showed Reader a picture of Jotaro and told her of the story about him. Reader grows up looking for Jotaro and believing that he is their 'Prince'. Reader gives off a Yandere vibe but will not go to the extremes. Story then takes place in Morioh (however you spell it) and Reader spends all of her free time with Jotaro or either babysitting Jolyne. Jotaro is aware that Reader likes him but doesn't feel the same way.

I planned for the story to end with Reader looking up to Jotaro rather than being in 'Love' with him but eh.

Prompt 7:

A story in which Johnny has depression and Diego helps him through it.

Yeah I'm a huge JoDie shipper yet I'm also not?? It's confusing but I enjoy their relationship with each other in canon. But to be truthful this was more of a fic for me to vent on. (Don't worry I'm seeing a therapist.)

I actually wrote a bit of the fic here so feel free to use or go off on:

Johnny stared up at the ceiling as he was left alone with his thoughts. The music from his headphones didn't quite reach his ears as it faded into nothing but background noise.

He had tried distracting himself before the 'voices' got to him but yet again in his life he was too slow. So now he was hearing the usual words that his father spoke years ago and faces that pop up showing nothing but disgust to him. He would have done the usual and cried himself to sleep or popped pills to make him forget. But right now he was too emotionally exhausted to care anymore.

With his mind covered with dark clouds he wished he wasn't so pitiful. He wasn't sure what was causing all of these waves of emotions but he had a good guess on what it was. He probably should get help for these problems but didn't see that it would do much. Nor did he think he deserved it. Besides he already had enough on his records with being paralegic he didn't need to be put down as crazy as well.

It felt strange really. How empty he felt towards the world yet anything could set him off into a fit of anger. Gyro would always help calm him down and would tell one of his 'jokes' to help him feel better. Johnny cringed at the memories before pushing them to the back of his mind. 'Its not like he's around anymore anyways....' He thought with his mouth going dry.

#writing prompts #jjba #JoJo's bizarre adventure #x reader #reader insert #I was going to post this on AO3 but it wouldn't do it

[hellotinywonder]

(re)Generation 2018: meet your heroes.

DAY THE FIRST, Wednesday:

Snow. Darnit.  I’m going delay my trip a day.

DAY TWO, Thursday:

I got up at 5:30a, trekked down to my conveniently already-packed car through the snow, but the streets were clear, and I began my drive westward and northward. Dawn over snowy mountains is spectacular.

I visited with puppeteer friends in Richmond, saw their local makerspace, and hung out with an old friend from my touring days and her new dog, Dave, a rescued sweetheart from Puerto Rico.

DAY THREE, Friday:

Off to DC, with literally NO traffic. I had brunch with the incredible JoJo (Burlesque Poetess), who is a Doctor Who nerd of equal or greater value, and extended bandfamily from ten years ago.  It’s been so great to reconnect and talk art and ideas and nerdy references. And how we engage with the universe, and how sometimes the universe engages right back.

After brunch I headed to visit my friend Matt and his wife.  It was great.  I met Matt a few years ago at a convention, all because I had PuppetCapaldi with me, Matt used to write and draw for Doctor Who comics, and has since become one of my closest art friends and advisors and person to send random texts to in a crisis.  Good people, but this is the first time we’ve hung out in person since our initial meeting.  It was great.  A few hours later I was off to Baltimore.

It took 3 hours. Which didn’t mean much to me, as I don’t drive DC to Baltimore often.  But yes… I later learned it should be a 45 min trip. I parked eventually and made my way to the hotel for ReGen.  I knew only one person going in, and I promptly sought him out: Drew Meyer.  I snuck into the back of his panel (it’s worth mentioning that I met Drew the same day I met Matt, and PuppetCapaldi did those introductions too) and tried to use context clues to make out what it was about.  I got as far as Drew referring to the Tardis as “sort of like a windowless van”, when I abandoned that notion and decided I’d just make a note of it, so I could mock him in my end of trip summary… like… now.

After touching base, and handing off my puppet suitcase (Drew was storing it onsite so I could attend the March for Our Lives the next day without needing to worry about a giant rolly-bag and crowds) I caught Irene Richard coming out of the panel she had just hosted with Rachel Talalay.  I feel like I’ve known Irene for years, I think it’s how decidedly New Yorker she is, but this was our first time actually meeting.  We hit it off, as I knew we would, and then by some twist of awkwardness and fate, I was standing at a table with Rachel Talalay admiring a scribbled storyboard movement sketch.  I love things like that.  Process-peeks. I realized I didn’t have anything to say to Rachel (aside from the whole: You’re awesome, inspiring, and your eye is fantastic), which is bothersome, because I’m a fairly interesting person at times, and I want to learn so much from her, she’s a powerhouse in the industry I am just starting to dabble in, and am always keeping an eye on.  I didn’t have any puppets with me to reinforce that I make stuff, etc.  That’s fine, there was a whole weekend ahead.

I skipped out to dinner with Drew and his friend Brent, and shortly after went home to my friend’s house, where there was a party.

The party, I won’t get into too much, but I walked in and it was like knowing everyone.  They were activists, peers, they had a prison letter writing campaign going on in the dining room.  I had such a wonderful time meeting everyone, it was a completely unexpected bonus.  I miss my punkrock anarcho activist friends. Good to see organization like that in Baltimore.  I slept in a room with multiple accordions.  Perfection.  Thank you Jonathan for your hospitality and your excellence.

DAY what is it now? Four? FOUR, Saturday:

I got up early, mostly because I had been and would be antsy about giving my panel on puppet and prop-making that night.  No one else in the house is up, and I need coffee and to get to the March.

I get a Lyft to town, remembering seeing a Starbucks a block or two away from the hotel. I’m traveling with just a little backpack and my travel mug as my puppets are stored at Drew’s so I get out and head off to it.  *Normally I’d avoid Starbucks and hit up a local cafe, but the Baltimore Harbour is rather commercialized I couldn’t find an indie place to scope out.  I was not alone in this…

I walk in, an amalgamation of bleary-eyes and nerves, and to my left I see a familiar figure and hear a voice, and at first I dismiss it, as I don’t quite place it- holy damnit.  It’s Peter Capaldi. ***Now, I am going to stop you here.  Peter Capaldi is a big deal to me.  I met him last year, PuppetCapaldi in tow, and some friends got me to make a 24 hour comic about it. (It’s here https://tinyurl.com/y9cfma2t) worth a read, and it’s flipping cute, and I might reference it once or twice more.***

He’s talking with Rachel. I make my way past them, because they are having a conversation and the day is young, and I am about to go shake my fist at government, and I need coffee and… While I’m waiting in line, they finish their conversation and get up. Fine, universe, I might as well, I wanted to reconnect with Rachel anyway, so I do.  I say hello, I explain that this is a very bizarre and rather delightful start to my day at least. Rachel introduces me, Peter shakes my hand. “I’m Peter.” “Valerie.” We talk for a short while. Peter grabs my travel mug and inquires about my Scottish flag sticker with EU stars super-imposed. I explain that, while I am not from the UK, I’ve kept up on Brexit and I talk about meeting with the remainers outside of Westminster, and when I was in Glasgow- Glasgow?  Oh yes, and then I point to the sticker next to it, which is a map of one of my favourite cities in the world: Glasgow (my travel mug is adorned in stickers from places I’ve been recently, namely Glasgow and Berlin, and Tokyo…) Peter doesn’t quite recognize it, so I point out The Clyde, and it clicks. “Oh!”  He says, then we start to talk about Glasgow.  It’s brilliant.  He points to a place on the map and shows us: “I have a flat right around here.”  I show him where I stayed, across from Kelvingrove. “Oh, that’s the West Side.”  He’s right, but I act jokingly incensed.  Glasgow, Glasgow, Glasgow, and then it’s time to go.  We say our goodbyes.  And they are on their way and I will see them later and…. I need coffee.

I walk back to the hotel a few minutes later (to set eyes on puppets, make sure everyone’s all set, and tuck them away at the Pixel Who booth, who have lovingly adopted us for the weekend), glowing.  It occurs to me I just got to talk to Peter Capaldi about Glasgow.  Not Doctor Who, not The Thick of It, not Puppets, just Glasgow, a city we have a mutual fondness for.  This is somehow the best thing ever.

Okay, get your head together, Valerie.  It’s time to go to the March.  So I do, it’s about 4 blocks away, an easy walk and the whole time I’m overwhelmed with what today might end up being like. The March is indescribable.  I went to the local Baltimore version, knowing DC would be too much to contend with if I am to teach a puppet workshop that evening, but I believe it was worth stepping out wherever and being counted in the hundreds of thousands of people demanding better gun control in the US.  Kids are on the microphone, empowered by their peers, and finding their voice, and demanding their safety, and I’m already just emotionally dilated and I begin to cry. It was such a powerful morning.

After a couple hours, I’m starting to fade.  I leave the March, return to the hotel, get some food and grab my date, a 3 year old, beat to hell, semi-retired PuppetCapaldi.  He is the goshdarn belle of the ball when it comes to conventions like these, especially when Peter is present. We go to a panel interview of Peter.  As he’s my aforementioned ArtHero, I am terribly interested in what he has to say, but I don’t care as much about meta Doctor Who information unless it’s fun anecdotes of monsters and puppetry, of which there are a couple.  The only thing I am interested in him answering related to Doctor Who is what was it like to make something like this in the world of Brexit or Trump, or how does Doctor Who intersect with our current reality, because sometimes it seems to offer direct commentary, and Saturday (with the March) was just a particularly important day.  A sort of: did Doctor Who, the franchise, feel it has a duty of care, with how it couches its viewpoint in media, etc.  I never got to ask that question, but someone asked one similar. His answer was lovely, talking about how ultimately Doctor Who is being made for kids, and giving them the globalist (universalist) perspective of The Doctor will help shape their thinking and the world as they inherit it.  That world leaders should be afraid, because Doctor Who is communicating with the generations that will replace them. It wasn’t quite the question I had, but it was close enough.  Thank you, whoever asked it.  I looked for her after (she had blue wristlets), but never found her.

I ran into Rachel again after this, and donated to WhoAgainstGuns and got a lovely postcard of the (now dismantled) Tardis interior, which I love, a set I desperately wish I could have seen, could have been on, and I did try.  She signed it to me. “To Valerie from Starbucks” and we talked about how we both ended up there that morning for lack of other options.  I apologized for bothering them, but there was no need.  It also caught me offguard to be remembered. That’s a long time problem for myself.  I’ve written about it many times before.  I am getting accustomed to the concept that people do in fact have object permanence when dealing with me.  It’s nice to be remembered.

I’m about to go get our little family photo taken, when Michelle Gomez passes by and sees PuppetCapaldi she makes “the face” as I have come to call it. “Whaaaaarghourgh!”  She yells as she’s rushed by.  I make a note to find her later.  She made the “I know that guy!” face, and I think she wants a picture with it.

I am currently, in present as-I-write-this day, realizing how darn wordy I am.  I’ll try to condense. We have our photo taken.  Peter puts together that I am me.  The woman from this morning, but also that we have met before, once he sees the puppets.  I let him play with the finger puppet, and before I know it we’re looking into the monitor (THEY HAVE A MONITOR, BLESS YOU!) and I’m talking about finding focus, etc.  A photo is taken of me adjusting Peter’s arm while he stares down the camera, and then one where I look at the camera but he, and all puppets present, are focused on the monitor. Both are super adorable.

We’re removing puppets, etc and Peter says “You made all these, yes?”  Oh yes.  Someone prompts me and I mention the puppet I brought that is loosely based on Armando Iannucci, not that anyone would recognize it.  “I would recognize him”  Peter says. “Bring him by and show me.”  So, that’s that.  I’m off.  A bit thrilled that I’m getting a reputation as the puppet lady.  I mean, I’m certainly working at it, but attaining it is an altogether different feeling.

I’m sitting outside in the hallway playing with two little girls who were there for photos and talking to them about puppets and Sesame Street, and that sort of thing, when Peter and his folks pass us.  The girls and I (and PuppetCapaldi) wave at them, and I continue to pack my photo into my Spacejunk sketchbook and then I’m alone in the hall.  I head for the elevators and as I turn the corner I walk into the most wonderful scene:

Young Theo Tidemann (who I did not know at the time) has just started playing ukulele at Peter’s request, while we’re all waiting for elevators. Theo starts “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.”  It’s wonderful.  It’s sweet. It’s about to get even better.  Peter starts to sing along, then slowly we all do.  A bunch of strangers, singing in impromptu harmony.  It’s so magical. Singalongs are like my religion.  That metaphysical energy of communion through song?  It’s transcendent to me.  Early on I realized that I was in a perfect moment, and I thought of this kid I was about to meet, and he deserved a video of this. So I juggled my puppets a bit and took some poor quality video with my phone, it pans up and fades out, and it doesn’t matter. It’s the perfect moment, and we can rewatch it anytime.  (It’s on @hellotinywonder’s instagram… https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgt7jO8Ar25/ and BBC-A put it in an article about Doctor Who’s Day recently) Other things happen that day.  I get a moment with Michelle, she takes a photo with PuppetCapaldi, but I’ve never seen it since.  I am still looking for it.  It’s a great exchange, though. Showing someone your art because they are excited about it.  I’m pretty proud of that. I play ukulele in a room of other ukulele people… it’s ukubiquitous!

I sit in a dark corner and just breath a bit. I end up talking about puppets with the custodial staff, and it’s one of the most delightful conversations of the weekend. Throughout, I am adrift.

PUPPET PANEL!  It went WELL!  Kathy O’Shea David helped out and brought her army of puppets as well, I would go on, but really, it was mostly just me talking about puppets, how to build, what to use, asking questions, answering questions, and corralling  a puppet petting zoo.  Unexpected hit of the posse was Kyle the Fish! Everyone loves Kyle, I demonstrated my feelings on ventriloquism with him (when using a puppet, in my opinion, moving your mouth doesn’t matter, if your focus on the puppet is correct, and your manipulation is believable and you hit your lipsync, people will just accept it.) As I started to put puppets away, when my panel was over I looked up and saw Kyle, some kid was manipulating his mouth, and it was so moving.  I make reference puppets like I do fanart, to expose people to the other stuff I do. Do you like PuppetCapaldi?  He’s a portrait puppet, a skill I possess, and can do for anyone! Do you like this Rick from Rick and Morty? He has moving eyes, a mech I designed, and also use over here… People fell in love with Kyle, who is my very own intellectual property, and that meant the world to me.

At some point, I and my puppet rolly-bag float away to bed.

DAY I FORGET, IT’S THE LAST ONE, Sunday

I drive myself in this time, so I can scoot off when I’m done. Puppets stay in the car, with the exception of PuppetCapaldi, my date, and Armando, who I debate quietly… I mean, he’s janky, he’s not quite right, he’s not a portrait puppet, he’s just *based* on Armando Iannucci… do I want to show a piece to Peter that I don’t fully stand behind?  I’ll decide later.  I stuff him into my travel tote which I realize then is my tote from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.  I sigh. I am the biggest nerd ever, even when I don’t mean to be.

I have Coffee with the Creators.  This is delightful.  I get to pick some people’s brains, and let others just tell me about what they do.  I am thrilled to get to speak more with Simon Fraser, a comic book artist for Doctor Who, I swear, I do collect them as friends, it seems. I also get to meet Steve Gostelow whose table I’d been eyeing throughout, but we missed eachother.  He was a monster maker, and sculptor, and having a materials and process geekout was fantastic.

There’s a moment when Rachel is about to come to our table, and she has to get up and leave, we make this brief sort of eye contact and I realize as she’s headed out, that it’s fine.  We’ll catch up later, that is such a strange and wonderful feeling.  She tells me later she had to run up and get her photo taken with the three Doctors.  Adorable.  Flipping Adorable.  I will see her again in a little over a month, and that is spectacular.

I am walking around the con, taking it all in and Peter and his small group walk by, I’m talking with my new fellow blue-haired early 30’s lady friend Gale at Nightengale Needles, and I look up and see him.  I have nothing to say to him so I resort to my clown communication skills and make a friendly, but decidedly silly face.

It is returned.

This is a professional milestone, in my book.

Later I am in the vendor area, and I meet up with Simon Fraser and his family.  We talk a bit more, he likes PuppetCapaldi (really, that puppet handled nearly all my introductions, it’s great).  I am looking through his portfolio of work for sale, mostly because what he is selling is traditional blue pencil and ink, and I like just looking at people’s work, understanding how they develop a peice.  Then I see the page.  It’s 4 vertical panels of Osgood throwing her scarf to a falling Twelfth Doctor.  She saves him.  He is appreciative and grumpy.  She looks like me. I’ve seen this page, I’m told it’s from a Free Comic Book Day issue, from Titan, I assume.  I was eyeing a wallet made out of it on Etsy, I love it.  I love the composition, the dynamics, the SHELOOKSLIKEMEness of it all.  And here it is.  Waiting for me.

I rarely buy things at conventions, but this page has been in my mind for almost a year? And I love it, and now it’s mine. And in some strange cosmic organization, it was always mine.

On my way out I touched base again with Steve Gostelow.  I show him my “Celastic: Do It Old School!” button.  While he didn’t use Celastic, he still appreciates it. We talk a bit more maker shop and it’s wonderful.

Okay, the last line for meet and greet and autographs.  As I said in my comic, these are the people PuppetCapaldi was made for.  We had time, and I struck up conversations with all the lovely people around me, especially this woman, Michelle, who gave me a clif bar.  Smart folks.  I showed her the comic, which gave her a bit of context into what was about to happen.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting an 8x10 glossy photo signed, but that is not where I am at.  When people set down what they would like to have signed, I pulled out my do-not-lose-me-orange A4 #Spacejunk notebook and open to a random page.  That is what I want signed.

When I’m about to meet Peter, again, I take off PuppetCapaldi, that’s not what this is about. The woman in front of me is having her Missing DoSAC Files book (one of my favourite books ever) signed “by Malcolm”.  Peter pens a short, furious, and F-laden diatribe for her. She thanks him and wishes him a happy birthday. “Ah yes!” He says. “Thank you.” He goes on to sign a photo she had in her collection of signables. “You know, I’ll be 60,” he starts, “and when you’re 60 the government gives you a little pass.  And I can take all the buses and trains for free.” The public transit junkie in me is thrilled. It’s always nice to have common geekery with the people you look up to.

Oh, then it’s my turn. Okay, then. I try to briefly and calmly (everything is madness around me) explain that I am here to ask him for some advice, or encouragement, that I, and many like-minded friends of mine are all at these weird professional empasses, and I look up to him, and have for some time, even this puppet has gotten me work out in the big crazy world of TV and Film.  He smiles and grabs a blue sharpie (which I realize I had secretly hoped he’d use blue, despite the several black, silver, and gold sharpies on the table).

“Shall I make it out to you?” “Sure.”  I say, (I mean, fair is fair, I’ll share the advice, but this is my letter, sorry kids.) “...I’m Valerie.” I continue. “I know.” He says and continues to write.

I’m again caught off guard at this display of object permanence. This hero of mine knows me.  Knows my work…

He is writing, but stops. “Have you got your Armando with you?”

Ulp.  More object permanence.

“Well, I mean, yes, but it’s not quite-” “I want to see it!” He puts the pen down. He’s written something about stars aligning.

I dig Armando out, explaining that he’s only *based* on him, for a show I’m building… I slip my hand through the secret hole in the sleeve, and lift the puppet’s head.

Peter makes what I have described earlier as “the face”.

He gasps, giggles, then buries his face in his hands. Armando looks around a little frantic, and a little jangly, scratches his head.  Peter lifts his head, locks eyes with me, locks eyes with the puppet, and devolves into laughing.  “It’s *so* like him!”  he says.  “I need to show this to him.” His handler takes our photo together.  Peter explains “this one is special, this is for a friend of mine.”  A woman who I guess knows Iannucci’s likeness also gets it and now she’s laughing.

“I’m going to send this to him!” Peter tells me while his friend takes the photo, “He’ll love it!”

Peter sits back down, again telling me how much Puppet Armando is like Proper Armando and recomences writing. He just keeps going, we’ve stopped talking, and it’s rather quiet, surrounded by the din of the convention. Sharpie on paper, scratching.

Someone behind me taps me on the shoulder and checks to see if I am doing okay. I tell them I am fine, and I am. I am perfect.

He’s stopped mid-sentence, and is just writing “work” over and over in the margins.

He finishes.  Having filled the page, which is adorable. “There. Is that alright?”  He asks.  I tell him it is. And I thank him. “Good luck.”  he says, handing it up to me.  “And have fun.” (I will.)

“You are very talented.”

All of this means so incredibly much to me, I don’t think I can properly explain. I thank him again and look up. The rest of the world races back into my consciousness.  Michelle, my new friend from the line, is only a little bit crying.  “Are you crying?”  I ask.  “Maybe!”  She says. And I realize she is, because she gets it.  Because she read a silly little comic about this weirdo art girl who is just collecting advice, inspiration, and encouragement from the people she looks up to, and somehow today it’s coming together perfectly. 

Empathy Abounds.

Peter and I say good-bye, and I’m off to put Armando away more properly.

(Oh, I also scurry back to the table to pick up Armando’s eyebrow which fell off.  Peter looks up and I hold the eyebrow up to my own and it all registers.  Such a puppeteer move, you guys.)

After that it’s just a farewell fanfare finale.  I say goodbye to everyone and then I am off.  Completely rejuvenated artistically, emotionally, professionally… I can’t describe it all, and I’ve been doing nothing but describing it all for seven pages of a google doc!

I drive through the evening and end up in Staunton, VA, just as the sunset turns to night, to stay with my friend before heading home the next day.  We order Chinese, as she’s also just come back from performing and we are prolevel ladies that deserve a night in.  We’re talking about art, and Fringe festivals, my weekend, and hers, it’s great to continue this creative thread outside of my Baltimore adventure. I open my fortune cookie, which says: “Watch for a stranger to soon become a friend.” That’s sort of how I’ve been living my life, as of late. We make more tea.

Pan Up.

Fade Out.

#doctorwho #peter capaldi #rachel talalay #regeneration who #baltimore #adventure #puppetcapaldi #fingerpuppetcapaldi #tinywonder #puppets

[corgisocks]

85 questions

tagged by @ribenaflip 💞💕💖💗

rules: answer these 85 questions and tag 20 people

EDIT: as of 2019, this tag is like 20% irrelevant to what i’m like now....did it in 2017 so

— what was your last…

1. drink: water

2. phone call: it was me calling jojo’s phone so they could find it

3. text message: “I am having a major crisis”

4. song you listened to: coffee & tv by blur

5. you cried: that’s tmi but also saying it’s tmi is tmi and all of this is tmi so what am i DOING

— have you ever…

6. dated someone twice: nooo

7. kissed someone and regretted it: yes i kissed a piece of toast and it got crumbs all over my face

8. been cheated on: if i have been that’d be concerning seeing as i’ve never not been single

9. lost someone special: not recently.

10. been depressed: 24 hours 7 days a week m8

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: what is an alcohol? (no)

— fave colours

12. vermilion 13. cerulean 14. very very dark grey

— in the last year have you…

15. made new friends: YEET (shoutout to the gc)

16. fallen out of love: i WISH (lmao it’s been 2 years please end me)

17. laughed until you cried: yea obvs

18. found out someone was talking about you: many times. many many many times.

19. met someone who has positively changed you: YES. my bestest buddy has and not in a bad way. i’m definitely a better and happier person because i met him

20. found out who your friends are: i never think about friendships in that kind of way. and if i did i probs wouldn’t care to be like ‘they were a shitty friend’ instead it’d just be like they were someone in my life and it sucks that they’re not/don’t want to be in a good way anymore but shit happens. and i don’t take it personally

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list: what is a face book because if it’s like a book of faces i kissed myself in the picture of my group of friends that is in my yearbook

— general

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know irl: again…what is a face book

23. do you have any pets: YEET

24. do you want to change your name: i mean idk i think i’d be cool with just usin a nickname for now i’ll figure the legal stuff out later

25. what did you do for your last birthday: went to my friend’s birthday party. spent almost all of it looking for one of the people who was invited with two of my bros. then i saw wonder woman, went to a reallyreally good korean bakery, and then went to the empire state building. and last but not least, the next day, my friends came over and we played clue and mariokart. all in all it was a 10/10 birthday tbh! (it was an anomaly though ngl my birthday this year is going to be infinitely more depressing)

26. what time did you wake up today: 5:30 am cos my school starts too fuckin early ;(

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: taking a shower

28. what is something you can’t wait for: plake’s upcoming single (it’s my fav and i’ve been wanting it in my library for m o n t h s so i’m 110% ready for it

30. what are you listening to right now: the sound of people talking

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom: i was at an improv comedy show and of all people i was picked to volunteer and when i was on stage my shoe fell off and one of the comedians who was called tom was like 'your foot has been borne to the audience’

32. something that’s getting on your nerves: my own exhaustion!

33. most visited website: my school’s online gradebook 😬

34. hair colour: really dark brown (some people think it’s black but NO)

35. long or short hair: short...it will never be long again i assure you

36. do you have a crush on someone: yes ;(((

37a. what do you like about yourself: i may be an awful person atm but at least i can understand why i am the way i am and know how to improve

37b. what’s something you don’t like about yourself: too many things. rn though i don’t like how i come off as like a 'show-off’ when i’m trying to help people cos me trying to get them to like actually understand what they’re learning always sets em off even though it’d be worse to just do things my own confusing way and leave em in the dust. i also hate how i get frustrated with them (and myself tbh) when that happens

38. want any piercings: hecc no

39. blood type: i legit have no clue

40. nicknames: lou, coco

41. relationship status: what is a relation ship

42. sign: gemini

43. pronouns: he/they i GUESS

44. fave tv show: peppa pig tbh

45. tattoos: hecc no!

46. right or left handed: BOTH

47: ever had surgery: nope 😬

48. piercings: once again HECC NO

49. sport: used to do tennis and track. now i kind of just do a lil bit of everything for fun and i love biking and running

50. vacation: yes please. i need a vacation from LIFE

51. trainers: i’ve had the same old black nikes for three years and the same flip flops for five ;( (and i also have some black converse high-tops that i never wear unless i need to look 'nice’ whoops)

— more general

52. eating: i prefer raw foods to pretty much everything so poke bowls are my jam. i’m also a vegetarian who doesn’t eat fruit because what is self-care??

53. drinking: water. it’s important to stay hydrated

54. i’m about to watch: my surroundings that aren’t my phone

55. waiting for: this tag to be over. yikes

56. want: to pass english for ONE GODDAMN MARKING PERIOD before i graduate cos i haven’t since mp1 of ninth grade during which i got a 99 (now i have a 15 look how far i’ve come!!)

57. get married: i mean…

58. career: ah yes i’ll probably have one of those

— which is better

59. hugs or kisses: y'all mean in relationships? no pref. generally speaking though i almost always hate both

60. lips or eyes: no pref

61. shorter or taller: no pref…

62. older or younger: i don’t think about any of this shit i am so confused!!

63. nice arms or stomach: what constitutes an arm or stomach being nice?

64. hookup or relationships: labels ew neither is good

65. troublemaker or hesitant: somehow i’m both. like i’m loud as fuck and kind of obnoxious and audacious but i also have 9.9/10 self-control. so like i would be cool with either type of person

— have you ever

66. kissed a stranger: i hope not

67. drank hard liquor: hecc no

68. turned someone down: i thought i was gonna have to but that never happened WHEW

69. sex on first date: what is this “sex” you speak of? what is a “date”?

70: broken someone’s heart: i hope not! except hearts are kinda squishy so like i probably haven’t

71. had your heart broken: no although my heart rate’s so high i fear it will explode one of these days

72. been arrested: so far, no

73. cried when someone died: :((( chris cornell. i was lookin up soundgarden on google to find tour dates near where my uncle lives and then i saw it and i was like 'no. nononono. nonononononononono.’ then i let one tear escape from the ducts in my eyes before going into denial river. (aren’t i so fuckin clever 😤😤😤)

i also cried during a tribute to chester bennington at a muse concert if that counts

74. fallen for a friend: once again ew labels but y'all should know by now that i HAVE and i’m STILL falling ;(

— do you believe in

75. yourself: i have no concept of anything in existence and this tag has made me realise that. whoops

76. miracles: i could ramble about this one but i don’t have the time

77. love at first sight: dunno, but i will say that when i met my best friend i knew i was going to love him from how he acted and what his sense of humour is like. he’s so unique really like you can TELL he’s his own person and he owns it without trying to

78. santa claus: yes but only cos i’m tryin to stay off the naughty list

79. angels: what is an angels

— misc

80. eye colour: this is a subject that has been widely debated so for now i’ll just say they’re either grey or green or both

81. best friend’s name: zeke

82. favourite movie: i have no concept of having a favorite movie unless it’s based on who it’s by so i’ll say my favorite pixar movie is wall-e for the sake of having something down for this question. otherwise it’s probs either memento or the imitation game.

83. favourite actor: myself 🤔

84. favourite cartoon: oh shit that’s too hard. my favs as a young child were tom and jerry and the first season of the pokémon anime and i guess my fav one that’s more 'mature’ is bojack horseman (although i’ve only seen half the first season lol)

85. favourite teacher’s name: my favorite is either nicole, hyungmin, rebecca, eileen, hayley, matt, kevin, or robert, but like…i hate picking cos that’s just unfair. so idrk

can’t tag rn but do this if you want to i guess

#i am a relatively uninteresting person #tag

[khangowrites]

About Communication

I suppose this is my first post/essay. I would like to write. I love to write anyway, but I’d like to write about something important this time. About communication. About autistic communication. Communication is an exchange of information. It can be through voice, symbols, sounds, or behavior. However, I have noted that verbal communication (as in speech) is often seen as ‘superior’ to other forms when in person. Why is that? Perhaps through an unspoken rule (lol)? Or, rather, by society as a whole?

I am autistic. I love being myself. I am mostly verbal, and I can effectively get my message across most of the time if it’s about a subject I particularly like. (Ask me anything about Star Trek TNG and I’ll talk for 5 hours straight.) I know other autistic folks who are not verbal at all, or who are selectively mute. I recently had been pondering the idea of using AAC every now and again. I too am selectively mute- usually in times of emotional/sensory overload or if a conversation is one that is complex (like politics or theories for example). In most cases, I want to be able to express my opinions and add my voice, but I can’t do it verbally.

But we don’t talk about that. By ‘we’ I mean my family and my co-workers, my friends; people. If I can be verbal, I should be verbal all the time. “Spit it out!” Or, “It must not be important if you can’t say it.” Or one my mother told me, “Stop trying to be so special”. This, to me, is like if someone speaks fluent English and barely passable Polish, is told to use Polish all the time and never use English. This is limiting, is it not? I attribute some of this mentality to functioning labels and the idea of normalcy.

I believe that functioning labels are limiting and allow stereotypes to persist over real people. If someone is perceived as ‘low-functioning’, they must be incapable of meaningful communication and thus not worth listening to and don’t need help to achieve said communication. Or, if someone is perceived as ‘high-functioning’, they are too “normal” to be considered disabled or in need of any extra help. This is a circle, and a terribly incorrect one that doesn’t allow for the complexity of real humans. Functioning labels compare every human to what is considered “normal”. This is damaging, and the word normal is vague and can be twisted to fit almost any narrative one might have. Normal does not exist. Humans are vastly diverse, each and every one of us.

I’m writing about this because of a specific incident between me and my parents. My parents love me, and I love them. Sometimes we hit bumps, and this was a big one (I’ll get to it in a minute).

My brother was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 4 years old. I am now 23 and self-diagnosed. This is not unusual, considering I am AFAB (assigned female at birth), and at the time the diagnostic criteria for autism was entirely centered around behavior that was demonstrated through trials using only boys. I have been turned down at almost every center because autism is “for boys and children” and I was told by one place that I seemed too “high functioning” to warrant a diagnosis by a professional. Oh! There’s that word again.

Never mind that it took me 3 weeks to make that phone call, that I had a panic attack right before calling and I scripted everything I was going to say well in advance. I planned my entire day around that phone call. Had it been a text or email, it would have been better. Still anxiety inducing, but better.

I have great compassion for my general doctor- she helped me make some phone calls after seeing how distressing they were to me, and is just as baffled as I am that no place in Virginia will take me to even get assessed. This is a much larger issue that perhaps I will write about later. What I want to talk about is how my communication relates to a conversation I had with my parents. More precisely, an argument.

About a week and a half ago, I decided to download a text-to-speech app after watching a couple autistic creators on YouTube who used it for their videos. I was deeply curious and excited about the idea of using it to continue conversations when I no longer had the energy to speak with my voice. I sat in my room late one night, typing out paragraphs and paragraphs and being thrilled when listening to them back. Finally, my true voice- my writing voice- can be heard aloud! No 30 second pauses between words when my brain decides to forget how to speak, no rambling on and forgetting my sentences more than I do in my writing… It was a breath of fresh air.

And I am no stranger to hearing tts voices. I hear them on YouTube all the time in Reddit videos or on Twitch when donations are read out loud. For a number of years, I’d put books into tts just to listen to them aloud without having to pay for an audiobook.

So I decided to bring it up to my parents, considering that my father and I had a long conversation about government the night before but I couldn’t say what I wanted to say with my verbal words. I mentioned that I wanted to try out tts during times when I otherwise can’t speak. My proposal was met with immediate rejection.

“You can always speak.” “Well, if you can’t speak when you’re emotionally exhausted that’s not unusual, we all do that.” “I’m not going to listen to what that device says.” “It wouldn’t be you because we won’t hear the emotion in your voice.” “You are taking away our ability to communicate with you.” “I don’t mind you taking your time to speak.” I understand where they are coming from. They’ve known me my whole life, and think that I can verbalize just as well as them. But here is the thing.

You may not mind. I do. I mind because it takes immense energy to speak if it’s not about a special interest. I will be exhausted at the end of every day, burnt out every week. I mind because I have the tools right in front of me to accurately articulate my thoughts to you, but that’s not acceptable to you. I am not “me” to you if I don’t use my words verbally.

It says those kinds of voices don’t matter. And you may have just said it to me without that intention, but you’ve said it to all of us because you said it to me. To do as you say and never use tts or writing puts me in a weaker position. My good friend Jojo reminded me that day of how important boundaries are. Who is going to respect my boundaries if I can’t respect myself and take care of my own needs? No-one.

Later that evening, my father texted me to tell me dinner was ready. I was still upset and I did not answer right away (after all, my parents had just told me that writing doesn’t matter and I was angry).

A few moments later I heard him speak to my mother downstairs, exasperated. “None of our children have responded to my text.” My text. He didn’t see the Catch-22; the paradox- but my brother and I did.

I plan to use tts when my words fail me. Or writing. Or text. It eases my stress and gives me freedom. They are all valid forms of communication and I hope they become more heard.

#first post #actuallyautistic #autism #asd #communication #self advocacy #im not sure how many folks will find this but if you do find this I hope you enjoyed it! #disability