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sonnet009 · 3 years

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Wilder: Jamal’s Story (Route Summary)

PROLOGUE:

MC decides to flee Ziya alone. A rotund wine merchant named Barlow offers her a timely rescue, smuggling her out in one of the wagons in his caravan. On their journey across the Shining Sands MC learns that Barlow is a wealthy and ambitious man who can afford not only a team of djinn guards but even a pleasure slave. It is this pleasure slave who warns MC that Barlow intends to ransom her back to Ziya and urges her to leave the caravan. Though afraid, MC chooses to stay rather than risk facing the desert alone. Jamal is not pleased at the prospect of continuing to share his wagon.

CHAPTER I:

The caravan stops so Barlow can take his dinner out under the stars. MC joins him and Jamal while the djinn guards keep watch. Barlow is very blatant about his sexual relationship with Jamal and Jamal for his part fawns over Barlow in return. MC has never seen anything like it. Left alone for a few moments, Jamal teases MC that she can't keep her eyes off him.

During the next day's travel the caravan is attacked by a raiding group of djinn come down from the Western Hills. The djinn guards rally around Barlow to protect him but change their minds when the leader of the wild djinn offers them a free life with the tribe. Barlow and MC are pushed onto their knees, faces in the sand, and Barlow is beheaded. MC hears Jamal's horrified gasp.

MC does not share Barlow's fate. She is restrained and brought back to the Hills with the tribe and their new recruits. She is not sure why, but feels in her heart that this is no salvation.

CHAPTER II:

While the new djinn are welcomed into the tribe, Jamal sneaks over to where MC has been tied. He probes her about her rich, important family and muses that she must have connections in Umar. Though he knew she was fleeing Ziya he doesn't seem to have the full story – he certainly doesn't know that MC is an accused murderer and therefore utterly without connections or power.

After a ritual in which each new djinn must eat a piece of a raw deer heart, the disgusted Jamal has had enough. In the dead of night he frees MC in return for her promise to take him to Umar. They catch their breath by the river but are soon discovered by one of the ex-guards whose disdain for Jamal the pleasure slave is obvious. He calls out for the rest of the tribe and MC and Jamal run.

The tribe pursues them far, all the way to the base of the mountainous Knives. With little other choice, MC and Jamal head up – away from the Hills but only into more danger.

CHAPTER III:

MC offers condolences for Barlow's death. Jamal is dismissive and MC realises that though he appeared to adore the man it was all just an act. He doesn't miss Barlow, just the security that being his personal slave offered. Jamal insists that MC is his master now, though MC insists that she is not. Jamal reveals his intention for MC to sell him to a famous pleasure house in Umar, and for that she has to be his master.

Jamal whines and gripes the whole way up the mountain path. In contrast, MC finds a fortitude within herself she never knew she had. In the night he attempts to seduce her though she rebuffs him, saying, “I told you, you don't need to do that.” The next day they stumble into the path of a mountain lion. Jamal hides behind MC while she scares it away.

They come across a hot spring and MC spends most of her time trying to avoid looking at Jamal's naked and shameless displays designed to get her attention. But when he asks her to wash his hair it is with genuine, vulnerable wanting so she does so. It is the most intimate moment MC has ever shared with anyone.

CHAPTER IV:

In the sprawling farmland on the other side of the mountains, MC and Jamal are caught in a sudden downpour. Sheltering in an old barn, they share a sweet, quiet moment that turns into an argument when she once again refuses to claim him as her slave. MC is secretly very drawn to Jamal, but fears that his affection is all a lie and that she will be taking advantage of their positions if she lets herself believe him. He accuses her of looking down on him and gives her the cold shoulder. This means that MC has missed another chance to confess that she is not the connected noblewoman he believes her to be.

As they continue on their journey in strained silence, a group of bandits appear and block their path. MC is afraid but not as afraid as Jamal. However, when one of the men grabs MC and makes lewd comments, Jamal exclaims, “Hey!” surprising no one more than himself. As the scene turns to violence, MC and Jamal learn that even a light slap from a djinn whose claws have been growing for weeks can be devastating to a human body. MC thanks Jamal for his protection while he desperately tries to get the blood out from under his nails.

They finally make it to Dijarah, a port town where MC intends to board a ship sailing for Umar. The one problem? She has no money.

CHAPTER V:

To earn money in Dijarah, an innkeeper agrees to hire MC and Jamal to work in the kitchen. Jamal is aghast at the prospect, especially when he meets the old battleaxe of a cook on whom his charms utterly fail. Jamal is terrible at every practical task put before him and, after only a few days, is utterly miserable.

MC is gentle and encouraging with Jamal, and he eventually is able to put aside his pride (a little) and improve. He finds it amusing to think of a world in which he worked here instead of as a pleasure slave. But when MC takes this question seriously he balks and insists that he would never want an unglamorous life like this. “I know what I am,” he says quietly.

As the two grow closer, Jamal tells MC the story of his life. Bred illegally and born sick, Jamal was passed under the table from master to master, role to role, failing at all of them. Finally dumped in a pleasure house as an insult, Jamal actually flourished there – able to put his natural charm and artistic talents to use. That is why he cannot even consider another life. MC asks if he would choose the same life if he were a free man. Jamal goes quiet and does not answer.

CHAPTER VI:

One day MC walks into the kitchen to see Jamal scrubbing pots with all his might then absent mindedly tidying up some things – not as part of his assigned task but just because it needs doing. MC announces herself and they compare their palm callouses and growing arm muscle. One night Jamal is asked to perform for the inn's patrons by playing the lute – he is giddy with excitement to be the centre of attention once more, though the audience is not his usual clientele. He plays and sings beautifully and MC sets off a standing ovation that nearly makes him cry.

An evening shift turns tense when a group of drunkards start causing trouble. Jamal shocks everyone by taking charge of the situation and intimidating them into leaving. Though, as soon as they are gone, his legs turn to liquid and he slides to the floor declaring how terrifying the whole thing was. The innkeeper draws him a hot bath in thanks. Jamal asks MC to wash his hair again. Though she won't join him in the tub – despite his persistence – Jamal does wash and style her hair for her in return.

Finally MC and Jamal have enough money to book passage on a ship. As they are boarding MC catches sight of Hamza in the crowded street. She drags Jamal away to avoid getting caught, though now she is less afraid of being arrested than she is being exposed to Jamal who still doesn't know that she is a fugitive. She resolves that she must tell him soon, even if it ruins the... friendship... that seems to finally be blossoming between them.

CHAPTER VII:

Hamza has also boarded so MC spends most of her time hiding in her cabin – and Jamal has no objections to passing the days relaxing on a soft bed. She tries many times to broach his misconceptions about her but is consistently thwarted by interruptions and her own cowardice. A rich passenger tries to buy some time with Jamal from MC but she staunchly refuses. Jamal is delighted by this, then confused as to why he is so delighted.

One night they lie side by side on the bed and MC asks Jamal why he is so set on being sold to this particular brothel. He explains that, not only is it a famous venue, but if they purchase him then by Umar’s laws he will no longer be a slave but an indentured servant. MC says that isn’t good enough – she wants to free him. Jamal is dismissive of such an impossible idea but MC insists that Lord Yasir, the most powerful man in Umar, could surely help them. Jamal asks why MC would be seeking Yasir’s help for herself and she prepares to finally tell him the truth when– the ship’s bell rings. They have arrived.

Hamza catches sight of MC at just the wrong moment. She drags Jamal off the ship, pushing past everyone else, and manages to lose Hamza in the moonlit streets of Umar. They come to Minerva’s Pleasure House. Inside is a whole new world to MC but Jamal is in his element. Then he goes quiet. “I don’t want you to leave me here. I want to stay with you. I want to be–”. The madam interrupts, realises exactly who MC is, and throws her and Jamal out of the place, calling MC a murderer and threatening to tell the authorities if either of them ever return.

CHAPTER VIII:

MC hurries to Yasir’s estate, a confused and suspicious Jamal with her, and fortunately finds the merchant-turned-lord to be very welcoming and willing to provide sanctuary. Jamal confronts MC and she finally admits everything. Jamal is devastated. He accuses her of using him, of dragging him through danger and hardship just for the amusement of it, of being just as rotten as Barlow and the others. “You think so little of me. You think nothing of me.” MC cannot explain her actions without admitting – to Jamal and to herself – that she has been falling in love with him. Jamal is stunned. Then he turns and leaves the manor.

He returns in the morning and apologises for leaving, kissing MC on the cheek and saying that he understands she was only doing what she had to do – she’s a survivor. He turns down MC’s attempts to make him a free man and instead asks Yasir to use his influence to place him in the pleasure house. “No more pretending,” he says in response to MC’s protestations. “I know what I am.” Yasir arranges for the madam to accept him as an indentured servant.

MC and Jamal say a fraught goodbye in the gaudy room that is to be Jamal’s from now on. Jamal kisses MC and, at his soft declaration that he has fallen in love with her too, she gives in to her passion and they come together in a tangle of flesh and emotion. After, as they lie in bed, the door is kicked down and in bursts Hamza to arrest MC. Jamal is remarkably unsurprised. “I should’ve known it was all a lie from the beginning. All those things you said about my potential. Trying to make me doubt who I am; what I am. But you know something, mistress?” There is nothing but cold resolve in his eyes. “I’m a survivor too.”

CHAPTER IX:

MC is transported back to Ziya to face her execution. She spends the journey thinking on Jamal. That night he left the manor he must have gone to Hamza to arrange the ambush. Anger and betrayal come in cycles but always give way to regret and the knowledge that she brought this on herself. MC’s execution is a public event on the steps of the shah’s palace, but the proceedings are suddenly interrupted by Jamal and Yasir’s right-hand-djinn Royo. Since MC was under Umar’s protection, Ziya’s actions in abducting her have been taken as a hostile act. Hamza takes justice into his own hands and attacks MC with his sword. Jamal tries to protect her but she pushes him away, taking the blade in her chest.

MC wakes in her old bedroom in her Aunt and Uncle’s villa. The blade missed her heart and, though badly wounded, she will live. Jamal is by her bedside. He asserts that he hasn’t forgiven her, and he’ll never forgive himself, but he wants her to know that Hamza was the one who caught and pressured him into the betrayal that night, and Jamal convinced himself that she deserved it. But he regretted it immediately and went running to Yasir for help. He confesses that he wasn’t lying when he said he’d fallen in love with her. He thinks that’s their shared fatal flaw – they’re dreamers.

When MC next wakes quite a lot of time has passed. This time it is Royo who comes to see her, informing her that the political pressure from Umar – and Yasir specifically – has worked. To avoid trouble between the two cities, Ziya has agreed not to execute MC but to exile her. Royo must return to Umar now but says that MC is welcome there once she is well enough to travel. MC asks after Jamal but Royo shakes her head. He is waiting by the carriage to leave and will not return to the villa. MC asks Royo to take something with her when she goes – a letter addressed to the madam of Minerva’s.

BITTER END:

When Jamal sees her in Minerva’s he covers his shock by asking if she is there to taste him once again. They go to his room and MC interrupts his cold, emotionless seduction with the last of the money he needs to truly be free. He insists at first to not want it then finally cracks open, tears spilling down his cheeks. “But where would I go?” MC says he can go with her if he likes. He doesn’t answer, conflicted, still so afraid to trust. MC backs off and says he can go wherever he wants to go; anywhere in the world. She leaves the pleasure house but lingers outside, hoping that when Jamal comes out a free man he will choose to go with her after all.

SWEET END:

Two years have passed since the almost-execution and MC has been travelling ever since, working tirelessly in whatever jobs she can in order to save money and send it periodically to Minerva’s to bit by bit pay off Jamal’s “debt” to the pleasure house. However when she journeys to Umar with the final payment she is informed by the madam that Jamal has already been freed from his contract and left months ago. MC turns to Royo for help, who informs her that Jamal had also been working hard to pay for his freedom – taking on extra chores and responsibilities at Minerva's – and that last she knew he was heading for Dijarah.

MC sets sail immediately. When she disembarks at Dijarah’s docks she is stunned to find Jamal waiting, Royo having sent word ahead. There is a tense moment of uncertainty then Jamal launches himself at her, catching her in a tight embrace. He thanks her for contributing so much to buying his freedom and says he’s never worked so hard for anything before – for the chance to live a free life. To stand before MC as an equal. To say he loves her and for it to be the simple truth. Hand-in-hand, Jamal escorts MC to his new place of employment – the inn in which they spent so much time before. He winks. “I hear they're hiring. I’ll put in a good word for you.”

#Wilder #Jamal #Route Summary

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elliot-orion · 3 years

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1-5! :)

Pretty sure this was from the deep dive asks a while back., sorry for it taking so long! i just didn't have a project to work on, but I do now!! I’ll be answering for the White Lake (temp title) characters, Logan, Nellie, and Charlie. Thank you so much!

1. Who are two characters that don’t like each other? What do they reveal about each other to the readers? Will they ever learn to put aside their differences?

Logan and Nellie have a bunch of tension at first, honestly. Logan is stubborn, but Nellie is more so, and both want opposite things. They also have a weird initial dynamic of “we were like... friend adjacent in high school, haven't talked to each other since, so we feel like we know the other but we’ve really barely exchanged a few words outside of class projects.” They were both the school weirdos and stuck together out of necessity, not real friendship, even tho both consider the other a friend even tho they really aren’t, so it leads to a lot of ‘i think you are this way but you arent behaving this way, why the hell wont you behave this way??” bc of the other like... placing what they want the other to be like onto them. if that makes even a lick of sense. I guess it all reveals what they want in a friend to the reader, bc they assume the other to be their Ideal Friend since they have nothing to confirm nor deny that. But its more of a ‘what you want versus what you need’ thing. Nellie wants someone who will listen to her and let her protect them without asking questions bc not listening and asking too many questions that nell couldn't answer got her one actual friend killed. Logan wants someone who just accepts his weirdness and doesn't try to push him. But Nell is pushy when she thinks she’s right (and tbh she usually is), and Logan is curious, and its a mess at first. They do put aside their differences tho. Nell is determined as hell and she realized at some point that she needs to work with Logan to keep him safe, and Logan learns that he needs to teach Nell how to accommodate his autism (that he doesn't know is autism because his parents suck) because she has no idea and just thinks he’s being difficult and has to meet her halfway too. Its messy but they work it out and become way way better friends because of it.

2. What do you hope readers will take away from your WIP? Is there an intentional theme (or themes) to the story?

I mean there’s not an intentional theme to it. I definitely want people to be unsettled and a little freaked out, I am intending it to be like... romantic era horror level horror book, if that makes sense. more atmospheric and eerie then ‘im actually going scream I'm so afraid’ horror. But also themes of friendship maybe? idk I haven't decided if there will be romance yet but definitely friendship and found family stuff.

3. What do you love most about your protagonist? (It can be something you’d admire in them if they were real, or something interesting about them as a character.)

Oh jeez. I love how determined Nell is to protect Logan. She doesn't always do it right, because misunderstandings and her idea of safe is different than his idea of happy and she needs to learn that he might be safer with her way but he’d be miserable. She just loves her people so much and she’s determined not to fail again, but its all coming from a place of deep love and I really admire how much she’s willing to put into keeping her family together. For Logan I admire how strong he is honestly. He lives in a really conservative, ableist town with parents who think he's just being difficult when its not his fault he's neurodivergent, but he knows who he is and what he needs and even when Nell is trying to push her beliefs about him onto him he stands strong in who he is. He knows he’s not wrong. He’s just lonely because no one else knows that. Its really admirable in my opinion (maybe because I've never been able to do that with my neurodivergencies and I'm definitely projecting but whateverrrrrrr). He’s also a really good friend, he’s just not given many chances to be that. As for Charlie I just love how happy they are. They try so hard to get Nell and Logan to get along, and they are always smiling even when they are the one who has the most reasons to be miserable (considering they did you know. die horrifically and are now trapped by an eldrich lake)They are always pushing themself to make others happy, even at their own expense, and while its not a trait I admire, it is one that I love in characters because I just love the hurt comfort when they break :3 also they are just fun as hell and I love my little extrovert cinnamon roll (who is way more devious than they seem but thats what happens when you basically grow up and then spend about 130 years with a ghost circus)

4. Is there anything in the story that is implied, but not directly stated? Will this become more relevant later on? How perceptive would a reader have to be to pick up on this?

A lot of the lake stuff is implied at first, and there's a big misdirect, but it gets cleared up after just a bit so I don't think it counts. Um... idk ok I haven't even written draft one yet so idk what will be implied vs told I'm a pantser I've got about 6 plot point checkpoints and a vague idea of progression here most of this is being bs-ed. Im not even sure yet if I'm making Logan a trans guy or if there will be romance or anyone’s sexualities besides Nellie (who is v much a lesbian) I’ll get back to you on this. Although wait actually - Logan never gets his autism diagnosed, I know that, so that is implied but it's like. heavily implied so you won't have to be super perceptive to figure it out. I’m not doing any -coded stuff, he is, he just lives in a shitty town with no therapists for anyone to talk to. kinda hard to go to a therapist not from town and go ‘yea my best friends are ghosts, my town is actively trying to kill me, sorry im late the road disappeared how are you today?’ you feel? no one in this town gets any goddamn therapy. But its not explicit no.

5. Which character has the most intricate backstory? Is this backstory common knowledge from the start, or is it revealed later on? How does this backstory affect the narrative?

Oh man uh... I guess Charlie has the most intricate backstory? definitely, the longest since they did die in the 1890s. In a fire. While they were trapped in a tiny ass box. in the middle of said fire. and burned alive. .... What i said it was horror didn't i?? Charlie has some SERIOUS claustrophobia my guys. It’s common knowledge to the circus folks how Charlie died, they sorta agree its the worst of them all. Everyone died from the fire but only Charlie was trapped in such a small space unable to get out. They are the contortionist of the circus, it was a combo act with the magician who locked them in this way-too-small box and was going to make them disappear when the fire started and he ran off to help people and forgot them in the box. He’s super apologetic and Charlie only sorta still blames him. Logan and Nellie know that Charlie died in the fire but they don't find out until later exactly how. Idk how much it affects the narrative yet, but it does affect how Charlie interacts with the other circus performers since they tend to be mother hen-y around them, tho that also has to do with, again, charlie basically being raised by the whole crew. they ran away at like 11-12 or so to join, so yea, especially the people who have been there forever tend to view them as their kid in a way. It takes a village after all. But whether it affects the whole story, idk, again haven't started it yet.

thanks again for the asks, and im sorry it took so long!

#white lake #asks #charlie #logan #nellie

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inventor-researcher-chef · 4 years

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I MAY BE TO SCARED TO INTERACT BEYOND ANONYMOUSLY BUT I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE YOUR ASOUE EPISODE RANKINGS

Mmk It’s gonna be long tho so it’s going under a cut

Penultimate Peril Part 1

very accurate to the books! any changes made sense within the context of the show and worked

gorgeous aesthetics, strongest opening of any episode aside from Bad Beginning

only minus points because of Sporty Kit but she’s in it so little and the rest of it is so good that it doesn’t even matter

Max Greenfield as the Denouements was phenomenal

I actually liked the part where they try to make us think Kit was shacking up with Ernest, it was clever

Also I actually like the green uniform, I think it’s a more flattering colour on the actors than red would have been

Dewey’s death scene was amazingly shot and acted

I would die for Sunny in her toddler uniform. That being said in this episode if you look closely you can in fact see the light from the ipad they used to get her to look in the right direction

Reptile Room Part 1

Once again, gorgeous aesthetics and incredible book accuracy

Minus points for the spyglass subplot

Higher than part 2 because of Aasif Mandvi’s wonderful portrayal of Monty

I love the conservatory reptile room

Reptile Room Part 2

Very book accurate and entertaining

This is the episode where Violet’s outfits begin to slap

Minus points because with Monty’s death they made the colour grading less bright which makes sense but is less fun to look at

Also not a fan of how comedic and bafoonish the troupe is, it’s really more of an overall problem but it really just undermines how impactful Monty’s death is

Bad Beginning Part 2

Let’s be real, the Bad Beginning episodes were the most book accurate of the whole show

Loved the entire Marvelous Marriage bit, the play and marriage were done spectacularly

Lots of Jewish references, we stan

I actually like Jacquelyn’s presence in the first season, it works and adds a new element to the story

I also like Gustav being a major part of this episode because we never saw him in the original books and it’s nice to see his character before he dies (also symbolism with his death and Dewey’s)

Hostile Hospital Part 2

Do I even need to explain why this is so high on the list?

Higher than the first part because of the absolute horror of the whole operating theatre, it’s done so well

The aesthetics and filming work perfectly to underline the horror of everything

Only so low because I personally am not a fan of horror aesthetics

Bad Beginning Part 1

Once again, Bad Beginning episodes were the most book accurate and I love Jacquelyn

Strongest opening of any episode aside from Pentultimate 1

Only so low because of the cheesy CGI and NPH’s comedic Olaf

Hostile Hospital Part 1

ESME IN THE LIBRARY OF RECORDS HOLY FUCK

Low because aside from Esme being fucking fabulous in that scene I found the rest of the episode to be a bit boring at times

However, very accurate to the books and the chase scene in Last Chance was sufficiently freaky, as was the scaring Babs scene

For that matter, absolutely loved that we got to see Babs

Penultimate Peril Part 2

The Baudelaires in the trial scene made me🥺

The scene with Justice Strauss and Olaf with the kids was amazing

The ending made me cry

So low because of the opera scene, like how many issues did that have? It was pretty though

Also low for confirming Justice Strauss to have survived the fire, we don’t like getting answers to our questions

AND ANOTHER THING Esme’s ending was really lackluster? To the point of just being shitty? Especially given that while she is comedic, Lucy Punch hasn’t played up the comedy aspect of her character as much as NPH has, so Esme feels scarier and like more of a villain at this point so giving her that ending really fell flat

A very strong ending that really should have been the ending to the whole story

Grim Grotto Part 2

Grim Grotto was brought so low because of the absence of Widdershins but at least with part two you can pretend the first part had him and he left like in the books

Ansolutely in love with the submarines and Esme’s dress

Grim Grotto was one of my favorite books of the series as a kid so naturally it’s gonna be pretty high on the list

Also I think K Todd Freeman brings a needed likeability to Mr Poe, so when th Baudelaires are on Briny Beach again you do get the feeling they’re torn between going with him or Kit. Like they distrust and dislike him at this point but they don’t want to distrust him

Slippery Slope Part 2

The sinister duo are fab

Sunny is at her cutest in this episode, we’re talking peak cute

It’s pretty low because there’s a lot of stuff in the headquarters with Quigley that got cut, didn’t really make much of a difference but I missed it

I feel like Esme in the headquarters had so much potential to be as freaky as her Library of Records scene and it just fell short

Ersatz Elevator Part 2

Minus points for the VFD subplot but part 2 had less of that which is why it’s higher

Also in the ranking of Sunny being the cutest, this episode comes in at a close second to Slippery Slope

That being said overall I really adored the aesthetics of both episodes, absolutely love the mix of film noir and art deco

Jerome at the In Auction was amazing but Larry, Jacquelyn, Olivia, and Jacques was less so

Also still not a fan of the writing of the Quagmires

Ersatz Elevator Part 1

Once again, adore the aesthetics

Love the casting for the Squalors

Gunther’s disguise was *chef’s kiss*

so low because of the VFD subplot and the gratuitous musical number

That being said I did like the cuts between Keep Chasing Your Schemes and the Baudelaires finding the Quagmires, it worked well

Grim Grotto Part 1

Very low because of the absence of Widdershins and what this did to Fiona’s character

In general the way they wrote Fiona’s character was even less sympathetic than the books

Why, dear god, oh why was Quigley at Anwhistle Aquatics

Why, dear god, oh why does the Medusoid Mycelium look like that

Carnivorous Carnival Part 1

This was in fact my all time favorite book in the series as a kid and I just remember being a little disappointed I guess? By the episodes and I could never put my finger on why

Olivia’s character 😒

Higher than the second episode because I do love the creepy carnival feel and the feeling of unease before the Baudelaires know who Madame Lulu is

Also Esme’s gold outfit

As far as gratuitous musical numbers go, I do enjoy House of Freaks

Carnivorous Carnival Part 2

Cool carnival aesthetics

Chabo the wolf baby is adorable

Olivia’s death was more impactful and upsetting than Jacques’s, I’m just gonna say it

We miss a morally gray neutral character who is more interesting than a copy pasted Jacquelyn/Mrs Quagmire

Wide Window Part 2

This is really only so low because the colour grading is still kinda dull and it works within the episode but also makes it boring to look at

That being said the whole Hurricane Herman scene was phenomenal

rEaL eStAtE aGeNtS

The Colours in this episode were pretty, with the Lavender Lighthouse and the raincoats

Violet’s outfits remain slapping

The change to Josephine’s character is a good change (until season two when they do that to every single other character and take away any and all moral ambiguity but still)

Slippery Slope Part 1

we weRNT EXPELLED

I did love the Mortmain Mountains set

so low for the killing of the freaks, Sporty Kit, and for the heavy handed way they got rid of Jacquelyn

Wide Window Part 1

Boring and dull

Only this high because of Violet’s poppin outfits, the beautiful set, and Alfre Woodard as Josephine

Also the Captain Sham disguise is my favorite after Gunther

Austere Academy Part 2

The only reason part two is so high is because it has more Carmelita

who is the only good bit of these episodes

Like they’re both relatively book accurate, especially with the casting but like

I did not think it possible to make the Quagmires in this book more boring and yet

I get that it’s supposed to be dark and gloomy and depressing but it shouldn’t be so much that people just don’t want to watch it

Sunny running after the Quagmires in her little uniform does put this episode at like number 5 in her cuteness ranking though so points for that

Miserable Mill Part 2

While I miss the sword fight, I do understand why it was changed so I can accept it

Part 2 is higher because of Georgina’s slappin purple pantsuit

As far as MM goes I did actually like it but it still is kinda boring in comparison to the rest of the episodes

But I did like the mill scenes and Sir

Also a really strong ending that sets up season two nicely

Miserable Mill Part 1

See above

A little lower that Part 2 because of more Quagmire scenes

I actually liked the Quagmire scenes in season one and how it was handled but less so in this episode? Maybe it was the cheesy effects with the fighting

Also CGI Sunny. Her least cute episode

Vile Village Part 2

Vile Village was definitely one of my favorite books and I was so disappointed by the episodes

While I liked the western aesthetic, I don’t think it felt right with the feel of the book

Also crow nazis

Now that Jacques is dead there’s no bad VFD subplot so that’s why it’s higher than part 1

I really like how they handled Sunny not being able to take her first steps because she’s too old now. This is also definitely a good episode for the Sunny Being Cute scale

Vile Village Part 1

I really think the only thing this episode has going for it is the costumes, specifically Violet and Sunny’s

the watercolor dress, flannel, overalls, jesse hat, tricolor dress? fashion legends

disappointing, kinda boring, bland to look at, horrible VFD subplot, D+V???, bad CGI

however cute donkey

also a fan of Esme’s accent, idk what it’s supposed to be but it made my russian friend laugh

Austere Academy Part 1

Same as the first part however less Carmelita and Larry and Jacquelyn are at their most useless

Just the least entertaining episode overall

The End

honestly do I even need to explain this

I get what they were going for with the pink sheep and I quite like the tents but the pink robes were not flattering on anyone

Kit. Sugar. why is she in a white dress? when did she have time to change? overt christian symbolism after 14 episodes of Jewishness. Ishmael founded VFD. Ishmael can walk

The bad CGI. I haven’t seen CGI this bad since season one

The arboretum was disappointing and didn’t give the feel of years worth of buildup and it didn’t feel like the Baudelaires could live off of this stuff

That being said I loved chapter fourteen and BL

#asoue #a series of unfortunate events #asoue netflix #asoue thoughts #i would love to hear other peoples opinions on this

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ianbrunner · 5 years

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Mr. Poe as the Fool and a Catalyst for the Loss of Childhood Innocence in Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events

“‘People aren't either wicked or noble,’ the hook-handed man said, ‘They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.’” - Lemony Snicket, The Grim Grotto, p. 223

Now, I must admit it’s been far too long since I’ve read any of the books in Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events. The final book in the series, The End was published in 2006 (thirteen years ago… really?), anyways, as I’m on spring break I’ve been binging the Netflix adaptation. In season 1, episode 4, The Reptile Room: Part 1, there is a scene in which the Baudelaires, accompanied by Mr. Poe, are traveling down Lousy Lane which is located near a horseradish factory. Mr. Poe mistakes the smell of horseradish for ginger which perplexed my mom. I found myself explaining to her that a running joke of the series is that the adults are inept. Thinking on this, I found myself relating Mr. Poe to the Fool archetype.

The Fool functions a few ways in literature and film. Joe Bunting on the website: The Write Practice lists these succinctly as: “Comic Relief”, “Characterization”, “Conscience”, and “An Invitation to Freedom” (The Write Practice). He goes on to state that the Fool is also free to express more emotion than is culturally appropriate, characterizes other characters in the media because of how these characters interact with the Fool who they believe is someone beneath them, and is free to speak the truth and live freely. I can’t say that Mr. Poe lives freely, as he seems to live to serve the bank, but he does function as comic relief, characterization, and conscience. Exploring the literature around A Series of Unfortunate Events I stumbled on a article titled: Not so unfortunate: carnivalisation, metafiction & the elements of grotesque realism in The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (Kimiagari, 2017).This article details how the Baudelaire’s stories function as a kind of morbid fairy tale and when read using Bakhtin’s definition of “Carnival” (p. 307) which Kimigari interprets as “...a place… where nothing is stable and fixed” (p. 307). The author goes on to discuss Selden, Widdowson, and Brooker’s (2005) interpretation of carnivalesque in terms of

“...relativity and reversal” (p. 307). This is where “...hierarchies are turned on their heads (fools become kings, kings become beggars); opposites are mingled (fact and fantasy, heaven and hell); the sacred is profaned. The ‘jolly relativity’ of all things is proclaimed” (Selden and Widdowson, p. 41).

In short, “Carnivalised location, therefore, is a place of the upside down and the inside out” (Kimigari, p. 307).

Looking at the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events it’s an uncanny place where children’s parents die in fires and most adults seem to be incompetent at best and antagonistic at worst. There are secret organizations known as VFD with a seemingly endless list of phrases that constitutes what the acronym means. The members of this organization are identified only by the recurring image of an eye which is often tattooed on their ankles. The whole thing has got a bit of that Tim Burton surrealist atmosphere going on with less corpses. The people who should be taking care of the children do not and cannot, whether it is because of death or just sheer stupidity. However, the people who wish the children harm, Count Olaf and his cronies, while over the top and exaggerated, at least manage to create schemes that, in this world, could potentially steal the Baudelaire fortune.

To bring this back to Mr. Poe, he at least cares (a little?)... okay, he tries. Usually in the stumbling manner that an adult does in this world, but from time to time he critiques the children and functions as their conscience such as when Violet picks the lock of Count Olaf’s suitcase in The Reptile Room: Part 2 and Mr. Poe responds along the lines of “Nice girls shouldn't know how to do that sort of thing” (Fox, M. & Palansky, M). At times, Mr. Poe acts as comic relief when he panics (to be honest, K. Todd Freeman kills it in this roll). In The Miserable Mill: Part 1, after losing the Baudelaires the episode opens with Mr. Poe panicking. His first lines in which he grabs onto a man on the street function both to show that he cares, but also gives the Baudelaires a chance to sneak off which in a roundabout way functions as the “Invitation to Freedom” (The Write Practice) Bunting mentions. When the Baudelaires take this chance, they seize the reins and make their destiny their own. And yet, they are not exactly free as they are pursued not only by Count Olaf, but also Mr. Poe, and other adults who care about them as the series progresses. Instead of relying on the adults to care for them as children would normally do, they grow closer together and form absolute trust in one another. This lends itself to Mr. Poe’s functions as the Fool as he characterizes the Baudelaires as characters who recognize that he wishes them well, but understand that he cannot keep them safe. Mr. Poe’s ineptitude forces the Baudelaires to make a choice, to reject the social order that we are used to, especially in texts written for children such as parents knowing best, children doing good by listening to their elders, happy endings, and life lessons learned. Instead, the Baudelaires grow up fast. They recognize the cruelty of the world they exist in, learn who they can trust- each other-, and even commit crimes to further their explorations of the mysteries surrounding their lives and family as the story progresses.

There is a certain truth to the idea that children see the world differently than adults. In a 1989 interview with Stephen King on WAMC’s: Public Radio Book Show which was animated by the YouTube channel Blank on Blank, King states that childhood is characterized by two things for him. First that “...it’s a secret world that exists by its own rules and lives in its own culture,” and secondly that "...we forget what it is to be a child and we forget that life, which is kind of exotic and strange". He goes on to ponder that children “...tend to think around corners instead of in straight lines" (Blank on Blank). The Baudelaires learn quickly that the world is not black and white and they have to make decisions, some of which may hurt innocent people. Early on in the series Mr. Poe nearly loses his job because the Baudelaires run away (he eventually gets promoted to Head of Orphan affairs), people who try to help them die, and at times they must steal or lie to survive. Perhaps children see the world more honestly than any of us. Not through rose colored glasses, but as a place that is true. They trust until they are hurt, they explore until they learn not to, and in a way the symbol of the eye that marks the secret organization of VFD throughout this series is not only a symbol of watchfulness, but also, what happens to children as they experience the world that grownups have created. In the Neil Gaiman’s novel: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the text opens with the epigraph: “I remember my own childhood vividly… I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them" and this quote from Maurice Sendak, I think, sums up the world of Lemony Snicket and the Baudelaire orphans.

References

Blank on Blank. ( 2016, December 13th,). Stephen king on childhood [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2kzmoAsnk

Fox, M. (Writer), & Palansky, M. (Director). (January 13th, 2017). The Reptile Room:

Part 2 [Television series episode]. In Handler, D (Producer), a series of unfortunate events. Los Angeles, CA: Netflix Inc.

Gaiman, N. (2013). The ocean at the end of the lane. New York: NY, Harper Collins.

Kimiagari, M. (2017). Not so unfortunate: Carnivalisation, metafiction & the elements of grotesque realism in the bad beginning by lemony snicket. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 22(3-4), 305-316. doi:10.1080/1364436X.2017.1369011

Selden, R., & Widdowson, P., & Brooker, P. (2005). A reader’s guide to contemporary literary theory. Edinburgh Gate, UK: Pearson Education Limited.

Snicket, L. (2004). The grim grotto. New York, NY: HarperCollins

The Write Practice. (2012). The fool or clown archetype in literature and film. Retrieved

#a series of unfortunate events #mr. poe #literature #television #blog #the fool #criticisim

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fvaleraye · 5 years

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Nowhere to Go But Up

Hey, guess who had the sudden inspiration to write another Vampire!Alex AU drabble? *points at self*

So, uh, yeah, this was a uh. Spur of the moment thing that I just suddenly had inspiration and motivation for. So... I acted on it. Nothing like bein’ sick and not having much to do to bring writin’ inspiration, am I right ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Anyway yeah, uh, as y’all know: Alex is an AFW OC that I made, aaaaaand AFW belongs to my lovely friend @artnerd1123, so go check her out if you haven’t already!

hope y’all enjoy readin’ :V and also lemme know if there’s any spelling errors and such in there, I’ve been a little out of it asdlkfjn-

The sun began to hang low in the sky, the uncomfortably warm summer air starting to cool down to a more bearable temperature. A certain feline familiar strode down the street, her steps kicking up the dry dirt of the road, and her gaze was fixed firmly ahead, her eyes betraying the worry she was feeling.

The whole town was stirred up after the recent murder. One of the few local shopkeepers found dead on the street, his throat torn out. Many of the other locals and questors alike pointed fingers towards a vampire attack, most likely a starving one, but the locals didn't seem to care for the difference. Everyone was working themselves up into a tizzy, trying to find the vampire, while the travelling questors were trying their best to keep the townspeople from doing anything rash. No-one had any leads, though some of the more ornery locals were disturbingly quick to point fingers.

Lucy, meanwhile, was just trying to get back to her apartment. She knew who the vampire was... but she wasn't exactly willing to share that knowledge. Especially not now. Quietly greeting the receptionist as she passed through the lobby, she shoved the door to the duos apartment open, locking it behind her. She gave the room a quick glance around, before walking towards her originator's room, pointed feet tapping gently on the wooden floorboards. Taking a breath, she gently pushed open the door. As she expected, the lights were off, the blinds were closed, and there was still a lump under the covers. Quietly, she stepped into the room, sitting on the desk chair nearby.

After a moment of silence, she spoke up. "... Alex." She started, her tone low. "I know you're awake."

After a few moments without a response, the lump under the covers shifted a bit, and then replied. "... no 'm not." Alex slurred, making his lack of sleep painfully clear. "'m dead. I died."

The familiar let out a sigh at the response. "You're not dead."

"Yes I am." He snapped back, causing the familiar to reel a bit.

"... no. You are not. Alex, you need to get out of bed eventually."

At that, the sorcerer shoved the covers off his head, sitting up in his bed. He looked miserable. "... says who?" He hissed, squinting at the other. Whether it was out of anger, or simply because he didn't have his glasses on, wasn't entirely clear.

"Says me." She replied, crossing her arms. "Alex, I understand what happened-"

"No." He snapped again. "You don't. Unless you tore someone's throat out on your way home, you don't."

She reeled at his words, and let out a heavy sigh. She opened her mouth to speak again, her tone softening. "... you didn't mean to." She gave him the most sympathetic look she could manage as she slowly walked over to the bed, opting to sit on the edge. "I've been reading a lot of books about vampires, and you just... you got too hungry!" The sorcerer reached over to grab his glasses, his look giving off an aura of disinterest. "You went without blood for too long, and you just. Lost it. That's what I've read."

Alex let out a sigh of his own as she spoke, laying back down on the bed, facing away from her. "And I'm gonna keep going without blood." He replied, his tone quiet and resigned.

Lucy's jaw was agape in disbelief at his words, just silently looking at him like he'd gone made for a few moments. "You are not! What are you going to do? Just stay in here until you starve to death?!"

"Get out of my room." He snapped, covering his head with his blankets again. "Please... just get out."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but it just hung open for a moment, unable to find words. She huffed, and stepped out of the room. She stomped back to the living room, and started to pace. What was she going to do? He certainly wasn't going to listen to her about this, not now, perhaps not ever, but...

She needed to do something...

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

An hour had passed, Alex had not come out of his room, and Lucy was about to pass out on the armchair. The last few sleepless nights seemed to be catching up with her.

Just as she was dozing off, the was a soft knock on the door, prompting the familiar to shake herself out her drowsiness and answer. She pushed herself out the armchair, slowly dragging herself to the door. There was a click as she unlocked it, and a small creak as she opened it slightly, peeking out into the hallway. Her eyes immediately fell on the one who knocked. A girl, seemingly around Alex's age, if not slightly younger, orange hair that seemed to fall down to her shoulder blades, clearly a sorcerer, judging by the staff. She was... also very pale, something that stood out, juxtaposed against her bright orange locks. After a moment of squinting, and not being able to recognize who it was, the feline familiar tiredly spoke up. "... do, d-do I know you...?" She said, letting out a yawn before continuing. "I'm sorry, I-I'm very tired, I-" The girl held up a hand, giving a small smile before speaking up.

"No, you don't." She started, her tone chipper, though still containing a hint of seriousness. "I was just passing through here with my family, my parents are promoting our business." She idly tossed her staff back and forth between her hands as she spoke. "My name's Samantha. What's yours?"

Lucy blinked, visibly confused about what a stranger like Samantha was doing here, before opening the door a little more, letting more of her tall frame show. She said something about a business, was she going to try to sell her something? "Um, Lucy." She replied, hesitantly. "If you don't mind my asking, what- what are doing here...?" She cleared her throat and shook her head briefly, trying to keep from slurring her words.

The girl let out a small gasp, reaching a hand to rub the back of her head nervously. "Oh! U-uh-" She let out a flustered chuckle while trying to find her words. "That's a uh... good question, huh?" She cleared her throat, and briefly adjusted her cloak clasp. It was a red one, in the shape of a teardrop. She nervously glanced around at the halls, prompting the familiar to do the same, although with a bit more confusion than nerves. She shrunk, looking up at the tall familiar. "... may I... come in first...?"

She just stared at Samantha for a moment, giving the halls a few more confused glances, before sighing. "... sure?" She answered with a shrug, opening up the door to let the other in.

The bright haired girl stepped inside, walking to the middle of the room and giving it a quick glance around before turning back to her newfound host. "So!" She started, setting her staff to the side before clapping her hands together. "You're probably aware of the... the uh, murder, people are saying was a vampire attack...?"

If Lucy's face could have paled, it would have. She started fidgeting with her hands, giving the hallway that held the door to her originator's room an anxious glance. "... u-um... y-yeah, I'm. Aware."

Samantha took a mental note of the familiar's obvious nerves, before pulling out a satchel she kept hidden in her cloak. She set it on the floor, and promptly pulled out a dark red bottle, wordlessly handing it out to the other. She stared in confusion, hesitantly taking the bottle and giving it an experimental slosh before speaking up. "... what is this?"

"It's blood." She answered bluntly, sending her host reeling back.

"W-wha-?!"

The mysterious house guest held her hands up in a placating gesture. "I know it was your originator." She said quietly, glancing down at the satchel.

The familiar was flabbergasted. She opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted again. The sorcerer gave an exaggerated grin, showing off... rather obvious fangs. Lucy blinked. "... birds of a feather, and all that." She said, letting the grin fade to a more reserved one. "Don't ask how exactly I found, but... I figured that, if they were hungry enough for... that... to happen. They could probably use these." She gestured to the satchel, which contained several bottles identical to the one she had previously handed to the familiar.

Lucy once again found her mouth agape in surprise. A vampire just... wandered in here? And offered bottles of blood for Alex? This was not how she expected today to go. ... but she wasn't complaining. After a moment of shocked silence, she quietly spoke up again, glancing over to the originator's room. "... do..." She started hesitantly. Was this something she could just ask a stranger? ... well, the stranger probably knew more than her. "D-do you think you can talk some sense into him?" She asked, fidgeting with the bottle. The vampire tilted her head at the question. "He won't come out of his room, he... he feels so guilty. He won't listen to me..."

Samantha grimaced at the others words. "... y-yeah." She said, glancing the same direction she was. "I can see why." She sighed, taking the bottle from the familiar's hands and placing it back into the satchel with the others. She handed it to Lucy. "I-I don't really know him, but... I can give it a shot."

She nodded, taking the bag from her and slinging it over her shoulder. "I'll go with you."

This seemed like a terrible idea, having a stranger attempt to comfort Alex... but she didn't have any other options. He wasn't listening to her, and he certainly wasn't going to take the bottles of blood from her, not with how he was acting before. She didn't have a choice... she was just thankful that Samantha was willing to give it a shot.

The two stepped into the room, seemingly exactly the same as Lucy left it an hour before. She set the satchel on the sorcerer's desk while the visitor fidgeted in front of the bed. He glanced at the familiar over the covers when he heard the brief clatter of the bottles, giving her a look of muffled confusion. He looked over to see the stranger, blinking as his expression shifted to a much more outwardly confused one. He reached over to grab his glasses off his nightstand, fumbling with them as put them on his face. "... who the fuck are-"

She raised her hands again, forcing a nervous smile as she took a few steps closer, the other vampire leaning away in response. "This is Samantha." Lucy said suddenly, earning a jolt from the blue haired sorcerer. "She... she's a vampire too."

Alex blinked at her words, he began to fumble with his words for a moment before clearing his throat, which was clearly dry. "... y-you tracked down... a vampire...?" He guessed hesitantly. "And... brought... her...? Here...?"

She let out a quiet, nervous chuckle at the guess. "W-well... no." She offered the orange haired sorcerer a nervous glance. "M-more like the vampire... tracked down you, and came here herself."

"But! I'm not gonna hurt you or anything!" She quickly added, starting to get a little jumpy. "I'm just... here to talk. Lucy said you... weren't getting out of bed." She cleared her throat before shoving her hands in her pockets, looking to the ground. "... may I sit down?"

The familiar quickly brought the desk chair to her, while the other looked on in confusion. What did she mean she tracked him down? How? Was he that obvious?! Oh Revaew, how many people knew-

"I'm a vampire too, like Lucy said." She started, knocking the sorcerer out of his train of thought. "And I... I know how it is."

He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He just stared wide-eyed at the person in front of him. After a moment, he turned his gaze downward, pulling the blankets back up as he pulled his knees to his chest. "... i-it... it was an accident..." He said, his tone quiet and reserved.

"I know." She quickly answered, giving a brief glance to Lucy. "I know how it feels, to... to lose control. After going too long without feeding. Did you... even know you were a vampire, before that...?" He shook his head, staying silent. "It wasn't your fault-"

"Yes it was..." He interjected, shoving his head into his knees.

Samantha let out a sigh. Oh boy, this wasn't going to be easy... she looked to Lucy again, glancing between the satchel and her. After a moment, the familiar got the message, and handed her a bottle from the bag. She scooted her chair closer, and tapped the sorcerer's shoulder, showing him the bottle. "... what's that...?"

"It's a bottle of blood." She answered, holding it out to him.

"I don't want it." He snapped, curling back up.

"If you don't drink blood, you will go crazy again. And someone will get hurt again." She snapped right back, her expression betraying a slight bit of annoyance. She huffed, setting the bottle on the nightstand. "My family runs a business." She started, rummaging around in her pockets for a moment. "It's... it... where is it-" After a moment of looking, she pulled out a small paper card. It looked like a business card. "It's uh. It's like a blood drive. We help other vampires who want to... feed discretely." She set the card on the nightstand as well. "We're just in the next town over, if you ever need anything."

Alex didn't answer, he barely moved. It wasn't even clear if he was paying attention to what she had just said. She huffed, getting up out of her chair. "I know you heard me." She said, before walking out of the room. Lucy have a small, lingering look to him before following, leaving the other bottles on the desk.

The two girls walked over towards the door, the orange haired vampire turning to face the familiar as she spoke, just as she was in front of the exit out into the hallway. "Thank you for trying." She said, quietly.

"No problem, though I'm not sure I was much help..." She answered, giving a sigh. "Feel free to drag 'em to my parents place, I feel like they could probably get through to him better than I can."

She nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Samantha gave another sigh, before turning to the door. "I hope the three of us will see each other again." She said, trying to sound a bit more upbeat.

Lucy gave a smile at her tone, this one a little less strained. "The feeling is mutual, Samantha."

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

Alex had finally gotten out of his bed after the two had left the room, his ear pressed to the door as he listened to what they were saying. He was probably never going to get over what he did... ... but he still had to start somewhere, didn't he?

He walked over to his bed as he heard the front door close, sitting down on the side. He picked up the card between two fingers, reading it under his breath. "... for entrance to the Ichabod family 'blood drive'..." He squinted at the card, having a slight bit of difficulty reading the hand writing. "... all blood goes to those who need it..." He flipped the card over, revealing a symbol almost identical to Samantha's cloak clasp. A red teardrop, though there was some black ivory around it on the card. He sighed, setting it back down on the nightstand. He glanced to the dark red bottle, hesitantly picking it up with both hands. It was not... a small bottle. It felt cold to the touch. Probably enchanted to keep the blood from going bad... He gave it small experimental shake, and took the lid off. The scent hit his nostrils almost immediately, his stomach growling in response. He could see the reflection of his dimly glowing red eyes on the bottle. After a few moments of silent hesitation, he took a sip from the bottle. And then another, much bigger sip. Before he knew it, he'd emptied half the bottle.

He rubbed his mouth with his sleeve, putting the lid back on the chilly bottle, and setting it back on his nightstand. He let out another deep sigh. "... this is my life now." He said, his tone still as resigned as ever.

"... but... nowhere to go but up, I suppose."

#Vaal Writes #Vaal OCs #AFW #Vampire!Alex AU #Alex #Lucy #and also the debut of...!#Samantha Ichabod #woooo new oc :D #new spur of the moment oc that i made on a whim bc i needed someone to fill a specific role asdklfjn-#but sTILL #NEW C H I L D #anyway yes i had fun writing this #and i hope y'all have fun reading it :D #also what happened to the line #that line u could put to separate sections of post #what happened to that adsflkjn-

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hallelujuh · 6 years

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shay’s favorite tv shows from 2017

this has been in my drafts for.... nine months.... fuck.

Written in December 2017, updates are from September 2018.

Considering how many new, innovative shows are around these days, I didn’t get too adventurous this year, but I’m satisfied with the ones I did watch. I discovered new shows, I was impressed by the shows I’ve been following for years, and I learned to appreciate the work that goes into television more. Here’s my top ten TV shows..

10. Thirteen Reasons Why - In all honestly, this is only here because I haven’t been able to watch Peaky Blinders yet, and it’s probably too late. (UPDATE: Watched it in Jan and it was amazing.) This show received a lot of backlash, and for good reason, although it had its moments. The characters were well-written, the relationships were given depth that is often lacking in other high school-set narratives, and the tone was great. I’ve always loved watching things that make me profoundly sad, and this show did just that. (UPDATE: Season 2 was fucking garbage lmao.)

Standout episode: Tape 1, Side B. It’s a cripplingly depressing show, but this episode stood out as a moment of light in Hannah’s dark reality. Her friendship with Jessica and Alex was nice in the beginning - their banter, them having a spot in the coffee shop. I remember assuming Alex was gay (I believe his actor is, so I wasn’t too off) and thinking that’d be good for Hannah, to have a guy friend who wasn’t interested in her and wouldn’t add relationship drama to her life. Boy, was I wrong. Still, having seen the show at the beginning of the year, this episode is the only one I remember as enjoying, so it gets this spot.

9. A Series of Unfortunate Events - I read the books in elementary school, and they’re one of my favorite series of all time. I’m also a huge fan of the film, though I know most aren’t. So I was very excited for this series, and it didn’t completely disappoint. While I found myself longing for the actors from the 2004 motion picture, and some of the directing decisions weren’t choice, it was cool to see The Miserable Mill finally come to life, and I loved the Baudelaires just as much here as anyone else. I’ll be tuning in to next season, since I’ve very, very excited to see how they handle the next three books. I can’t wait to meet the Quagmire triplets, and Esme, and Jacques! It’ll be awesome. I hope they portray it well, but there’s no film to compare it to from here on out, so maybe it’ll be different.

Standout episode: The Reptile Room: Part One/Two. Like I said, I wasn’t a huge fan of how most of the characters were portrayed in this adaption, but I did love Uncle Monty. He was just as wonderful as he was in the film and books. Watching his interactions with the kids was really nice, and as always, made me wish they could’ve remained with him. Stephano wasn’t as menacing here as he is in the film (that knife scene is the point in the film where you go, “woah, this dude’s for real. he’s scary”), which was a bummer because I still thought Olaf was a laughably bad and incompetent villain by the finale, but I did like Poe’s hysteria, and I really loved the movie theatre scene.

8. Riverdale - Oops I never wrote this dfdsbfjdbfjds.

7. South Park - While we all can agree the last season was a mess, and this one was only a slight improvement, it did have it’s moments. I’ve been a fan for five years now, so at this point, they’ll never disappoint me, tbfh.

Standout episode: Doubling Down. While Put it Down was wonderful, both satirically and because of Craig and Tweek’s adorable relationship, the eighth episode of the season was my personal favorite (UPDATE: Not sure why ‘cause I didn’t specify then and I’m not sure now.)

6. Dear White People - I didn’t do this one either damn.

Standout Episode: Chapter V. While the show is a comedic take on racial relations, this episode is an emotional, serious change. The Barry Jenkins-directed episode shows us that the subject is no laughing matter, and it very clearly deserves this spot.

5. Rick and Morty - Yet another show I discovered this year, during the summer. I’d been meaning to watch it for ages, and I finally got around to it. While the fanbase is pretty much poison, the show is pretty damn good. Maybe not what it’s hyped up to be, but great none-the-less. I’m a big fan of adult cartoons, and RaM isn’t entirely satirical like South Park, and it’s not self-aware like BoJack, but it holds up. It’s probably so popular because of how unique it is.

Standout episode: The Ricklantis Mixup. While my personal favorite of Season 3 was The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy, because I adore Jerry, I think we can all agree that the was the best episode of the season, if not the series. Like, really. Holy shit.

4. Gotham - I began watching this show last year, and caught up to season three around halfway through it. It began to drag a bit, admittedly, like it couldn’t carry it’s own weight - but now the show’s on season four, and it gets a little wild sometimes, but it’s holding quite a bit better, I’d say. I was pretty fucking impressed, especially with the Nygmobblepot stuff.

Standout episode: A Dark Knight: Queen Takes Knight. Although Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies from Season 3 is a close runner-up, for all the loose ends it ties up, and so cleanly, too - the winter finale gets this spot. It had me on the edge of my metaphorical seat (since I was actually curled up in bed) the entire time. While Sophia’s character and her motivations had remained muddy since her introduction, her badassery finally came to the forefront, and it was awesome. The way she tore down Penguin from his throne? Incredible. We know he’ll return, as he has so many times, but really, that was so incredible. Considering he’s my favorite character, I should feel worse. However, Sophia executed her plan so well, I was too awed to hate her. Also, Jerome’s back! I’m extremely excited to see Jerome’s role in the upcoming episodes. (Update: Oh, honey, you got a big storm coming...)

3. BoJack Horseman - I binged the hell out of this show just before season four came out, because it was so creative and thought-provoking and hilariously depressing. The fourth season was notably wonderful in a lot of ways, particularly because of Todd’s sexuality arc (the first out asexual character in a TV show!) and how well it was handled, but also because of the mature themes they took on. Princess Carolyn’s miscarriages, Diane and Mr. PB’s failing marriage, BoJack’s struggle to forgive his mother, Beatrice’s own troubled upbringing, Hollyhock’s eating disorder. I watched the whole season in three days when it was first released, four months ago, and I’m currently considering re-watching it after rereading the summaries of each episode to refresh my memory. I’d forgotten how phenomenal it was. It’s on another level - it really is.

Standout episode: Time’s Arrow. Though there wasn’t a single weak episode this season, this one definitely stood out. Following the tradition of uniquely depressing eleventh episodes, Time’s Arrow focuses on BoJack’s mother and how her turbulent childhood affected her. Gorgeously executed, it makes us pity the woman who made our favorite alcoholic horse the way he is, and it concludes with BoJack making peace with his mother, who he had spent so long resenting. It’s just a gorgeous episode. I think I’m going to rewatch it right now, haha.

2. Mr. Robot - I’ve wanted to watch this show since it came out, but I finally began and finished the first two seasons just weeks before Season 3 came out. Since I’m discussing my favorites of 2017, I won’t be talking about those first two seasons here. I’ll be focusing on Season 3, which has been, in my opinion, incredible. What began as a modern, nerdy take on Fight Club has become so much more; a masterfully dark and suspenseful fictionalized look at the looming political state of our world. We’ve gotten new characters (Irving, who’s a gem), we’ve learned more about older but mysterious characters (poor repressed Dom), we’ve had to say goodbye to old characters (I’m still mad about ******), and best of all, this season has been Tyrell heavy, and we even got to see Elliot make peace with Mr. Robot.

Standout episode: S3/EP8, eps3.7_dont-delete-me.ko - The previous episode had already established a gorgeously melancholy setting through the use of Mac Quayle's gorgeous production 2.0_6-madame3xecutioner.oga, which, as a huge fan of film scores, I instantly fell in love with. The song is featured during a scene I watched several times - the scene when Angela repeatedly rewinds the explosion, unable to cope with the reality of it. It left me feeling similar to the way I had after watching American Beauty for the first time - like the world was a different shade. I thought this would be the only moment the show could invoke that response from me, but then the next episode came out. Unlike Ep. 7, Ep. 8 didn’t have a single moment. The whole episode brimmed with pain and sadness. The show’s already sad, but the lonely, isolated feeling is often overwhelmed by the suspense, drama, and excitement. This episode let the characters hurt without interruption, and it was wonderfully emotional.

1. The Get Down - I was so thrilled when I discovered this show in April, literally a few days after Part 2 had aired. I downloaded all the episodes for a road trip, and literally could not put it down the entire tme. It blended all my favorite things - the art of rap, the origin and evolution of hip hop, how battle rapping/deejaying came to be. The music was stellar, the cinematography was breathtaking, the acting was (for the most part) wonderful, and the cast was fantastic. I’ve seen some criticizing it, because of its occasionally choppy narrative and the fact that Baz Luhrmann added his usual whimsical take on something that was historically fairly dark, but I thought it was flawless. It was definitely groundbreaking in its amount of representation, and it was fun and colorful and emotional and, overall, just absolutely wonderful. Like many others, I was pretty devastated when they cancelled it. I understand why, but I wish it could get the Sense 8 treatment and receive a movie. There’s too many loose ends - it’s a real bummer. Still, I’m grateful we were blessed with this gem of a show at all.

Standout episode: S1/EP11, Only from Exile Can We Come Home - The final episode gets this spot for a single scene; the one where it alternates between Mylene singing “I’m my #1″ in the hotel room with Jackie and all the drag queens, and the scene where an unreleased Miguel song is playing while Dizzy & Thor paint on each other, and then Shao calls Dizzy his “alien brother.” That scene was easily one of my favorites I’ve ever seen in any show, in my entire life. If that episode was a film, that scene alone would guarantee it a spot on my favorite films list. It was that good.

#mine #txt #2017

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theheavymetalmama · 7 years

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Soooo...Jason Momoa told a little kid that Superman wasn't in Justice League because he was dead, DC is making a Superman Year One comic with Frank Miller as the author, they're making a two-part animated movie based on "the Death and Return of Superman," and rumors are flying around that Supergirl is going to be in Justice League. Oh, and the Justice League trailer dropped. Your thoughts?

That’s a lot to take it. Let’s start with the big one. New Justice League trailer!

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Sorry guys, still don’t like it. Granted, it doesn’t look as bad as the previous trailer made it look, but it still looks massively underwhelming. Hell, the only character presented I even like is Wonder Woman, because she’s the only one who’s been established.

Well, established in a good movie, at least.

The rest consist of a Batman who belongs behind bars just as much as any of his villains and three other characters we’re meeting for the first time fighting a villain that nobody gives a shit about, which could be forgiven if the characters were interesting but again Batman’s an asshole and we don’t know anything about Aquaman, Flash, or Cyborg yet. And am I the only one who cringed at Cyborg’s line? Not the line itself, but the flat, robotic delivery. Good god, they took one of the most expressive and emotional live-wires in comic book history and turned him into Arnold from Terminator 2, but without the charm and charisma.

I’m also not looking forward the role the Amazons play, which appears to be them being in the movie for the sole purpose of Steppenwolf to kill/mop the floor with them. Yeah, take the place and characters everybody who watched Wonder Woman fell in love with and just wipe them off the face of the Earth in their second appearance. No way there’s going to be any backlash from that!

Honestly, I could write an essay’s worth of things in the trailer that irked me, but topping that list are these lines from Batman.

“Superman was a beacon for the world. He didn’t just save people, he made them see the best parts of themselves.”

Let’s forget for a moment that Superman has only been in two DCEU movies and you can count on one hand how many times he was shown in a heroic light. Let’s forget for a moment that Man of Steel and especially Batman v Superman spent more time hammering into audiences skulls that more people in this world are afraid of Superman than there are people who see him as a hero. And let’s forget for a moment that this Superman has spent more time feeling sorry for himself than he ever did being the symbol of hope the movies tried and failed miserably building him up to be.

Let’s instead take into account that these lines are coming from Batman. Oh yeah, Superman totally brought out the best in people. That’s why after the disaster in Metropolis, you took a deep breath, composed yourself, and reached out to him to see what he was really about before jumping to conclusions and-oh wait, no you didn’t, you obsessed over him for over a year and decided to straight-up murder his ass, you fucking hypocrite!

Seriously, what the fuck, WB? You spend two whole movies shitting on Superman, the people who love him, and his legacy, and now you’re trying to save face by saying that he brought out the best in people when you’ve only shown the BAD things that happened because he exists? Fuck off. No, seriously, fuck right off. You have to EARN that shit, which you fucking didn’t because you killed Superman before anybody could connect with him and threw the entirety of “The Death and Return of Superman” right under the bus in the last 20 minutes of a Batman movie! I honestly don’t know what’s worse. That Batman is being portrayed as a stupid and hypocritical murderous asshole, or that said stupid and hypocritical murderous asshole is leading the team that Superman is supposed to be the leader to!

Ugh, FUCK everything! But let’s move on, shall we? Frank Miller is writing Superman: Year One.

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The very idea of Frank Miller writing any solo-Superman story makes my skin crawl. The fact that the same guy who turned Superman into Ronald Reagan’s personal attack dog who can’t read and raped Wonder Woman is retelling Superman’s origin story? Ugh. Just thinking about that makes me feel like I need to jump into a swimming pool filled with bleach and then get buried up to my neck in rock salt!

Let’s all just put aside that Frank Miller is a racist and misogynist scumbag who hasn’t written anything good since Robocop vs the Terminator. Let’s instead take into account that the man has been writing comic books for 40 years now and has written Superman several times, and every time he’s portrayed him as stupid, boorish, and incompetent while going out of his way to have Batman humiliate him in some way, shape, or form. Yes, I know, Miller has said that he actually likes Superman and only wrote him that way because the story was from Batman’s perspective and that he actually regrets writing him as a government tool, yeah, I don’t fucking believe him. He’s had dozens if not hundreds of opportunities to show Superman in a positive light and he’s never done it. He’s never done it before, so why would he now? The only time Superman has ever been portrayed with any semblance of who he actually is in a Frank Miller work was in Dark Knight III: the Master Race…you know, the one book in the series that Frank Miller didn’t write! Oh, but he wants to write part IV, so great, he’ll get to shit on Superman one more time before he either retires or his diseased liver and STD-ridden body do him in. “Oh, but Katie, he has cancer!” So? He’s still an asshole!

Well, that was grim. Let’s talk a little bit about Jason Mamoa telling a little kid that Superman was dead.

Okay, in the interest of fairness, I don’t think Mamoa had any malicious intent. I’m sure he was just caught up in the moment and wasn’t thinking straight, especially when he apologized to the same kid during an autograph signing that followed the panel. It was still a dick move on his part, but whether or not he gave it some thought, his fellow cast members told him “dude, that’s a little kid,” or his PR guy said “Look Mamoa, Warner has done a fine job of alienating Superman fans all on their own, they don’t need you helping. Now if you want to shrug off being typecast as an uncouth barbarian you’d better stop acting like one and say you’re sorry!” I’m glad he realized it was a dick move and took it back. I’m sure the fact that WB still wants to convince us that Superman is really dead wasn’t helping either. Speaking of which…

The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen are getting animated adaptations.

I have very mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, this was one of the stories I said deserved a faithful animated adaptation. Yes, some aspects don’t hold up anymore, but they can be worked around. This is also not the first time the story was adapted, as “Superman: Doomsday” was what kicked off the string of animated DC movies. But it was also very watered down and may as well have been called “Superman: the Clone Saga.” So the fact that they’re making a two-part animated adaptation should be good news…

Having said that, let’s get real. If they genuinely wanted to make a faithful adaptation of ‘The Death of Superman,’ they would have already. I can’t shake the feeling that the only reason it’s even being made is because Warner and DC realize that shoe-horning Doomsday into the end of BvS only succeeded in alienating Superman fans and they need to save face, not helped by the fact that the last animated solo-Superman movie they made, Superman Unbound, came out in 2013. Everything else since then has been either a Justice League movie or a Batman movie. Oh sure, Superman was in some of them, but the only one where he had anything resembling a leading role was in Justice League: Gods and Monsters…the alternate universe story where Wonder Woman is from space, Batman is a vampire, and Superman is the son of General Zod and his capsule lands on the US/Mexico border right as some refugees are crossing because apparently the writers felt that Superman being an alien just wasn’t quite on the nose enough.

Now I know what you might be thinking. “Okay, so maybe they didn’t make it as soon as you would have liked, but they’re making it anyway so what’s the problem?” The problem is the possibility that they’re making this not because they want to or feel that it’s a story worth adapting, but again just so they can save face for those of us Superman fans who felt alienated at the conclusion of Batman v Superman where the entirety of the story was boiled down to “Lex Zuckerburg creates Nuclear Man 2.0 and Superman gets stabbed to death at the end.” And a movie that nobody wants to make tends to be a movie that nobody wants to see.

That’s to say nothing of the fact that DC animated movies…well, they just haven’t been very good lately. Ever since their Flashpoint film, the movies have ranged from okay to outright bad. Justice League: War sucked, Son of Batman was obnoxious, Assault on Arkham was good but not great, Throne of Atlantis was a snooze-fest, Batman vs Robin sucked, Gods and Monsters was okay, Batman: Bad Blood had a good movie in it that was bogged down by the writers putting Batwoman’s story on the back-burner and insisting Dick and Damian arguing had to be on the forefront, Justice League vs Teen Titans could have been good if they didn’t put the least-interesting character Damian Wayne center-stage for no goddamn reason, Justice League Dark was hot garbage, Judas Contract was lame, and the less said about The Killing Joke the better.

In short…I hope it’s good, but given previous movies and the circumstance, I’m not holding my breath.

EDIT: Forgot about Supergirl apparently appearing in Justice League. I hope she kicks Batman’s ass. It’s long overdue somebody took Batman down a peg and I can think of worse motivations than “You got my cousin and only other member of my race killed,” as well as providing catharsis for Superman fans given he landed a grand total of two fucking punches in the title fight of Batman v Superman. Other than that, I don’t really care. Her inclusion can’t make the movie anymore troubled than it already is.

#Justice League #Superman #Wonder Woman #DC #Batman #Supergirl #DC animated universe #DC extended universe #DCAU #DCEU #Frank Miller #Comicon #movie #rant #please don't suck

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agirlinhell · 5 years

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💭

Send 💭 for five or more headcanons between our muses. | ALWAYS ACCEPTING!

I. They kiss long and hard before they separate, knowing that it could be the last time they could see each other. They could die at any moment in time, so they love each other as if it’s their last day in this world together.

II. Louis knows all the places where she’s ticklish, and having a significant difference in height certainly helps his advantage. He often sneaks up behind her and tickles her sensitive sides and the poor boy almost got punched on accident several times.

III. Every date they ever have post-The Final Season, Clementine always makes sure to make herself look pretty - even though in Louis’ eyes she would always be beautiful. She applies lipstick, nailpolish, perfume and a flower in her hair, things she’s collected from the endless rooms with art supplies and the greenhouse. On many dates, Louis teaches her how to play the piano, and he’s really gentle with her. In truth, Clementine doesn’t truly care what they do on a date - as long as they’re together and they’re having a good time, she’s as happy as can be.

IV. Clementine learns flower language from books from the Victorian era and often gives him messages via flowers with their own respective meanings. Louis finds this very heartwarming and tries to keep the flowers alive for as long as he can.

V. Their next round of batting practice ended up Clementine swiping a walker’s head clean off with a ruthless swing of Chairles. Louis was gaping the entire time afterward.

VI. After the events of The Final Season, Clementine becomes a pagan witch and a beginner in witchcraft, and as a result, she begins performing love and happiness spells in the hopes that they get to live a long and happy life together. So far, it’s been working quite well.

VII. Louis proposes to Clementine on her nineteenth birthday and they wed shortly afterward on Halloween. In a world as cruel and chaotic as this one, they’d have to make their memories last. Their wedding wasn’t anything too extravagant, but at the time, Louis had made secret arrangements with a company from The Commonwealth to give them the things required for the ceremony.

VIII. Late at night, when neither of them can’t sleep, they talk about things that have hurt them in the past, things that confuse them, their deepest fears amongst many other deep topics while they’re vulnerable with each other. Afterward, they watch the stars together and return to the school by sunrise. Louis first kissed her underneath the stars.

IX. In concern for AJ’s mental health, they often check up on him and make sure that he’s doing alright especially after the events of The Final Season. They truly do always try to be there for him in any way they can.

X. In the winter that followed The Final Season, Clementine made a fur cloak for him made of the pelts of bears, wolves and seals so that he could wear it over his own jacket. Louis has been grateful to her ever since as he’s never been the greatest fan of winter. On bright days, they often made snowmen together and slid down snowy hills before engaging in snowball fights and eventually settling down with some hot chocolate. Clem often steals his jacket as it’s really warm and it smells like him, but she always makes sure to bring it back to him.

XI. Clementine comforted Louis when he was paying respects to Marlon’s grave. The poor boy began crying in the middle of saying his goodbyes and even though he’d tried to hide his tears from her, she held him closely and comforted him throughout the whole thing.

XII. Louis comforts Clementine whenever she has nightmares. After he soothes her, he plays with her hair and coaxes her to sleep, which makes her fall for him so much harder.

XIII. They have a daughter together named Aaliyah; Clementine gives birth to her at age twenty-one. She truly is the light of their lives and she’s growing fast and strong with each passing day.

XIV. Louis and Clementine once performed in a Les Miserables play for the school as Marius and Cosette respectively and they absolutely killed the A Heart Full Of Love scene. The crowd stood and gave a round of applause because of just how breathtaking it was.

XV. Before they began dating, Louis made sure to call Clementine at exactly 12AM to wish her a happy birthday without fail every single year. He literally records himself singing the Happy Birthday song while playing his Super Fun Times Friends Song while he’s at it. It makes Clementine blush and think of how much of a cutie and a dork Louis really is.

XVI. Louis was infatuated and mesmerized with the new girl in town who’d just arrived at the school from another state. Marlon still remembers the day Louis first saw Clementine, when she was walking past them with a group of giggling girls she’d befriended - Violet, Minerva, Sophie, Ruby and Brody. Marlon, Mitch, Louis and the rest of the group on the football team had been in an avid conversation on who was going to win the next match when they noted Louis staring at the new girl. Marlon kept waving his hand in front of him and calling “Earth to Louis!” and then Mitch teased him with, “He’s hooked, boys.” They first met in a theatre class and he serenaded her with the classic “Oh My Darling Clementine” just as in canon, and she giggled at him, thinking he was such a sweetheart. Unfortunately for poor Louis, he finds out that he wasn’t her only admirer, much to his dismay. Several of the boys - and even some of the girls - in their class took quite a liking to Clementine not only for her appearance but her kind heart and free-willed spirit.

XVII. When Louis finds out that Clementine’s been “dating” James in the middle of the first year, the poor boy was sulking in misery for about a week or two. This changes when Violet tells him that James is actually gay and had a boyfriend in Charlie and that Clementine being his girlfriend was only an act to appease his strict, traditional relatives. Louis was over the moon at hearing the revelation but unfortunately there were still quite a few individuals who sought her affections.

XVIII. When Clementine first meets Louis’ parents, she has never before seen his house (more like a mansion) and is absolutely astonished and blown away by the sheer size of it. She takes pictures of it and posts it on Instagram and sends it to her friends in private messaging while driving with a bunch of “WTF” gifs and emojis. She meets Louis at his doorstep before she’s intercepted by his personal guards and Louis politely shoos them away. Clem had no idea that he was this rich even though they’d been dating for half a year at the time. At the same time, it makes her appreciate and love him all the more as he never boasts about his wealth and kept himself humble. Later, at dinner, his parents are relieved and are taken with surprise at Louis’ girlfriend, after having previously been worried about his choice in a partner - she was a kind, polite and beautiful young girl with good grades and parents with well paying jobs.

XIX. When Louis meets Clementine’s parents for the first time, Diana is absolutely amazed at just how kind and charismatic he is and is delighted that her daughter selected a fine young man for a partner. Edmund, however, was slightly more wary of him, as he didn’t want his only daughter to be heartbroken by such a promising partner, yet he treated him with courtesy nonetheless. Louis really likes Clementine’s home as it’s small - or at least in comparison to his home - and cozy.

XX. Clementine and Louis stayed up in her treehouse one time on one numerous occasions when he visited her house. It was pretty small but it was cute and humble, filled to the brim with drawings Clementine’s vivid imagination from her childhood.

XXI. When the school’s talent show at the end of the year came to pass, Louis was cheering Clementine on when she and a group of other girls were dancing from the crowd. He was one of her loudest supporters.

XXII. Modern Clementine is a fulltime College student at Ericson’s and works as a singer at The New Frontier bar in West Virginia and babysitting CJ, AJ, Tenn and Willy when their parents are away on the side. She sometimes brings Louis along to work as a pianist. They’re quite the musical duo. Her voice is noted to be dreamy and calming. Despite being dressed up in sequins and glitter, Clem has a dreamy appearance on stage with a soulful voice and spirit that is far older than her, twirling and dancing without a care in the world, even tossing her heels off when it becomes too painful to stand in them. She picks people out to sing duet parts with her from women to men. She ties a single flower onto her microphone every night and as she twirls, it’s like watching crystal suncatchers in the window. Louis thought she looked like a painting come to life when seeing her perform for the first time. Violet remembers how her friend was staring at Clementine for too long and began playing off-key for a few seconds before focusing again. That’s why she is so beloved, not for her allure and beauty but the charm she has just like a siren.

XXIII. Louis was the one that inspired Clementine to love her natural hair. She used to hate her hair, despising how it was always messy but since Louis - and her friends - loved it so much, she began experimenting with her hair and began liking it as her hair was a symbol of her African heritage. It’s uncommon, but not rare, to see her with her hair let loose. Her hair length when loose reaches down to her shoulders and further down. She is a lot more varied in her hairstyles, choosing several traditional African hairstyles such as box braids and cornrows, but she also straightens her hair on occasions, and she does a bunch of hairstyles with it. She dyes it several times - black, blonde, blue, red, pink, purple, orange, turquoise, silver and nebula colored. And Louis loves every style she does.

XXIV. Louis teaches Clementine the French language and culture. She was a bit messy at first but at the moment she’s an intermediate. She’s a quick study; Louis was definitely impressed.

XXV. They’re promoted as Prom King and Prom Queen together after the class’ graduation ceremony at prom. The party was held at Louis’ house (more like a mansion in truth) and it was… quite the party. Louis had been a fan of Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and had wanted to replicate the feeling of Jay Gatsby’s feeling and he managed to pull it off after managing to convince Louis’ parents and the Garcia siblings who’d been their classmates to convince their famous uncle for support.

XXVI. On late nights, they spam each other with memes and cheesy pickup lines. They make contests on who sent the funniest memes. It’s… quite something.

XXVII. Clementine and Louis make a very amusing pair when playing videogames together. Clementine was wheezing by the end of a Mario Kart match because of how many amusing jokes and meme references he was telling her at the top of his lungs.

XXVIII. When watching an episode of Planet Earth one night, Clementine compares a bird of paradise and his mating call and mating dance to Louis and his reaction is utterly priceless. When Clem returns from getting more snacks, Louis mocks the bird of paradise and does a mating dance just for her and for the life of her, she couldn’t stop laughing and crying.

XXIX. A few months after they begin dating, they have their own vlogging channel on Youtube and they’re quite popular. They both have their own separate channels but they often collaborate on their own channel. They post memes, Vines (before the site tragically shut down, R.I.P Vine), covers of songs and dances that they perform among many other things. Some of their most popular videos are a cover of All I’ve Ever Needed by Paul MacDonald and Nikki Reed, a cover of “lovely” by Billie Eilish and Khalid and Louis and Clementine doing the Ice Bucket Challenge, and the pair playing Hide and Seek in Louis’ mansion and doing a vlog series of their end of their year long roadtrip with their entire class after the graduation party.

XXX. Louis often serenades her with song covers on special occasions and posts them on Youtube. There are far too many to mention herein but a few examples are “I Won’t Let You Go (Darling)” by Hedley, “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars and “Make You Feel My Love” by Sleeping At Last. In turn, Clementine posts her reaction and on most occasions she tears up because of just how much she loves him.

XXXI. Clementine wholeheartedly supports Louis’ decision to become a singer despite his parents’ wishes. She’s actually quite the inspiration for many of the songs and the poems that he writes and he makes sure to let her read them even before they began dating, in thanks for her kindness and for all the times she showed him her poetry and drawings in her notebooks that she was too shy to reveal to anyone else.

XXXII. Louis and Clementine dressed up as a Voodoo King and Voodoo Queen respectively at a Halloween party held at his mansion. James often steals them away as guinea pigs for his experiments as a makeup artist in the making and James supplied them with the makeup. They looked absolutely glorious.

XXXIII. Louis and Clem get matching tattoos on the right arm with the following: “You move me like music.” in elegant cursive writing with musical notes all over it. Louis had to hold her hand the entire time because she was concerned about the pain.

XXXIV. Louis is genuinely surprised of just how cheesy Clementine is when it comes to romantic dates, but he’s definitely not complaining. They enjoy candle lit dinners at fancy restaurants, making sweets, stargazing on the rooftops with blankets wrapped around them, taking walks along the beach, winning a stuffed animal for each other the local carnival, and writing poetry and love letters for each other while they’re away.

XXXV. They made their own playlist on Spotify a few months after they began dating. On many nights they’re snuggled up somewhere with one earbud in Clem’s ear and the other in Louis’ as they listen to their playlist.

XXXVI. They’re quite the fashionable duo, and Clementine is a fashionista in her own right especially while dating Louis. Yet no matter what she wears, Louis still loves her for who she truly is and vice versa. Sometimes they’d walk into a room and Louis would announce their arrival like a herald presenting their sovereign. It’s golden.

XXXVII. Every summer, they go surfing on the beach and they make sure to invite their friends and AJ often. AJ’s a big fan of Louis and he gets ecstatic every time he sees him and gets really sad whenever he has to leave.

XXXVIII. They got engaged and married in their early twenties. Louis’ best man was Marlon and his attendants were Aasim, James and Mitch. Clementine’s maid of honor would be Sarah and her bridesmaids would be Ruby, Brody, Mariana, Minerva, Sophie and Violet. She carried a bouquet of roses and wore butterflies and flowers in her hair. By the time the wedding vows were said and done, Louis picked her up bridal style and twirled her around. Louis made a song for Clementine for their wedding and he played it during the feast - it drove Clementine to tears because of how beautiful it was.

XXXIX. The newlyweds went to Marrakesh, Morocco for their honeymoon. On their anniversary they make a habit of going to Hawaii to swim with dolphins and turtles.

XL. A few days after Clementine gives birth to Aaliyah at age twenty five, Louis posts a cover on Youtube of “Light” by Sleeping At Last. It easily reaches thousands of likes a few hours later.

@morefinesse

#morefinesse #my ROMANTIC ASS IS ALIVE RIGHT NOW #LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON WHY THIS IS A FEW DAYS LATE IS BECAUSE I WANTED TO MAKE IT PERFECT AGALJGGALJAGLJGA #YOU'RE A WEAPON GIRL &&. WEAPONS DON'T WEEP. ( HEADCANONS. )#TELL ME THE STORY ABOUT HOW THE SUN LOVED THE MOON SO MUCH HE DIED EVERY NIGHT TO LET HER BREATHE. ( LOUISENTINE. || MOREFINESSE. )#above the divider is in canon and post-tfs and below it is in a modern au!!#i hope you love these as much as i do ande!!<333 #you can totally reblog it if that tickles your fancy!!#i might've made it a wee bit long but it's for a good reason i promise - so voila here's my mini louisentine headcanon bible!!<3 #i also purposely left the canon section a bit shorter 'cause things can come naturally through drabbles and/or interactions<333

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wupassman · 7 years

Text

Reviewing SweetStoryBro’s Review of the Shenmue story

https://twitter.com/sweetstorybro/status/831177322803892225

Some first ofs:

I am writing this directly adressing Sweetstorybro because it feels more natural and less impersonal to address him but that doesn’t mean it’s not intended for anybody else. I am one of the big backers (toy capsule set pledge) so I have a lot to say about this game I fought 14 years for to get that Kickstarter.

I am sorry if this may read a lil bit like a scatterbrained person wrote this. I basically take notes as I listen and since I managed to lose my write up for the first half of the podcast I had to rewrite that from memory too.

I really like the effort and research you put into this, while in places I can add something overall this is very sastisfying for a long time fan and definately a pretty goddamn complete rundown of what the story is about and how its executed. That being said generally if there’s agreement there is not a whole lot more to add so if I don’t outright disagree you can assume I agreed.

Let get to it then:

I think you did a really good job at explaining in which way Shenmue surpasses your average gaming experience, while its clearly a game it kinda goes past playing but experiencing. As you pointed out this game can be a very different experience for each player based on how hard they are looking to find connections and generally explore the world (and progress the story at just the right pace as to not miss a single cutscenes XD It’s not too easy to make a 100% run but if you do, things like Nozomi moving isn't as much out of the blue, yes she basically leaves as abrupt as he does but it's foreshadowed during the convos with her). Yu indeed built a very lifelike world with tons of lil details and NPCs that felt real. I really like how you brought up that book explaining what Yu was trying to do with this world. That was a thing I fan haven't heard of before. Indeed it is a very key aspect to differentiate between japanese and chinese, which of course becomes a much bigger deal in part II even, when Ryo is removed from his stomping grounds but in Hongkong. It's actually p interesting how a game about chinese culture was kinda a main idea from the beginning, as he was inspired to be making Shenmue (then Akira RPG/Project Berkley) many years prior, when he travelled China in order to research martial arts for Virtua Fighter.

As this is a perfect segway I’ll be skipping ahead a little bit here and talk about the fighting system.On of the main genres I always played were fighting games so I personally appreciated the super simplified VF fighting system (try VF3TB from the same time and youll know the difference) and being such a player I wouldnt even have thought of wanting to play this with analog stick. Golden rule of fighting games: dpad = accuracy, analog = wishy washy. That being said I am not at all opposed to change it up for Shenmue III and make it feel more like Sleeping Dogs. After all back in the day it was a different controller not quite as handy for 3D games (the lack of a 2nd stick means a lot). As long as the fighting is tight and responsive it works for me either way, iof there is a change that needs to happen it’s the camera. I am not really holding it against the game cuz it’s really old but the camera screw ups during fights could leave you clueless which way youre facing at times.

I wouldnt worry too much about the thing with the chapters. The games don’t equal chapters. It’s more like arcs/themes (as you later said when talking about the PostMortem). From basically the very start Shenmue was supposed to be split into 5 games and as of yet the plan/hope is that the final game will be Shenmue V. Shenmue I was only 1 chapter but Shenmue II was 3.

At the risk of completly blowing any kind of credibility I might have and just come off as a crazed fanboy: The pacing of Shenmue I had purpose. It very much corresponds with the mental state of Ryo. Feeling of grief and feeling lost. Shenmue I basically is about running into a brickwall and trying a different path until at the end he finally finds a way to get his passage to China. Until then his plans were shattered and ruined a couple of times and it weighs on him. And it should weigh on the player too. It’s part of how you manage to get this deep connection to the character because you as a player are forced to live out the day as is (or just go for the blocking out that your dad was killed and spend all day in the You Arcade). this is further emphasiszed that in Shenmue I theres rarely ever good weather and most of the soundtrack is depressing too. The days getting long is absolutely intentional. I can see how this might not be the most fun kind of gaming for a lot of people, but this is why different games exist. Shenmue’s job is not to appeal to players who can’t enjoy a game where shit doesn’t explode every 5 seconds. It is important to tell people who are interested so they know what theyre in for but its not actually a negative for the game itself because it actually perfectly fullfills what was required for this part of the story.

There is no way to talk about this without explaining how this correlates with the 4 themes Yu brought up and why Shenmue II is such a change of tone. It’s not just the fact that Hongkong is a bustling metropolis. It is very much the fact that due to the unseen part on the ferry and much more so because of all the masters and other freaks he meets in Hongkong that he opens up more. Again the change in tone of Shenmue II is also accompanied by visual and audio cues. THe soundtrack of Shenmue II is overall more upbeat, depressing themes do play in the more run down quarters but overall the game sounds cheerier. Likewise its not just that Hongkong of course is a much more colorful place than the suburban area he grew up in. It’s also basically always sunny in SHenmue II. Granted it makes a lot of sense due to the different seasons the game takes place in but of course with a highly artistic work like this, this is not a coincidence.

Let’s move right into the next part here. Yes Ryo behaves like a jerkass towards a lot of his peers. While there is a chance that the Voice Acting has some to do with it (No dissing Corey Marshall, the man is a hero!) it is still fully intended for him to be as cold and brooding as he is. You can tell by the face animation, which is p goddamn good for a game that old. Every Shenmue player made jokes about how Ryo’s happy face looks the same as his angry face. His moments where he is at least not totally miserable are rare and special. He is consumed with grief in Shenmue I. Shenmue II is about moving forward from that. HENCE DEPARTURE. not just locally but mentally. I really need to compare the interactions he had with the 2 most important females in his personal life.

The first one is obviously Nozomi: These conversations are awkward for more reasons than just them sucking at talking about their feelings (which btw isnt just them being teens but really very much them being japanese in this era too). Keep in mind both are aware of the feelings the other one has so they have a very close relationship. You’d think close enough for him to actually tell Nozomi what hes on and about to do in order to find the killer of his father. He doesn’t He’s very sparse with the information he shares which is entirely rooted in the fact that revenge is highly egoistical (heres a theme that gets such importance placed upon in Shenmue II). That doesn’t even mean hes an egoist, cuz he is not. He is just super preoccupied with his grief and aparently nobody really knows how to help him finding a better way to deal with it (given his age that makes sense too, no complaints there). As I mentioned earlier tho it depends on your play how many scenes with Nozomi you’re going to see (the Shenmue Passport cd is a good reference). Also since it wasn’t actually out of the blue that she would be going to Canada soon it is quite understandable she has a hard time telling him about her feelings too. This is not only a well known story beat but IRL youd think whether you wanna tell someone you love them when you know for a fact you’ll be moving overseas anytime soon. Especially when you consider the circumstance that if Ryo wasn’t on his revenge trip he’d assume his role as patriarch of the Hazuki Dojo.

Now lets fast forward to disc 4 of Shenmue II (THIS GEM!) and inspect the interactions Ryo has with Shenhua. These are amazing. They’re literally the best conversations Ryo has in all of the 2 games. Shenhua’s cheery and innocent, good natured personality makes it exceedingly hard for him to be the brooding jerkass anymore. A lot of that has to do with all the people he met who became his friends/mentors in Hongkong/Kowloon. He grew because of them. But Shenhua’s personality helped a great deal too. All of the sudden there are no distractions. Just the environment and her. What else would he do but chat with her? If you havent played Shenmue II I implore you to just youtube the conversations he has with Shenhua and compare with Nozomi yourself. It’s like night and day and p much the ultimate signifier for his growth throughout the progress of the game. Now this is venturing a into fan theory territory: the fan base is p much split down the middle of what kind of romantic role Nozomi is going to play in Ryo’s future. To me shes the child hood love interest that never became more due to him being preoccupied and her frankly not actually being available either. It would seem sensible to accept this as a chance missed as a part of moving on. I am positive he is going to end up with Shenhua as she resumes transforming him from this brooding dude preoccupied with revenge to a guy who truly internalises the lessons he learnt in Hongkong and adds a big helping of humanity to it.

Not to excuse his behavior towards Ine-san and Fukuhara-san (because you rightly identify them as cold) part of that is also rooted in japanese culture. With Iwao’s death Ryo became the patriarch of the family. Ine-san may scold him but in the end it is not her place to deny him. Likewise Fukuhara-san was Iwao’s student so that kind of transferred to Ryo now. The bigger point here is that he abandons his responsibilities for them. I don’t think it’ll have actual negative impact for him in story, but there is likely going to be a moment of awakening that it is high time he returns home and takes care of the martial arts school.

I am sorry this actually took a 2nd day to finish but I got busy watching Collisions 2017. I only listened to it once but in seghments. Since I am such a huge fan of the game I wanted to be fair and not overanalyze your review and find nitpicks where there arent any.

While the individual play style is entirely up to each player it is my recommendation for everyone playing this, it to give it time. Let it breathe. Just waste your time away doing fun stuff. You’re going to miss out on a lot if you’re playing it in the way youd play most linear games where you just resume with the next goal in the main quest like crossing of a check list. You are not supposed to leave this early. During my fast plays I still never finished before christmas. At best I managed a jan 15 arrival in Hongkong just to see if I manage to arrive on my own birthday lol. But in all seriousness the time limit for this game is so goddamn long because you arent really suppoed to rush through this too fast. Leaving by the middle of January or even by the end of it makes for an overall better experience IMO (lol I just heard the 10 hours thing and I damn near lost it haha. look as I said it’s ok to play it any way you see fit, but seriously 10 hours literally means just the main quest. no goofing off. You’re missing out on stuff and an overall more majestic experience is all I am saying) To me the harbor segment was super fun cuz it was cool figuring out how you get the most out of each day, incl at least some good toy collecting and maybe training (usually didnt need that anymore at this point). By no means I am trying to tell you to like an aspect you didn’t, but to me this very much comes down to how deep you immerse yourself in the world. If you let the time go by slowly (dont run basically😉) such things as working have a deeper impact on how you experience it - then 2h lunch break still feels like 15 minutes. It was literally the opposite for me in that the harbor is when I am p much forced to move the plot forward instead of just goofing off so much. I know people who share this kinda play style feel the same way that the harbor is - to us - where it really picks up.

Before my review of this is over I’d also like to personally recommend the japanese dub over the english dub. Yeah the english dub feels weird at times but this is also intentional. A good comparision to that would be the lines in the Spartacus TV show. Just like that one was speaking latin in english the Shenmue dub was speaking japanese in english if you get my meaning. The VAs talked about this on the SEGANerds podcast during the kickstarter. Of course due to having played it so much it works for me but it’s easy to tell the difference. At the same time I can not praise the english VAs enough for being incredible heroes who promoted the Kickstarter hard, it was amazing. I love all of you guys. Thank you for your passion. Will def play Shenmue III in both japanese and english to honor all of you!

I warned ya it’s prolly a lil bit all over the place. Anyway thanks for the review. give the man a follow: https://twitter.com/sweetstorybro

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theheavymetalmama · 7 years

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Katie Reviews “Wonder Woman” (spoiler free)

It’s About Fucking Time

For what felt like an eternity, it seemed like we’d never see a Wonder Woman movie in our lifetime. Especially when newcomers and nobodies like Red, Kickass, the Losers, and nobody’s favorite Avenger Ant-Man were getting full-blown summer blockbusters while Wonder Woman got one animated movie that was quietly released directly to DVD. So bleak was the outlook that there was even a joke about how DC was afraid the world wasn’t ready for a Wonder Woman movie while Marvel made that same world fall head over heels for a talking raccoon with a machine gun.

It also seemed like the DC Extended Universe was dead on arrival with each subsequent entry getting progressively worse. So when DC announced that Wonder Woman was next, in place of excitement what I had was ire. Why should I trust these people with the first lady of comics who hasn’t had one theatrical movie to date when they can’t even get Superman right and the movie’s big twist was so forced an obtuse that even a comic book based on a show aimed predominantly at small children thought it was stupid.

However, despite my outspoken worry and dread, I have said on multiple occasions that if this movie was good then I’d happily admit I was wrong as well as sing its’ praises.

Well, I stand before you all to say that not only do we finally have a Wonder Woman movie, not only do we have the first female-led superhero movie since the genre became the backbone of Hollywood, but we also have the first movie in the DC Extended Universe that isn’t a complete piece of shit.

Wonder Woman is, I’m delighted to say, a damn good movie.

I know that sounds like a no-brainer at the time of this post, but for those of you who don’t know, allow me to explain. I have been heavily, HEAVILY critical of the DCEU up until this point. I left Man of Steel not quite knowing what to make of it, I was laughing at Suicide Squad’s ineptitude, and seeing Batman v Superman was an absolutely miserable experience that put me into a red-faced, teeth-breaking, white-knuckle rage. It was a movie so bad it made me hate the things I loved, and afterwards I wanted to take every piece of comic book and superhero-related THING I owned, put it into a pile, and then blowtorch it. Basically what I’m saying is that me praising their latest entry is the equivalent of taking the first step in resolving a blood feud between two different families.

And like I said, this movie is really good. It’s the first time in what seems like an eternity I left the theater after seeing a DC movie with a smile on my face. Well, a genuine smile, not a sarcastic one...unless you count The Lego Batman Movie.

In terms of story and structure, Wonder Woman plays it pretty safe. It sticks pretty rigidly to the three-act story and said story told is probably the most straight forward and by the numbers origin story this side of the first Spider-Man movie. While that may sound like a knock, it isn’t at all because the subject isn’t what matters. What does matter is the execution, and Wonder Woman does a great job with its’ task. It’s well written, well acted, and well shot. Transitions from scene to scene are smooth, the humor is good, the action is good, and the characters are plenty likable.

Speaking of the humor, you know how Marvel gets a lot of guff for being too jokey and having too many one-liners in the action scenes whereas DC so far has been raked across the coals for being relentlessly bleak for no evident reason outside of “hey, it worked in The Dark Knight”? Well, Wonder Woman meets them in the middle, keeping the jokes and quips to the scenes when the characters are just hanging out or talking. The action scenes put the humor aside. Now that’s not to say that the action scenes are grim nor are the serious moments needlessly bleak. The action is flashy and colorful as you’d expect from a superhero movie and the serious scenes are just serious enough, with the bonus self-awareness of “Hey, this is a movie about an Amazon from a magical island who fights monsters and has a magic rope that makes people tell the truth, so relax and have some fun. It’s a movie, not a funeral.”

The acting is also solid and, yes, this is me admitting that I was way too harsh on Gal Gadot when I said that her acting range was on par with Arnold if Arnold had absolutely zero wit, charm, and charisma to make up for his non-acting. That’s not to say that Gadot will be winning any Oscars anytime soon, but her acting is fine and to her credit she gives a damn good performance and brings Wonder Woman to life on the big screen the same way Chris Evans did for Captain America. You don’t see an actor in a wacky costume, you see Wonder Woman. Sadly the same can’t be said for Chris Pine, but to be fair his part could have been played by anyone from Johnny Depp to Leonardo Dicaprio and it still would have kinda sucked. It’s no fault of the writers, actors, or director that Steve Trevor was a complete douche balloon who only existed so Wonder Woman could have a boyfriend.

The movie isn’t without problems, no movie is, but its’ problems aren’t enough to distract from the whole. Wonder Woman is by no means a great movie, but it’s damn good all the same. Hopefully it’s soaring reviews and (hopefully) box office success prove to Hollywood that female leads do indeed sell and that female directors can do way more that romantic comedies and documentaries if given the opportunity, and hopefully sets the DCEU down the right path or, at the very least, steer it in the right direction. Personally, I can’t tell you how good it feels to not only see a female-lead superhero movie that’s good as well as see Wonder Woman finally get the recognition she deserves, but also to see the first DC movie in years that made me want to sing its’ praises instead of head straight to the bar. And after a development hell cycle as long as many movie franchises have come and gone, it was worth the wait.

Wonder Woman is 2017′s “Mad Max: Fury Road.” A movie nobody was expecting to be good but hoping for the best and then blowing our expectations out of the water. Go and see it, you’ll have a good time.

#Wonder Woman #DC #DCEU #Gal Gadot #FINALLY #it's about fucking time

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