#must a netflix fantasy series be good

[always-a-king-or-queen]

there are literally so many reasons why we don't need a third Narnia adaptation

first of all, while they might not be the most accurate, the Disney movies are actually so good and, in my opinion, still manage to capture the heart and soul of the series and what it's truly about. The characters are each perfectly portrayed; the Pevensies act like actual siblings and yet love each other dearly and would die for each other even through all the petty arguments; the music creates perfect atmosphere and emotion and never fails to make me tear up or get shivers down my spine; and the CGI is honestly just absolutely stunning.

I really do not feel like we need another adaptation by Netflix.

Especially not through Netflix.

Netflix has already been known to mess up so many shows and movies by completely changing the source material or adding in unnecessary things that completely take away from the purpose of the story. I can already see them warping Narnia into something that barely even resembles the books, that strips it of its purpose and simply makes it about a fantasy world, nothing more. I've already seen posts saying that the new movies just can't end the way the books end, that heaven must be explained away, that Susan never forgets and falls down a dark path, that the faith aspect must be taken out so as not to offend new viewers.

Here's the thing.

If you take faith out of Narnia, you remove the very heart of the series. you remove the entire purpose. Because Narnia is entirely about faith, and trust, and Someone greater than yourself who sacrifices everything to save your own traitorous soul. the Disney movies did not shy away from portraying this faith as openly as possible. if anyone was offended, I've never seen proof. I have seen many nonbelievers talk about how much they were affected by Aslan's death, which goes to show that you simply don't have to be Christian to understand what Narnia is about, and to love and enjoy it.

So if these new remakes remove the faith aspect, then what is the point? four siblings go to a magical land and save it from a witch and befriend a talking lion with nothing special about him and live there as kings and queens and return home and live happily ever after? there is no sacrifice, there is no "he's not tame, but he is good," there is no creation, there is no redemption, there is no last battle, there is no "in your world, I have another name", there is no sister straying down a dark path because she has forgotten how to hope, and then returning because her story is unfinished and the road to heaven is paved with flowers that symbolize her name.

so then, what are you left with? Aslan is just a talking lion, nothing more. the stone table never cracks, the sun never rises. "That by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there" is forgotten entirely, because why would Aslan exist in our world if he is merely a talking lion in Narnia? Aslan's country is changed to be something else, and there is nothing about how Aslan suddenly no longer looks like a lion, and how the things that happened after are more great and beautiful than can be described. Edmund's life is never threatened because of his traitorous deeds; Aslan never offers his own life in place of a guilty boy, is never killed, is never resurrected.

the very core of Narnia is removed, and what you are left with is emptiness.

sure, it might make for a good fantasy story nonetheless. you might still have sweeping views and epic music and an intriguing plotline, but something will always feel like it is missing. like there is an empty hole, desperately needing to be filled.

of course, I don't know that all of that will happen; it's just speculation at this point. But I am fairly sure that it is safe to predict these upcoming movies as such. I highly doubt the producers will want to include the faith that shapes Narnia, because according to them, having a faith aspect means less viewers since too many people would be offended.

but if only they would look at the already wonderful existing adaptations, they would know that is simply not the case.

#i can already see cs lewis turning in his grave #this really just feels like another tired live action remake tbh #netflix keep ur shabby hands off of my beloveds or i will beat u with a broom #ANYWAY I AM ALSO TERRIFIED OF WHO IS GOING TO PLAY THE PEVENSIES #SKANDAR AND WILLIAM AND GEORGIE AND ANNA WERE ALREADY PERFECT PLS LEAVE MY CHILDREN ALONE #also so help me if people like these new movies better #when the disney ones are perfection imo even tho they're not fully accurate #and i would like to see them try to beat the music. i would like to see them try. #narnia netflix #netflix narnia #narnia #the chronicles of narnia #aslan #susan pevensie #lucy pevensie #edmund pevensie #peter pevensie #cs lewis #ramblings from the void

[alittlepunkrock]

where you go (i will go) — i

Summary: A threat to your realm inspires an unlikely collaboration.

Pairing: Dream of the Endless x f!reader

Words: 3.9k+

Notes: After binging the Sandman, my heart went out to our favorite mopey, gothic dream prince. This will be a full multi-part fic. Set in the Netflix series universe. I haven’t written anything in a hot minute, so any feedback is appreciated - thanks!

series masterlist // mood board // ao3

. . . 

“It starts at night when I close my eyes,

I still see you.

I drown my cries in some brand new lies,

I don’t see you like I used to.”

- I Don’t Miss You Anymore, loveless

. . . 

Part i.

True peace is found in the still moments between dreaming and waking. Those moments in which the body and mind seem to exist on separate planes of existence. The body, just awakening to sensation; the mind, being coaxed back to reality after the uninhibited freedom of slumber. The infinite possibilities found in the realm of dreaming.

As your body calls your mind back home, you cling to the last remnants of your dream. A field of wildflowers, bursting with red poppies, purple bellflowers, yellow lady’s bedstraw. Standing tall before you, your love takes your face in his rough, calloused hands. You lean into his touch, relishing in the thought that tomorrow, your hands will be joined in the sanctity of marriage within this very field. Your heart flutters at the thought.

Your love’s dark eyes gaze tenderly into yours. You open your mouth to state your vow, one you’ve surely told him a thousand times, “I love you.”

Suddenly, there is a sharp tug within your chest. You’re yanked back, the scene before you fading to a pinprick. Your mind collides with your body with a force that is physically painful.

The first sensation you register is a pair of rough, calloused hands gripping tightly around your windpipe. Pushing, pressing.

The second is a pair of familiar dark eyes hovering over you.

There is no tenderness there.  

. . .

Consciousness can be an alarming thing. While it has been many hundreds of years - or perhaps thousands, you’ve begun to lose count - since you’ve dreamed, even deities must rest. Your mind recoils back into the Waking World as your eyes snap open with a gasp. On instinct, your hands fly to your neck, hastily prying away a grip that’s not there.

No one is here. Your bedroom is quiet and empty. As always.

Heart hammering in your chest, you run your fingers along your scalp, peeling away the strands of hair plastered to your skin with sweat. Breathe, you tell yourself, inhaling deeply. Just breathe. Exhale. You relish in the feeling of air flowing in and out of your lungs, uninhibited and free. You are alive.

Well, sort of.

The end of your bed dips lightly, and you open your eyes. Your foster pup, Theo, peers up at you attentively. He places one white paw between your feet, his dark eyes twinkling with reassurance. You smile at him and lean forward, ruffling the mop of brown fur between his wide ears. “Good morning, my friend. Checking on me, are you?”

Sunlight streams through the thin curtains of your bedroom window, bathing the room in a golden glow. Your peace lily by the windowsill reaches for the sun, craning its green stems and white blooms toward the glass. A fantasy novel lays on your bedside table, colorful bookmarks denoting all your favorite passages.

And there, just under your bedroom door, is a stack of papers.

Slowly, a bright smile pulls across your face. Your rude awakening retreats to the back of your mind, waiting to strike again with a new dawn.

It’s time to start a new day.

. . .

“Oh please, Theo, don’t look at me like that,” you groan as you walk into the kitchen, shimmying into a pair of dark jeans as you go. Theo sits regally at your feet, eyes wide and gleaming, eager for a lick of the cream cheese warming on the kitchen counter. You drop to the floor to tie your sneakers, eyeing him carefully.

He stares at you. You stare at him. After several long moments of watching you tie your shoes, he sticks his pink tongue out and grins.

Your heart grows two sizes as your tough act breaks. “Oh, fine. How am I supposed to say no to that face?” In a jiffy, your toasted bagel has been slathered with cream cheese, and an extra dollop has been added to the rim of Theo’s food bowl. He sits triumphantly by the bowl and grins as you dip to rub him behind the ears. “You be a good boy today, okay? I’ve got a busy day ahead, but I’ll drop in at lunch. And please, no chewing on the trim. We really can’t afford another maintenance charge. Got it?”

Theo pants and gives your palm an appreciative lick. You grin and kiss him between the ears. “That’s my boy.”

The tender autumn sun warms your cheeks as you step out of your townhouse and onto the sidewalk. It’s a Wednesday morning and the streets are busy, everyone shuffling to jobs, school, daycare. You make the brisk walk to the small mom-and-pop coffee shop a couple blocks away, hoping to beat the line that is sure to be forming soon. The shop owner, an elderly gentleman with a shock of white hair and a kind, wrinkled face - Cliff, you remind yourself - smiles kindly at you as you walk in. “G’morning, miss. You’re off to an early start today, aren’t you?”

“The sun is awake, so I’m awake,” you reply jokingly, placing the exact change for your beverage into his waiting hand at the counter. “We’ve got a busy day ahead, Cliff. Your coffee is going to carry me through.”

“Good thing I’ve got it ready for you, then,” Cliff jests, sliding a to-go cup across the counter. “Have a g’day, miss.”

“You truly are a lifesaver, Cliff. Mankind thanks you for your service,” you say as you take the first sip. The dark brew slips down your throat, warming your insides as it goes. Nothing refreshes the immortal soul for a day of work quite like a good coffee.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” you call with a grin, turning on your heel to head back out the front door. As you approach, a young man carrying a backpack, likely a college student, prepares to open the door. The street outside is busy, easy to disappear into. You turn over your shoulder to ensure Cliff is looking away. His back faces you, busying himself with cleaning the espresso machine behind the counter.

Turning to the young man in front of you, you slip through the door as he opens it. He makes eye contact with you, opening his mouth to give a greeting. You smile and, reaching out, touch your fingertips to the soft gray hoodie over his heart. You close your eyes, reaching out, reaching through. A warm breeze whistles through your hair. And when you open your eyes, you’re in to vasíleio tis proskóllisis. The Realm of Attachment.

It is an absolute kaleidoscope of colors. The most stunning masterpiece you have ever seen. Hundreds, thousands, millions of threads bursting forth from the hearts of the mortals surrounding you. Some are linked to an individual beside them, some halfway across the city, some halfway across the world. Each thread thrums, alive with the promise of connection, of attachment to another individual. Each thread glows with the promise of what bond these two mortals are to share.

Gazing around this masterpiece, your masterpiece, your chest grows tight with emotion, heart warm, mind buzzing. This is your purpose. This is what it means to be Agape, the Deity of Love.

You turn to the young coffee shop customer you passed through, who is now glancing around, looking quite dazed and confused. “Well,” you say, knowing full well he can’t hear you, “I suppose I should get to work, shouldn’t I?”

  You pull the folded pieces of paper from your bedroom floor out of your pocket, unfolding them carefully. The first names on the Fates’ list are alight with a purple halo. You smile fondly. Erotoropia - playful, flirtatious attachment. These are always fun. You close your eyes and skim your fingertips over the words, reaching out for the attachment there. When you open your eyes, you find yourself in a high school hallway crowded with shuffling bodies. The air is thick with a heady combination of cacophonous chatter, cheap body spray, and raging teenage hormones.

A thick web of attachments surrounds you, burning brightly with reds, purples, blues, and whites. A combination of romance, flirtation, self-love, and friendship or romantic soul ties. Ah, to be a teenager, you muse, overwhelmed by the sheer number of connections around you. You inhale deeply and wade through the crowd, honing in on the attachment you have come to foster.

Ah, there they are - a young brown-skinned girl with hair the shade of night and a fair-skinned boy with bright blue eyes. They stand side by side at their lockers, the boy rummaging for books, the girl applying a thin streak of eyeliner to both eyes in her small mirror. A faint purple thread connects them at the heart, yearning to be established. You feel it call out to you, tugging at your heart, drawing you closer.

You smile, running the purple strand between your fingers. Let me see what I can do for you.

To your right, a stocky boy in a football jersey barrels down the hall, clearly late for some type of practice. You incline your head toward him and lift a hand, crooking your pointer finger ever so slightly. At your gesture, the boy’s shoe rolls over a pen on the hallway tile and he stumbles, shoulder colliding with the back of the brown-skinned girl. Her eyeliner careens across her temple, leaving a dark line in its wake. She gasps, rearing backward.

“Hey, watch it!” She calls out to the football player as he scurries away, too concerned about being late to pay her a glance. She leans back into her locker, examining the damage in the mirror. “Aw, shit.”

The fair-skinned boy glances at the girl to his side, glances away, glances back again. Obviously weighing the pros and cons of speaking up. You place an encouraging hand on his back. Go on.

“Sorry about that,” the boy finally says, briefly pausing in his quest to find his books. “Jocks, am I right?”

“No shit,” the girl groans. She pulls a Q-tip from her purse and leans in close to the mirror, trying to salvage her look. “This was the worst possible day for this to happen to me. I’m supposed to audition for Catswith the drama club after school.”

The boy grins, turning to face her more fully. Gaining courage. “What , a cat eye wasn’t what you were going for?” he prods, eyebrow raised.

The girl pauses in her wiping to return his friendly gaze. A playful twinkle lights in her eye, dancing as a smile pulls across her face. “How do you even know what a cat eye is?” she laughs.

The boy shrugs, closing his locker with a stout clang. “I may or may not have three older sisters. My knowledge of makeup is vast and, quite frankly, a little embarrassing.”

You glance down at the thread between your fingers as the two chat. Once pale purple, the thread now glows brightly. You smile with satisfaction. Your work here is done.

. . .

The Fates know how to keep you busy, and you thank the powers that be for the millionth time that you love your work as much as you do. By lunch, you’ve traveled halfway across the world, fostering a rainbow of bonds. Theo gets a quick check-in at lunch, something that lifts your spirits as much as it does his, before you dive back into the fray. By dusk, there is only one final set of names on your list.

As you lift your fingertips from the page, you find yourself on the landing at the top of a staircase. A large window to your right reveals the quiet cul-de-sac outside. The hallway is dark with shadows, every door lining the corridor closed firmly. All is silent.

And then, a sniffle. You turn to the first door down the corridor to your left. While no light peeks through the crack at the bottom of the door, the sound of quiet sobbing is unmistakable. The pitch and tone tells you that it is the crying of a young girl. Through the door pass two distinct threads; one faded and green, the other a pulsating black. At the sight of the black thread, you grow very still, a lump forming in your throat.

Desire the Endless has been here.

You take the threads in your hands and follow them down the staircase, moving quickly. You find that the threads trail into the heart of a middle-aged man lying on the couch. A comforter has been thrown onto the floor beside him; he tosses and turns in his sleep, restless.

You swallow quickly and close your eyes, gripping the black thread tightly. Show me, you command. In response, dark images flash through your mind: A family of three, happily moving into their new home. The father taking a new job. Casual glances at a co-worker turning into sly ones. Desire boiling until the pot overflows. One early morning run turning into multiple. The fallout. A wife working late to push the pain away.

A daughter crying in the room upstairs. Your heart sinks, forming a pit in your stomach.

Slowly, you shift your hands to grip the green thread. Gazing down at the restless face of the adulterer below you, you can’t help but wonder whether he deserves your gift. Whether he deserves you re-enforcing his family’s unconditional love for him. You can’t help but wonder whether, with Desire around, he’ll make the same grave decision again. You almost let the thread go. And then, you remind yourself, You don’t decide who or what. You are here to choose the how and to ensure that all proceeds as it is meant to.

“You will awaken and call your wife at work,” you command slowly, voice barely more than a whisper. “You will grovel at her feet. You will do marriage counseling, family therapy, anything that she requests. You will become a father that your daughter can be proud of. All of this will be as I have spoken it.”

You pause. In your hands, the green thread solidifies and glows, warm and alive. As you turn to leave, you whisper one final wish, “And you will shut Desire out of your heart from this point onward.”

It’s the only thing out of your control. The only thing you can’t guarantee.

. . .

You step through an evening jogger and onto the sidewalk in front of your townhome, back in the regular Waking World once again. The colorful threads of the Realm of Attachment no longer leap into view. The street is quiet, dark, and mundane. Admittedly, after a long day of work, it’s a sight for sore eyes.

As you fumble through your pocket for your house keys, a bright bubble of laughter rings through the open window of the townhome next to yours. You can’t help but smile softly and take a slight step back, craning your neck to peek through the open curtains. Inside, a young husband and wife - Ava and Matt, you think fondly - sit on the couch watching a game show rerun on TV. Ava throws her head back and laughs, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. Matt places an affectionate kiss on her temple. His broad hand shifts to rest on her stomach, cradling the small bump that has begun to rise there.

Your heart flutters at the sight. You’ve been guiding their love story for a long time. You were there for their first meeting, first date, first kiss. Blessing their vows, inhaling in excitement when they learned that they were pregnant. Some were moments the Fates required you there for, while others were for your own satisfaction. While you cared for all mortals that crossed your path, there was something special about these two. In retrospect, you suppose they were the closest thing to family that you had.

Well, besides for Theo.

“Theo!” you call as the front door squeaks closed behind you. At the jingle of your house keys falling into the catchall by the door, Theo rushes to your side, pawing at your ankles. “Hello, little love. How was the rest of your day?” You lift his tiny body into your arms, and he gives your cheek a long, rough lick. “That’s my boy. Let’s get cleaned up, shall we?”

You pad quietly through the living room, down the short hallway, into your bedroom. And nearly bite your tongue at the sight of a dark silhouette standing stark against the streetlights streaming through your curtains.

“For the love of -” You slap the lights on with one hand, gripping Theo a little tighter with the other. As light floods the room, your adrenaline rush halts, energy suddenly pent up with nowhere to go. “...Death?”

Death of the Endless turns from looking out your window, offering you a sweet, toothy smile. “Hello, Love. Long time, no see.”

You breathe out a laugh, setting Theo down on the floor. He promptly runs to lick at Death’s ankles, and she crouches to scratch behind his ears. “Yeah, long time no see. What has it been? A hundred years, at least?”

“More, my friend. Unless you count our brief encounters on the battlefield,” Death says, lifting Theo into her arms. He nudges his nose into her dark curls and licks her cheek. “You grow stronger with each passing century, Love. You’ve progressed so well. You should be proud.”

You think back on the past hundred years, remembering the wars, sicknesses, and tragedies that occured in that time. Certainly, it was a busy time for humanity. In those days, you and Death often worked side by side. The sight of her sweeping wings was well known to you then. You think of those she carried to eternal peace, of the battles that ended in the name of love. You tuck your chin, smiling sheepishly. “Thank you. Surely you didn’t serve me a heart attack simply to flatter me. What brings you here, Death?”

Death quirks an eyebrow, her dark lips dropping into a playful pout. “What, an Endless can’t drop in to see an old friend? And her adorable dog?” At your laugh, Death smiles kindly and sits herself and Theo down on your bed, patting the spot next to her. “But you’ve caught me. There is something we need to talk about,” she murmurs.

At her change of tone, your throat tightens with nerves. You breathe in deeply as you sit at her side, gazing at her expectantly. Your anxious fingers shift to scratch Theo’s head absentmindedly.

Death’s lips part slightly. She seems to contemplate for a moment. “I’ve spoken to my brother recently. Destiny. As well as the Fates,” she starts quietly. Another pause. “They seem to be worried about your scales.”

“Ah, I see,” you say, your throat suddenly dry. Your fingers move more quickly, and Theo inclines his head to peer up at you. You give him a half hearted smile.

Death leans in closer, eyes asking questions before her mouth does. “What’s going on, Love? Share with me. Let me help you.”

“I’m afraid it’s nothing you can help with,” you say quietly. “Desire and I have never seen eye to eye, but lately it’s become more and more difficult to keep up with their work. They’re moving more quickly, becoming more ambitious. They’ve been disrupting my romantic attachments and soul ties, in particular. They know what they mean to me.”

“As do I. Which is why I don’t want to see you lose them.” Death places a comforting hand on yours atop Theo’s head, stilling you. She dips her gaze to make eye contact, eyes searching yours. “I’ve come to warn you of this as your friend. You know I care for you. But if you are unable to keep your side of the scales balanced, I’m afraid of what may happen. Nothing is guaranteed for gods and goddesses. And your kind is not so easily replaced as the Endless.”

The lump in your throat rises higher. You swallow thickly. “I know. And thank you. I appreciate your friendship, appreciate everything that you’ve done for me, more than you’ll ever know.” You inhale deeply, exhale slowly. Grounding yourself, gathering your thoughts. The beauty of the Realm of Attachment burns brightly in your mind, a kaleidoscope of color that you created. “I won’t let them take it from me. It’s all I truly have left.”

Death feigns a gasp. “All you have left? What are we, Theo? Chopped liver?” You laugh, the weight of your heart becoming a little lighter in your chest. She elbows you in the ribs softly. “I’m kidding, of course, but I love the sentiment. Any thoughts on how to tip the scales back in your favor, my friend?”

One idea does immediately come to mind. Whether it’s a good or bad one, you’re not sure. You start to rethink it, but it’s evident when you lock eyes with Death that she’s already seen the thought register on your face. You smile hesitantly. “The last time we spoke, truly spoke, I did mention one idea of mine. However, you weren’t much for it at the time-”

“Ah, Dream! My dear, mopey brother,” Death exclaims, remembrance dawning on her face. “Of course I remember. Granted, at the time, I did not think it was likely to be successful. Dream was, well… being Dream, which does not mean much in the way of collaboration.” Her bright smile softens into a wistful one. “However, much has changed for Dream in the last hundred years. He’s gained a new perspective on things, I think. And Desire has done quite a bit of meddling in my brother’s affairs lately. He might be open to a partnership.”

Your heart rises, chest fluttering with hope. “You think so?”

“I think it’s worth a shot, if nothing else,” Death states matter-of-factly. With a loving pat on your hand, she rises, walking to the window. “And after all, you and my brother are not so different. You’re certainly the brighter ray of sunshine, but neither of you are much in the way of getting out. You spend all your time with mortals, and he spends all his time with - well, his librarian. And his raven. Perhaps this arrangement will be good for the both of you.” You open your mouth to protest, and she gives you a playful shh. “You know it’s true, Love. Now, I wouldn’t waste any time. The faster you can work to balance your scales, the better. And if my darling brother gives you any trouble, do let me know, yeah?”

You shake your head incredulously, giving her a small smile. “Yeah, I will. Thanks.”

“You can thank me later, when your scales are balanced. I’ll be seeing you, Love.” And with a grin and a swoop of black feathers, Death is gone.

All is quiet in your townhome. You release a breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding, falling back onto your pillows. Your hand trails over Theo’s fur absentmindedly as your mind races with possibilities. Besides Death and Desire, you’ve never associated with an Endless in person before. Despite his influence on your work, you’ve never met Destiny in the flesh, receiving your assignments through the Fates, instead. In fact, you rarely associate with any other deities at all. Let alone one with a reputation such as the Dream Lord’s.

You take a calming breath, closing your eyes. There’s no doubt in your mind that rest will elude you tonight.

#the sandman #the sandman fanfic #dream #dream of the endless #dream x reader #dream x you #dream x fem!reader #morpheus x reader #morpheus #the sandman netflix #netflix sandman #sandman netflix #sandman #lord morpheus #sandmanweek2022 #morpheus x you #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless x fem!reader #dream of the endless x you #morpheus x fem!reader #the sandman fanfiction #sandman fanfiction

[crimson-amarone]

Fancasting for a Trigun live-action tv series/movie!! I know we got just Trigun Stampede, but we can’t let Cowboy Bebop get a live action and not Trigun right??

For all my selections I would say about 75-80% are actors I have seen in one or more of their most well known roles. For anyone else I narrowed down to 2-4 options and I did extra research into their filmography, interviews to hear their voices and general vibe, etc. And I also looked at what kind of roles they trended towards—sci-fi/fantasy and superhero media giving them bonus points.

See below for info about the actors and my runner up choices for each character. I included tidbits like their age, height, and notable roles.

For Vash and Knives I wanted to first look for real life identical twins. After some research, I believe I found a fitting pair. Cole and Dylan Sprouse, best know for their childhood roles in the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Although I don’t think I knew their adult roles as well as their Zack and Cody days, that real twin dynamic just adds that extra layer.

Of the two, I found Cole having a softer look, and lately it appears he’s been going with black hair which seemed fitting if we think about black-haired Vash at the end of TriMax. Dylan’s look has just that different sharpness and edginess that I slotted him to Knives.

Ruby Cruz (Kit Tanthalos, Disney+’s Willow) is a very talented young woman and recently made a feature length movie debut as Hazel Callahan in Bottoms (2023) and will be starring in an upcoming rom-com The Threesome. (See notes about edit below.)

Milly was a tricky one for me. I have a couple of runners up below. My current pick is Mina Sundwall, especially for her role as Penny Robinson in Netflix’s space family drama Lost in Space.

Although I’m on board with the HC that Wolfwood is Latinx, I had to go with famous werewolf Jacob Black from Twilight, Taylor Lautner. I got a couple other choices below too.

Liam Hemsworth (or Chris idkkkk). Nuff said?

Rem was a bit hard to choose. I had to go with Candice Patton as a personal big fan of her role as Iris West in The Flash as a DC fan. She has just the right oh-crap-I-have-kids-I-am-not-prepared-at-all motherly acting vibe down pat that is essential for Rem.

Despite the fact that Christopher Daniel Barnes is always smiling in photos, his breath of filmography makes him such a good fit for wise Drunkle Roberto.

Being so effing hyped about Nicholas playing Lex Luthor in Superman Legacies (2025) he has the perfect mix of heroic and villain roles for Legato’s psychotic righteousness. And he’s already had blue hair (and fur all over his whole body) as Hank “Beast” McCoy, c’mon too easy.

Zazie Beetz… that couldn’t have been a coincidence? Like Studio Orange must have know about this actress when they worked on the Beast’s revamped design. For a second option I’d probably pick a child/adolescent actor but Zazie can pretty much take whatever form they want, so why not both? Edit: I’m going with Scarlett (Trixie from Lucifer). Very very talent young woman. She’s funny, smart, sassy.

Role: Vash the Stampede

Actor: Cole Sprouse

Age: 31

Height: 6’0”

Best known role: Cody Martin ( The Suite Life of Zack & Cody)

Runner-up Actor: Mason Dye (Jason Carver, Stranger Things)

———

Role: Millions Knives

Actor: Dylan Sprouse

Age: 31

Height: 6’0”

Best known role: Zack Martin ( The Suite Life of Zack & Cody)

Runner-up Actor: Christopher Lowell (Sebastian “Bash” Howard, GLOW and Jess, How I Met Your Father)

———

Role: Meryl Stryfe

Actor: Ruby Cruz

Age: 23

Height: 5’3”

Best known role: (Kit Tanthalos, Disney+’s Willow)

Edit: I swapped Ruby Cruz in for Bex as I learned how far along Bex was in their gender journey. As much as I respect Bex’s journey and the gender representation is important, I still want to pick someone I feel leans more feminine for Meryl.

Runner-up Actor: tbd, maybe Christine Lee or Ana Yi Puig

———

Role: Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Actor: Taylor Lautner

Age: 32

Height: 5’8”

Best known role: Jacob Black (Twilight movies)

Runner-up Actor: David Castro (Raphael Santiago, Freeform’s Shadowhunters)

———

Role: Roberto De Niro

Actor: Christopher Daniel Barnes

Age: 51

Height: 5’11”

Best known role: Spiderman (Spider-Man 90s), Prince Eric (The Little Mermaid 89)

Runner-up Actor: Edgar Ramirez (Bourne Ultimatum 2007, Carlos the Jackal, HBO’s The Undoing)

———

Role: Milly Thompson

Actor: Mina Sundwall

Age: 22

Height: 5’6”

Best known role: Penny Robinson (Lost in Space, 2018)

Runner-up Actors: Liana Liberato, Kennedy McGann, Ellie Gall, Luna Wedler

———

Role: Rem Saverem

Actor: Candice Patton

Age: 35

Height: 5’4”

Best known role: Iris West (CW’s The Flash)

Runner-up Actor: Lyrica Okano (Nico Minoru, Hulu’s Runaways)

———

Role: Legato Bluesummers

Actor: Nicholas Hoult

Age: 34

Height: 6’3”

Best known role: Nux (Mad Max Fury Road), Hank “Beast” McKoy (X-Men movies), Lex Luthor (Superman Legacies, 2025)

Runner-up Actors:

2. Samuel Larson (Joe Hart, Glee) 3. Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers, Stranger Things) or 4. Brenton Twaites (Dick Grayson aka Nightwing, DC’s Titans)

#trigun stampede #trigun #tristamp #trigun maximum #trimax #vash the stampede #millions knives #meryl stryfe #nicholas d. wolfwood #milly thompson #roberto de niro #legato bluesummers #zazie the beast #rem saverem #fancast #live action #anime live action #manga live action #actors

[allietaylorsversionsblog]

I can’t get over how good TOG could be as an HBO series (Netflix put your filthy paws away). My hot take is they must do the first season as AB but add Nehemia’s POV in Ellywe, make it a really cool world building season and obviously get everyone hooked by ripping our hearts out with Sam/Arobynn/Endovier

ACOTAR does not need and will not do well as an adaptation and that is a hill I will die on

Edit re: Margot Robbie/SJM meeting - Greta Gerwig directed TOG epic fantasy series?!?!

#throne of glass #sjm books #sjm #maasverse #assassins blade #celeana sardothien

[nanowrimo]

Unlocking the 8 Secrets of Web Novels

If you’re looking to try something new this Camp NaNoWriMo, why not a web novel? Participant Eitan Estheim talks about what a web novel is and how to get started on your episodic writing adventure! The act of writing has been with us for a long time, but that doesn't prevent us from learning different ways to approach it, especially when we take advantage of the new technologies that are emerging.

Web novels (and their variants) are original stories that are published on the internet in chapters, instead of offering the finished product from the beginning. They resemble self-publishing because the author takes care of the entire process (writing, editing, publishing, promotion), and fanfiction because they maintain close contact with the readers.

Generally, authors usually offer their content for free on the internet. However, some authors will publish in advance on Patreon to offer incentives and get monthly paid subscriptions as if it were the Netflix of books.

I've been doing this for a while now and, although I don't have the impact of other writers, that hasn't stopped me from learning a lot in the process. With this in mind, I'm going to tell you what I’ve learned, both on my own and thanks to others.

1. Choose where to publish your web novel. Nowadays, there are several platforms such as Wattpad, Royal Road, Tapas or Kindle Vella, among many others. Some are more suitable for romance and contemporary stories, while others highlight fantasy or litRPG. Keep this in mind before deciding where you want to start.

2. Be prepared. Unlike other ways of publishing a book, a web series requires regular updates. This means you need to create content frequently. As a result, many authors choose to have several weeks of chapters prepared. This ensures they can continue publishing while writing the next chapters, along with all the additional tasks that this entails.

3. Be realistic with your time. Referring to the previous point, we need to take a moment to consider everything we must do: write new content, make sure it's in good condition for publication (editing), promote on social media, etc. Many of us have jobs and responsibilities, so we must be aware of how much we can accomplish each day.

4. Every story is unique. What works for one author may not work the same for another. Some decide to publish short chapters from Monday to Friday, while others prefer to do it once or twice a week. Consider your situation and learn as you go to figure out what works best for you.

5. Take care of yourself. If you push yourself too hard, both in external obligations and in your own projects, you will reach a point where you will exhaust yourself (and that's if you're lucky). Just like in life itself, prioritize your physical and mental health, fulfill your responsibilities, and give yourself the opportunity to write under the best possible conditions.

6. Share your story. Maybe you're like me and prefer to dedicate your time to writing, planning, and editing because that's what you enjoy the most. It's understandable, but how will you get others to read your work? Get moving! Use social media, Facebook groups, and other methods because if you want others to value your work, you must make them aware of it.

7. Find your balance. Just like in any other writing project, there will be times when you write less and dedicate more time to editing or preparation. You may have periods where you write less, but that doesn't mean your productivity is lower; it just means there are other equally important tasks you must perform. Finding the right balance will allow you to progress in your short, medium, and long-term projects.

8. Take care of your readers. Remember what I mentioned about Patreon? It's not only a way for authors to receive some compensation for their work, but they also offer incentives to their followers. Most choose to offer chapters in advance, but they can also provide exclusive access to Discord/Guilded servers, EPUB/PDF files to continue reading on other devices, unlimited scenes, and a variety of other things. Just think about what you would like to have as a reader, and I'm sure you'll come up with many ideas. All of us here know how complex and exhausting writing can be, regardless of the project we're working on. However, it's equally rewarding to see our story taking shape and sharing it as if it were our own TV series. You just need to mold it in the way you desire and keep on writing!

Eitan Estheim, a passionate web serial writer hailing from Spain, is a humble virtuoso of storytelling. From an early age, armed with nothing more than a trusty notebook, Eitan embarked on a literary journey fueled by lots of chocolate. His insatiable thirst for knowledge knows no bounds, as he tirelessly hones his craft to captivate readers. Eitan's web books, spanning fantastical realms and heartfelt LGBT dramas, written in Spanish and English, mark the beginning of his promising writing career. Follow his journey on Patreon! You can also visit his website, Tumblr, Instagram, or Pinterest. Photo by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels

#nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #self publishing #online publishing #web novels #by nano guest #eitan estheim

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group E Round 1: #E8 vs #E1

#E8: Lesbian vampire & human go on road trip to escape the horrors

In a bleak world where music is banned and Vampires have emerged at the top of the food chain, a girl named Momo breaks past the barrier and connects with Fine, queen of the Vampires, and the two journey to find a safe haven where their races can co-exist.

#E1: Modern people transmigrate* to ancient Chinese fantasy world (BL)

People from the modern world transmigrating into the ancient fantasy world has become a common and everyday occurrence that the royal court in the latter has decided to moderate them. If you’re a transmigrator, you must report your existence to Lou Zhu, the master of Best Tower. Once you pass his test and prove that you are indeed a modern person, you can then be assigned to work in different areas of the government and be given a high salary.

Because of this promised benefit, many impostors have showed up before Lou Zhu. And one day, Zuo Yunqi shows up for this test. Is he an impostor, or is he an actual modern person?

But some transmigrators also choose to hide their existence out of distrust in the government. Where are they? And with their knowledge of science and technology, what are they planning in the dark?

*Transmigration = similar to isekai, but the world where the characters get isekai’d to is not always a western fantasy type.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#E8: Vampire in the Garden

Propaganda:

This anime came out a year ago, but I literally never heard of it until earlier this summer because Netflix had it. You guys are SLEEPING on such a good series—it’s 6 episodes so it’s short, but it feels like a whole single film. The voice acting is so fun, the music slaps, the animation goes HARD during fight scenes, and it’s just so so good. The art style is pretty, and the scenery makes me lose my mind, it’s SO pretty. I need to write an essay one day about how VitG uses music to carry the story because wow that is 🛐🛐🛐 Also there’s a goofy looking dog named Connie that continuously appears and serves no purpose in the plot. Love that

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Racism, Self-Harm.

Child abuse & emotional abuse for Momo’s complicated relationship with her mother. Also emotional abuse for Fine’s past traumas and current strained relationship with other vampires.

This is a vampire anime, so there’s a lot of blood and fighting. There’s also a drug introduced in ep1 that mutates a vampire horribly.

Racism is human-versus-vampire shenanigans.

Self-harm for a scene where a human attempts to feed a vampire and for drug usage as mentioned above.

#E1: Are You Ok (You Yao)

[Admin: I could not find a single trailer of season 1 w/ English subs, and its OP seems to have been taken down on YouTube since Iqiyi, its producer (?), started their own channel. As such, I’ve cut a small portion of S1E01 instead, featuring the test the transmigrators have to take.]

Propaganda:

This donghua (Chinese anime) is based on a comedy novel with the same title, and the adaptation is just stellar. Instead of showing each character’s story separately like in the novel, the donghua combined everything. Because of this, there’s more focus on the plotty and political mystery aspect—but without losing the heart of the original. The entire show is still just as hilarious.

And for an adaptation with several original characters, for once I actually don’t mind it. I usually find such additions annoying, but in this show they really serve a purpose and also add to the enjoyment.

I also like the choice of animating it in 3D, like the one in video games. It fits the “transmigrate into a fantasy world” setting well. The donghua also plays around a lot. In one episode, they had one character sing and dance like in a musical, with the beginning of the song sounding like “Do you wanna build a snowman?” from Frozen 😂

Moreover, this is a Boys Love story, and with more than one couple, too! The secondary couple (Zhou Rongqi and Li Ke) even gets a very gay ending song that’s all about them. But since this show is from China, where censorship rules are strict, don’t expect anything explicit. Just think of it as another shounen with homoerotic undertones, except the homo is actually canon.

All in all, it’s a very fun show that doesn’t lack in depth. If you’re in the mood for something light but don’t want to miss out on plot, you should definitely watch this. And if you’ve never watched a donghua before, then you’ll definitely find this fresh and intriguing.

Trigger Warnings: None.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

#anime #donghua #best underrated anime #polls #poll tournament #tournament #anime tournament #animation #animated show #group stage #group stage round 1 #tournament polls #chinese anime #vampire in the garden #are you ok #you yao #group e

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

He who Dares: Marvel star Charlie Cox on moving to Dublin, gangland crime, and perfecting the accent

The Kin and Daredevil star has played alongside greats such as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but he says as an actor you never presume you’ve ‘arrived’

By Niamh Donnelly  March 24, 2023  (X) (X)

Charlie Cox is on the move. When I Zoom-call the British actor to talk about his role in the latest series of RTÉ drama Kin, he’s in the back of a car, phone camera swaying slightly from the movement of the vehicle. More precisely, he’s in New York being ferried to and from meetings for what he calls “this new show”.

Cryptic. Might he be referring to the much-anticipated Disney+ Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again in which he plays the title role? He might. “We start shooting next week.”

In the run-up, the 40-year-old has been doing “gym work, and stunt work, and accent work, and just brushing up on a lot of the stuff I would have done before,” he says. “It’s been a while since I’ve played the character in his own show, as it were.”

Indeed, Cox played Daredevil in a Netflix series of the same name from 2015 to 2018. But given the licensing saga that followed, he’d be forgiven for thinking he had long since hung up his superhero suit.

Briefly, a clash of contracts between streaming platforms Disney+ and Netflix left some characters caught in the crossfire. Netflix lost the rights to air anything Marvel-related, while Disney was pumping resources into new Marvel projects and pretending the Netflix version of that world and its characters didn’t exist. Daredevil was one such character. Fans were so miffed that their favourite blind New York lawyer turned vigilante crime-fighter was stuck in no man’s land, they launched a #SaveDaredevil campaign.

Whether for this or reasons pertaining to complex contracts and their expiry, Cox’s hero eventually became the first lead character to cross the threshold from Netflix to Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He made a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, guest starred in She-Hulk and is soon to be “born again” in his new show.

It must be an extraordinary feeling when people campaign to see you on screen. Did Cox’s world change when he became a Marvel star, and was exposed to its fandom?

“When you play a Marvel character, you do immediately become more recognisable, and the fan base is incredibly enthusiastic and passionate,” he says. “It’s great when the fans feel like what you’re doing is good and they appreciate the character that you’ve created, and the show is successful and well regarded. But equally if that wasn’t to be the case, I’m sure it feels pretty lonely.”

Cox hardly need worry about such things: YouTube is chock-full of glowing reaction videos to Daredevil’s appearance in Spider-Man and the buzz around his new show is strong. But even aside from his Marvel chops, Cox has an impressive CV. From his early appearance in the 2007 fantasy film Stardust to starring in two seasons of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and his leading part in the Netflix spy miniseries Treason, he’s amassed a stellar list of acting credits.

His role as Michael Kinsella in Kin might never have come about were it not for his wife, Samantha Thomas, and her role as executive vice president at Bron Studios which produced the drama along with RTÉ. When Thomas first got Peter McKenna’s script, she showed it to her husband.

“Initially, she just thought I should read it because she was interested to hear what my opinion would be,” he says. “And I read it and I immediately fell in love with it.”

Because a Covid lockdown had hit, the prospect of keeping their family together while the pair worked on the same project made perfect sense. Along with their son and daughter, they set up camp in Dublin.

“And it ended up being a really fantastic decision. We had such a great time. We’ve now spent two seasons in Dublin making the show. [During] the first one, we didn’t get to see much of the city because obviously everyone was in lockdown, and it was all just about working. But this past summer, I really got to experience Dublin in its full glory.”

This included partaking in what now seems a rite of passage for Hollywood stars who come to Dublin: jumping in the Irish Sea.

“I did it almost every day. I absolutely loved it. In fact, during the second season of the show, I actually chose living accommodation near Vico [Baths in Dalkey], so I could walk down every day. And for me, the colder the better. I couldn’t have been happier, waking up and getting in the sea before work.”

Whatever was in the water, it must have worked. The first season of Kin, which saw Cox’s character return from jail and attempt to get his daughter back while becoming embroiled in his family’s gangland feud, broke RTÉ drama streaming records with 2.1 million views.

Peter McKenna, Kin’s co-creator and showrunner has remarked that the cast is “probably the strongest thing about [it].” Cox’s co-stars include Clare Dunne (The Last Duel), Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones, Love/Hate), Emmet J Scanlan (The Fall) and Maria Doyle Kennedy (The Commitments).

What drew him immediately to his role, he says, was the contrast between what we know of Michael and how we perceive him as we follow his story.

“When we meet Michael at the beginning of season one, he’s just coming out of prison. And I felt like it was pretty clear that the man we were meeting was very different from how the family members described or remembered him.

“As an acting exercise, I found that to be quite an interesting challenge: to play someone who has a reputation of being someone you absolutely do not want to cross. There’s a side to him that’s incredibly scary and violent and dangerous, but the man we’re meeting for various reasons is actually in a very vulnerable place and trying to hide that vulnerability from the world.”

Indeed, this sense of vulnerability or morality is something often Cox brings to his more cut-throat roles, be they an MI6 agent (Treason), an ex-IRA enforcer (Boardwalk Empire), a vigilante crime fighter (Daredevil), or a gangland criminal (Kin).

“I always try to approach any character as if it’s a clean slate. So I’m not knowingly trying to do things in a similar fashion. But I always think that there must be more to [people] than meets the eye. And so often when you’re playing, a ‘good guy’, I think it’s important to make sure that you focus on the qualities he has that aren’t maybe so righteous.

“Similarly, if you’re playing someone who’s got a pretty violent history, it’s also important to see the sides of them that an audience might identify with, where you could easily be friends with one of these guys and not know what they get up to in their business life.”

Cox wasn’t familiar with the Dublin gangland scene before Kin, but as research he listened to episodes of Eamon Dunphy’s podcast The Stand with journalist Nicola Tallant.

“I was kind of blown away,” he says. “What I was reading – what our show is loosely based on – is happening right now. It’s current. It’s not in the past. It’s a real thing. You know, that was a little disconcerting to me at first. I was like, wow, I can’t believe [it] . . . this is ballsy.”

Similarly, Cox didn’t have any particular connection with Dublin before signing up to Kin. All the more impressive, then, that he manages to produce a pitch-perfect accent. How did he master such a notoriously difficult task?

“I have an amazing accent coach – two really fantastic accent coaches, actually,” he says.

The first is Poll Moussoulides, a dialect expert who had worked on Normal People with Daisy Edgar-Jones. The second is Emmet Kirwan, the Irish actor.

“I got in touch with him – I’d seen one of his movies, and I felt like his accent was really good. So, I copied [it]. I had him record a lot of my lines.”

Along with Kirwan, the voice of ex-footballer Shane Supple provided inspiration for Cox.

“Poll found this interview with him, and there was a quality in his voice that I thought would be kind of right for Michael. I would listen to that and try and learn [it] by rote. And then once we started filming, I’d stay in the accent all day while I [was] at work.”

The on-screen Cox might make a convincing Dubliner, but the off-screen one hails from East Sussex. He is the son of Trisha and Andrew (a publisher) and the youngest of five, with one older brother and three much older half-siblings. Acting was something he always enjoyed as an extracurricular activity, but it wasn’t until the end of his schooling that he began to take it more seriously.

“I was doing lead parts in plays and enjoying it more and more. It was during the production of one of those plays when an audience member who worked at LAMDA [The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art] came up to me and suggested I might want to audition for drama school.”

Cox took this advice and tried out for some of Britain’s most prestigious acting courses. He ended up at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, but just a year into his studies was offered a role alongside Al Pacino in the 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Because the school had a policy of not letting students take part in outside productions, he decided to leave and make a start on his career.

Cue a succession of screen and theatre roles alongside the likes of Claire Danes, Steve Buscemi, Michael Caine, Robert De Niro and many more. Were there moments along the way when he really felt he had made it as an actor?

“You know, it’s funny because in retrospect, there have been moments where it just feels like everything’s clicking and you’re getting a lot of the jobs you’re going for, and you’re working back-to-back. But in the moment that it’s happening, I have never really felt that way,” he says.

“On paper, you go on IMDB and you see [Stardust and Boardwalk Empire], and that looks like a really clear trajectory. But in reality, I shot Stardust in 2006. Boardwalk Empire was in 2011.”

He also points out that his Boardwalk Empire role got bigger as the series continued.

“When I got it, it was a small part. They only offered me three episodes. And if you think about it, I’d been the lead in Stardust which was a big Hollywood movie. And then in 2011, five years later, I’m taking a three-episode arc on a TV show because things had not escalated in the way that I’d hoped they would from being in a movie with Robert De Niro.”

Perhaps owing to this early wobble, or perhaps because of the insecure nature of acting as a career in general, Cox has always had the feeling of “staring down the barrel of looming unemployment – not knowing where the next pay cheque’s going to come from”.

“I have been very fortunate. The phone has always rung, and I’ve always gone back to work. But there have been, you know, long periods in between. I’ve never felt completely confident in the idea that the work will continue to present itself.”

Cox does however, say that he’s learnt a lot from the uncertainty of his career. “It’s a great discipline, because it really [teaches] you – and it took me quite a long time to learn this – [that] you have to really learn to love the job you’re doing in the moment that you’re doing it. And try not to project too far into the future about where you’re going to be this time six months, a year. Because you can ruin the experience of a really amazing job by worrying about what’s coming next.”

Being in the moment is also key to how Cox approaches acting. “A lot of it is instinct, and a lot of it should be instinct, but for your instinct to be well informed is a really good thing. My experience has taught me that you do as much homework as you possibly can, so that when you’re on set you don’t have to think about it. It’s a bit like sports: an athlete [or] a tennis player. You drill, and drill, and drill all your shots so that when you’re in the game, you don’t think about it, you just play them.”

On the topic of sports, Cox is a devoted Arsenal fan. Will his beloved team, now seated at the top of the Premier League table, pull off the win this season?

“I can’t answer that question. It’s too fraught with emotion for me at the moment. All I’ll say it’s a very exciting time, and I hope we can maintain the standard. I believe it’s possible. I’m starting to believe it’s possible.”

Besides, Cox’s busy life doesn’t allow a whole lot of time for fretting over league tables.

“I have a young family. So right now, whenever I’m not working, it’s spending time with my kids and my wife. That’s my priority. I’m really conscious that when I do work, I work really hard. And I love my work. I’m very grateful to have work. But when you are filming something it’s a huge commitment. So it’s really important to me that I don’t want to blink and my kids are going off to college . . . that’s my whole world. They’re my whole world right now.”

~*~

#hello at last new interview!! 😎💗 #it was a bit of a pain to access since it was behind a paywall but I got finally got through lol #charlie cox #michael kinsella #matt murdock #kin amc #daredevil #daredevil born again #interview #article

[formulaorange]

2024 Spring Anime

Kaiju No. 8 This series started the same time as SpyxFamily and I've been waiting years for it to be animated. It's a series I was instantly hooked on. The animations in the teasers were incredibly sus but I'm glad to see it's pulled together. This is a must watch for this season. Noteworthy On-going Shows: Delicious in Dungeon - Episodes 13-24 A Character based comedic fantasy that honestly has me hooked. New Seasons:

Demon Slayer - Hashira Training Arc I can't believe we're already here. I think this will be one of the last 2 or 3 seasons of the show. This is one I'm not sure what to expect in terms of story but I'm looking forward to it regardless.

That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime - Season 3 One of the Og's is back baby. This is one of my all time favourite shows, one of the original fantasy/isekai series. This series gets better and better and I'm so hooked to each character. 100% biased opinion but if you haven't seen this, go check it out.

My Hero Academia - Season 7 This is one that I haven't caught up on the anime for so I'm not 100% where we are but I'm pretty sure it's about to get real dark. I think lots of people have put this show on the backburner or have dropped it entirely. But I really have to say we're starting to head into some of the peak of the series. It gets much darker and more serious and starts to shift from the original shonen high school style.

Additional New Seasons: Mushoku Tensei - Season 2 Cour 2 I won't lie, this arc honestly doesn't look very appealing to me. That said, I have faith in the writers and will be watching and updating if it picks up. Both of these shows from 2008 coming back were not on my bucket list but here we are: Spice and Wolf - Looks to be a re-make of the original series Black Butler - Public School Arc - New continuation of the og series Also: The Misfit of Demon King Academy II - Part 2 The Irregular at Magic High School - Season 3 Laid-Back Camp - Season 3 New Noteworthy Shows:

Wind Breaker A new series about a delinquent who moves to a school where it's all about being the strongest and beating each other up. Honestly it reminds me a little of Food wars but if it was actually about fighting instead of food lol. The animations look stellar, I'm actually pretty excited to check this one out. ( I'd also say it looks completely different to Tokyo Revengers so I wouldn't compare the two.)

Mission:Yozakura Family A newer shonen jump series about a kid who tries to integrate with a mismatched family of spies. Looks like a lot of fun and has a similar vibe to some old school SJ series.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger Why does this look so good. This series genuinely looks so cool, the animation look out of this world and the story looks killer. From what I can gather it's a guy who always plays the villain and is sick of his role. The story shows the heroes as villains and gives me a bit of Invincible vibes. (This is a Disney+ exclusive) The Fable I've heard that this is one of the most legendary comedies. I know there's a few live actions for it on Netflix but I haven't had a chance to check it out. I feel like the trailers don't seem to get anything across so this'll be one I'll follow up on.

Going through the extra shows is now the bane of my existence. I want to go back to before all the isekai light novels were being animated. After doing this I feel defeated that some of these look half-decent. Whisper Me a Love Song Wholesome girl's love series about figuring out what kind of love they feel for each other: 3 Episodes The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio 2 girls who's offline personalities are total opposites, their rivalry in a brutal industry. Looks like it could be a fun slice of life series: 3 Episodes Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night Looks like a really well done series about a group of girls forming an anonymous idol group: 3 Episodes

I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability The animations actually look amazing from the trailer and this series could be cute: 1 Episode An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride I think this might be a guilty pleasure show. I like the idea of the awkward romance between these two. Likely wouldn't reccommend this for a normal watcher: 1 Episode Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again Animations and concept look fun: 1 Episode Notable OVA's: Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture A prequel to the original series. The animation looks just like the OG and I'm so stoked that this is coming out.

#2024 spring anime #spring anime #spring anime 2024 #new anime #anime #anime recommendation #tensura #that time i got reincarnated as a slime #demon slayer #demon slayer hashira training #kimetsu no yaiba #kaiju no. 8 #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #my hero academia #my hero academia season 7 #boku no hero academia season 7 #mushoku tensei #spice and wolf #black butler #black butler public school arc #wind breaker #nii satoru #mission yozakura family #the fable #go! go! loser ranger! #code geass roze of the recapture

[suometar]

Scifi/odd/mystery indie film rec list

Someone asked me to create rec list of less known/indie scifi/odd/mystery films, and, well, it kind got out of hand. Oopsie. You can thank my hubs who writes a review of all films we've watched. These all have been given at least 3/5 stars from me and/or him. Enjoy!

I'm not fully sure if these films are all indie, but I'm quite convinced you at least haven't heard about most of them:

Another Earth (2011)

Archive (2020. On my Top 10 forever fave film list)

Automata (2014)

Boss level (2020)

Brainstorm (1983)

Breach (2020)

Coherence (2013, SO GOOD)

Color out of space (2019)

Coma (2019, russian, is available with english and german dubbing. Effing gorgeous film)

District 9 (2009)

Donnie Darko (2001)

Dual (2022. Fun fact: it was shot in the town in Finland where I was born)

ExistenZ (1999)

Gattaca (1997)

Girl on the Train (2016, mystery)

Hardcore Henry (2015)

High-Rise (2015, also highly recommend the J.G.Ballard book the film is based on)

Ink (2009. On my Top 10 forever fave films list)

Intrusion (2021)

Melancholia (2011)

Memento (2000)

Minor premise (2020)

Moon (2009)

Oxygen (2021, French)

Pi (1998)

Predestination (2014)

Primer (2004, can’t emphasize enough: this is a MUST for every scifi film buff. Goes without saying, on my Top 10 list)

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Splice (2009)

Sunshine (2007)

The Blackout (2019, Russian)

The Discovery (2017)

The Endless (2017)

The Invitation (2015)

The Repo-men (2010)

The Trip (2021)

Upgrade (2018)

Upside down (2012, technically fantasy but what the heck. Pretty as hell)

Vivarium (2019)

Westworld (original film from 1973)

Scifi/horror:

Blood red sky (2021, German)

Cube (1997) & Cube 2 (2002) (the rest are meh)

Event Horizon (1997, I wrote a homage to this film into my book :3)

Kyrsyä - Tuftland (2017, Finnish, it’s available online somewhere and en subtitles are available. Might require some digging though)

Additional mentions, not necessary indie films but MUST SEE:

12 Monkeys (1995)

Contagion (2011)

Dune (1984 + the new ones)

Ex Machina (2014)

In time (2011)

Logan’s run (1976)

Old (2021)

Prospect (2018)

Soylent green (1973)

Tetris (2023)

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

A Quiet Place (2018, 2020)

Split (2016, also the whole film series)

In general worth a watch (all basically under odd at least):

All Darren Aronofsky films

All M. Night Shyamalan films

TV shows (not indie, just worth the watch):

Dark Matter (SYFY, 2015-2017. First EP sucks, then it's absolute golden. A kin to Firefly)

The Expanse (Originally Netflix, moved to Amazon. Both TV show AND books. Oh the books are SO GOOD and better than the show imo)

Severance (Apple. I can't yell enough of this. It's just mindbogglingly good)

The X-Files (duh)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (yeah yea, I'm a trekkie)

Star Trek Picard

Resident Alien (SYFY, 2021-)

Foundation (Apple, 2021- *chef's kiss* goes for the books too)

#film recommendations #science fiction #scifi film rec list #recommendation list #films #science fiction films #Film rec list #Rec list

[canmom]

Animation Night 152: Shinji Aramaki

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Animation Night! Tonight I'm running late as ever, but I have a curiosity to present to you!

CG in anime is generally speaking a dirty word. Something to be tolerated, or begrudgingly acknowledge it wasn't bad. Exceptional studios such as Orange (of Houseki no Kuni [AN97], Beastars and most recently Trigun Stampede) may escape the stigma by cleverly integrating 2D layouts, but they're surrounded by a wasteland of CG (often on Netflix) that is mechanical, awkward and just unappealing.

The style of CG in anime also tends to be designed towards imitating, or integrating with, traditional animation. Cel-shading is the order of the day, established all the way back in GitS:SAC with its tachikomas and helicopters. And generally speaking, that's a good approach! When it's not followed, as in the case of Psycho-Pass season 3, the results often look very jarring.

But there are exceptions to every rule!

We covered one of them back on Animation Night 85, with the bizarre Square-Enix project Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, which tried to apply the then-very new technique of motion capture to create something like a movie-length videogame cutscene. And this is the start of another strain of Japanese animation (perhaps not anime! depending on whether you define anime in a geographical or technical way) - the feature-length CG animated film.

Let's start with Shinji Aramaki, who has spent decades trying to bring anime fans around to the idea of CGI. Aramaki got his start back in the 80s, doing mechanical design on OVAs like Megazone 23 and Bubblegum Crisis. He debuted as a director with Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 (1987), and in 1989, he became the third director of the constantly-reinventing-itself Megazone 23, following on from Ishiguro and Hirano (AN103) on Part I, and Itano and Umetsu on Part II. So, an old hand at the past way of doing things.

In the 2000s, Aramaki returned to direction jumped on CGI, directing early CG animated films such as Appleseed (2004) in cel-shaded style, following Gainax in adapting the dense Masamune Shirow manga, and its sequel Appleseed Ex Machina in 2007 which started moving the stylisation away from cel-shading. In this time, full-CG movies were still very new; Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children dropped only in 2005. Aramaki continued to drill into full-CG with a mecha series Viper's Creed and a Starship Troopers sequel film. From that you can probably get a sense of his taste: he likes mecha!

The results received mixed reviews, as often about the technology as the movies themselves. The first Appleseed inspired Toshio Suzkui of Studio Ghibli to declare it would revolutionise animation, which doesn't seem to have been entirely borne out.

Still, when Toei decided to do a new CG adaptation of Leiji Matsumoto's renowned Space Pirate Captain Harlock (Animation Night 146), famously first taken on by Rintaro, I suppose Aramaki must have seemed a natural choice. If Appleseed had been made on the cheap, Harlock was the opposite, costing 3 billion yen as the most expensive Japanese CG film (and maybe animated film?) evaaaa, surpassing CG-heavy megaprojects like Eva 3.0+1.0, Otomo's Steamboy and In This Corner of the World. Toei clearly had big ambitions for the return of Harlock.

So. The style of this Harlock resembles more closely videogame cutscenes, or the films of Square Enix's Visual Works, than Aramaki's past films: realistic materials and lighting, only mildly stylised character designs. In contrast to the 'aliens everywhere' maximalism of the original Leijiverse, this film puts a more antiheroic Harlock in conflict with a human government, in the context of space colonists attempting to resettle Earth and fighting a big old war over it. Which isn't to say there's a shortage of alien superweapons, dark matter, and plans to reset the entire universe. It sounds pretty wild.

Following Harlock, Aramaki would continue to direct CG, including a cool take on an Eva launching for a short film for the Animator Expo, and then perhaps his most infamous creation: a sequel to GitS SAC, in SAC 2045, which brought in a plasticy CG style in place of the beloved traditional animation that proved... divisive at best. But this didn't stop him; his most recent work is a Blade Runner TV series, titled Black Lotus.

Alongside that, he continued to work on adapting Appleseed, rebooting the story yet again with Appleseed α in 2014 with CG studio Sola Digital Arts - indeed, Sola is pretty much Aramaki's studio, with almost all of their works directed by him.

Shirow's series, a predecessor to Ghost in the Shell, deserves a better introduction than I can write tonight - but it's the territory you'd expect: post-apocalyptic cyborgs in a bleak world. Far more than the others, α - which is something of a prequel, telling how the main characters came to the city where the story is set - was highly praised for its exceptionally detailed animation and mocap, though not so much its plot.

I admit, I'm taking a big chance on both these films. Neither managed to make much impact on release, but I'm definitely curious to see this anime that isn't 'anime'. (My original plan was to make this a story about a specific CG studio, but I decided it would be better to put the Final Fantasy films side by side on a night when I can write a proper history of FinFan!)

Animation Night 152 is going live now at twitch.tv/canmom. I'd love to see you there!

#animation night

[asitrita]

Ok. I've just finished episode 6 of the Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix live action. I do have some issues with episode 3 and 4, but I get it. If I do not compare it with the animated series, I actually do not think episode 3 is that bad, not as good as the previous two, that for sure, but not too bad either. I would give it a 6/10. And to be honest, even if compared to the original series, I do not think it is that bad. I do get what people are complaining about, but guys, it is impossible to copy paste the animated series, you need to cut things out and mix things up a little, link them and put them together, weave it together, if you so want to include absolutely everything (I'm still a bit disappointed the one story I liked, that of Haru, was not included at all). My only problem here is that we miss the air temples destruction and desecration that was kinda important for Aang to come to terms with, and that we do not get to see how the fire nation finds about Sokka's invention, though I guess it is inferred that the mechanist told them as he was a spy for the fire nation while he was working with Sokka. Episode four was actually the worst so far for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Bumi's actor was bad at all, in fact, I think the problem was not the acting but the general look of the episode. He looks like he was wearing a costume, the scenes inside the palace look just weird, I guess they have shining stones in the walls, but it looked like they had lamps and electricity. When making and adaptation of an animated series things like this can happen. Because the series was all too realistic, as in real world tangible aesthetics up to this point, the recreation of Bumi's plain clean walls and overall the Palace aesthetics looks too cartoonish and out of place to me. It took me completely out of the fantasy, as did Bumi's vest or whatever he was wearing. On the brightest side, I friggin cried with Iroh's and Zuko's scenes, those were gold. I also think it was a decent way to include the tunnels episode into the live action, so I don't have any problem with that. Fifth and sixth episode, I liked them, and I didn't mind the changes at all. It was fine, actually, but I found Roku to be too... Bright? Like dude was chill, but not that chill, lol. (Also, no hate to the actress, but Mai actress was the worst cast so far, she looks nothing like the character, and I'm sorry, but I do like the actors looking like the characters, and in this case it is not just that she is physically almost the opposite of her character, but that her character had a very particular vibe to it, Wednesday Adams-like, that the actress lacks completely, so this is not even about looks, but about feelings, so to speak).

In general I'm enjoying much more the new material than the old material they try so hard to replicate. I loved episode 2, by the way. Oh, and Archer (or whatever his name is in English), the boy with the hat and the bow, looks like he was taken out of the animated series, he looks exactly like his character XD Loved him (and Jet 👀)

So far, Sokka, Zuko and Iroh remain my favourite characters, though Aang and Katara are growing on me. I must say, I read many people complaining about Katara's and Aang's performance, but since I'm watching the show in Spanish, the voice actors have probably improved quite a bit the delivery of their lines, so I like them quite fine. I still think Zuko is the best casted actor so far, he does not look exactly as I imagined Zuko, nor has his sharp features, but he feels like Zuko, he really does, I really like him and I think he's doing perfect as our prince. His performance is really really good, my favourite so far, and no, it is not because I also loved Zuko in the animated series, it is because I do believe he is bringing Zuko to life with his performance. Oh, I'm actually enjoying Zhao's performance quite a lot too, a bit different from the original, but he's also doing great, I hate that guy XD

Oh, the fantasy animals? They look great. And Ko scared the shit out of me XD

#spoilers #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar live action #avatar netflix

[gangseysallhere]

WE'RE GETTING SHIVER!

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Fickman (One True Loves) is set to direct Shiver, a feature adaptation of the same-name novel by New York Times bestseller Maggie Stiefvater.

Producer Addam Bramich (Russell Crowe’s Poker Face) optioned the book, published by Scholastic in 2009, which is the first in Stiefvater’s globally bestselling series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The film will follow Grace, who for years has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf — her wolf — has a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human — or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

A writer for the film has not yet been attached. But Bramich will produce alongside Fickman and Betsy Sullenger (You Again, Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) through their Oops Doughnut Productions, with Stiefvater consulting.

“From the first page of Maggie Stiefvater’s novel, I was transported to a vivid, magical and romantic world that I immediately wanted to bring to life,” said Fickman. “These multidimensional characters are grounded in the daily joys and terrors of high school, live in an elevated arena between fantasy and reality, and love across those boundaries and without limits. I’m thrilled to bring this stunning tale of forbidden romance to the screen along with a fresh coat of Minnesota snow.”

“We could not be more thrilled to embark on this journey with the incredibly talented director Andy Fickman, as we bring the adventurous and thrilling world within this story to the big screen,” added Bramich. “With this unique story, and the help of the brilliant author Maggie Stiefvater, it is with great enthusiasm that we begin this exciting collaboration.”

Fickman is an award-winning writer, director and producer whose romantic dramedy One True Loves hits theaters on April 7th. Simu Liu, Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey star in that pic based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestseller. In conjunction with Village Roadshow, he also recently directed and produced the stage capture of his award-winning show Heathers the Musical, which debuted to acclaim on Roku last September. The stage show is currently selling out at The Other Palace Theatre in London, where it has received several West End noms and other accolades.

Other notable titles helmed by Fickman include Fox’s family comedy Parental Guidance starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, DreamWorks’ teen sports rom-com She’s the Man, Paramount’s Playing with Fire starring John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo, Disney’s hit films The Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain, both starring Dwayne Johnson, as well as Disney/Touchstone’s comedy You Again starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Betty White and more.

On the television side, Fickman most recently directed and exec produced Netflix’s NASCAR comedy The Crew, starring Kevin James, Freddie Stroma and Sarah Stiles. He previously collaborated with James as director and EP of his Netflix stand-up special Kevin James: Never Don’t Give Up, also directing on Nickelodeon’s No Good Nick, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Sean Astin.

An author of books for all ages, as well as a musician and artist, Stiefvater’s book series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle were both #1 New York Times bestsellers. She also previously penned The Scorpio Races, which was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book in 2012.

Fickman is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Stiefvater by Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, Richard Pine of InkWell Management and VanderKloot Law.

#shiver #maggie stiefvater #the wolves of mercy falls #the shiver trilogy #maggie stiefvater shiver

[fangirleaconmigo]

I think Netflix both bit off more than they could chew and counted their chickens before they hatched greenlighting a bunch of Witcher spinoffs during season one. Other hit shows didn't do that. Hell, they didn't even do that to Stranger Things. It boggles the mind that they would dilute their own brand like that. Spinoffs are usually happen after a main series has been around for a long time.

so, to be fair, I don't know shit about shit, but it seems to me that Netflix made the decision to pay a lot for a 'sure thing' fantasy property to build their very own action/fantasy franchise. Having that franchise must be an extremely important part of their business plan, or they would have cancelled the show when their lead actor quit.

I know that Netflix got HUGE before everyone had their own streaming service, and they were like the top service but then everyone else got in on the game and took back their IP and now they're in like this mad dash to develop their own IP and their survival depends on it. My guess is they felt they needed a big franchise to compete with that, like an MCU or Star Wars or something like that they could develop. The Witcher universe is vast and rich, can be spun off into so many different kinds of stories, and between the books and games, has a massive existing fanbase, so it must have seemed like a good bet.

AND, my guess is they didn't want to (or couldn't) spend huge amounts of money for multiple franchise worthy fantasy/adventure properties, so they just put all their eggs in this basket right up front.

HCav leaving fucked them up bad, but it is obviously too late in their plan for them to pivot away now. It is almost unprecedented to swap out a lead actor in a show this huge with no format that exists to explain it. So I can only guess that they have spent too much, and are in way too deep to let their witcher franchise plan fail, at least just yet.

Again, this is all wild speculation. Just guessing. I don't know anything really, just inferring a bunch of shit.

#the witcher #netflix #twn

[skippyv20]

Julie Burchill Spectator

10 Dec 2022

Coffee House

Julie Burchill

Harry and Meghan want to destroy the House of Windsor 

10 December 2022, 7:53am

Text

Comments

When I coined the phrase ‘The Grabdication’ in The Spectator two years ago, I had no concept of exactly how grasping the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would turn out to be. Having found Frogmore Cottage insufficiently close to California even after £2million of public money (since paid back) was spent on renovations, I still imagined that Meghan would eventually settle for a few tiaras and some voice-over work. I had no idea that what this grim pair were actually seeking was the destruction of the House of Windsor, ostensibly on the grounds of racism, but actually because this was the one chance two mediocre people would get to feel mighty.  

It’s unnerving that she calls him ‘H’ which is slang for heroin – and also the campest member of  Steps

People always say ‘soulmates’ like it’s a good thing, but such relationships can easily turn toxic. Individually Harry and Meghan seemed happy enough, neither of them too bright, but both living lush lifestyles they didn’t have to break sweat for. Then they met – and it was attempted murder of the reputation of the Royal family. As a life-long republican, I’ve been surprised to find myself on the side of an institution I’ve never liked. 

Considering the flight of the Sussexes, it’s easy to draw a parallel with another American divorcee who turned the head of another weak prince and led him by the genitalia away from his family. But while Edward and Mrs Simpson peregrinated around the elite watering-holes of twentieth century Europe, Meghan had one distinct destination in mind – her hometown of Los Angeles, where she had unfinished business with the entertainment industry, having ‘peaked’ while simulating fellatio in a car in an episode of the re-booted Beverly Hills, 90210 in 2008. Hollywood was done with her – but she wasn’t done with Hollywood. 

With her recent podcast Archetypes, Meghan finally started to show talent as a thespian – and to remind one of a certain legendary actress. Acting is, after all, merely playing pretend – that her wedding was celebrated in the streets of South Africa, that her baby’s nursery caught fire, that she is a victim rather than a vastly privileged woman living in a house with circa 19 toilets. Sadly, the iconic actress she is beginning to resemble is Norma Desmond, the tragic heroine of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, who shares her vast mansion with a devoted retainer who discovered Norma, married her and made her a star and now acts as her servant, humouring her deluded fantasies of a comeback. If Archetypes was the opening act, then the Netflix series – this bouncing hundred-million-dollar baby – is the main attraction, if ‘attraction’ can be used to describe a pair of multi-millionaires taking the best part of six hours to gossip about imagined slights from their families and congratulating themselves on being non-specifically Special.  

Appropriately for a pair who have a nodding acquaintance with the truth, even the trailers were false, showing paparazzi pursuing not our humble heroes but rather Katie Price – if I was her, I’d issue a statement expressing my outrage at being linked with these publicity-seeking shysters. Then there was another monstrous regiment of view-hallooing hacks – at a Harry Potter premiere years before H&M ever met. And more paps chasing Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen from a courtroom. For a pair so savagely harassed, they don’t appear to have any footage of themselves being harassed savagely – where’s a bunch of bloodsucking hacks when you need them? 

Billed as A NETFLIX GLOBAL EVENT, I must say I felt a tinge of nostalgia as I settled down to watch ‘Volume One’ – AKA the first three episodes, if you’re not a jumped-up half-wit. In this age of atomised entertainment, it was a lovely feeling to be involved in a televisual milestone that would surely bring a fractious nation together, like Angie and Den’s divorce in EastEnders but not as subtle. Warnings of LANGUAGE, DISCRIMINATION flash up, with a soundtrack from an afternoon TV funeral plan commercial; we’re aware straightaway that we’re watching the world’s most expensive home movie, with the texts and the Facetimes and the photo-booths snaps, the pair snogging, snuggling, hiking, biking and being ‘goofy’. Meghan reminisces about her lovely life as a mid-ranking actress in a Canadian cable show; ‘Then came H – talk about a plot twist.’ (It’s unnerving that she calls him ‘H’ which is slang for heroin – and also the campest member of  Steps. He calls her ‘M’ like James Bond’s scoldy boss-lady, which seems somehow appropriate.)  

‘This is a great love story’ Harry smarms, but it’s far more like a surreal rom-com – When Harry Met Wally (Simpson). M’s girlfriends are dragged out as a geek chorus assuring us of the loveliness of Meghan – that old ‘I’m a girl’s girl’ shtick that some females use. It was, H affirms, pretty much love at first sight – ‘Everything I’ve been looking for’. That’ll be her wearing your mother’s favourite perfume. Diana is the third wheel in this marriage; knowing how strong public affection is, the Sussexes have cynically hitched their wobbly wagon to her dead but still somehow dynamic star. ‘I am my mother’s son’ Harry proclaims 17 minutes in, ’Meghan is so like my mum…the same compassion, the same empathy…’ Archie is held up to touch a framed photo of Diana? ‘Who’s that?’ coos Meghan. She should know, as she was obsessed with her according to her best teenage friend Misha Nonoo, despite her protestations to the contrary. 

It probably wasn’t such a great idea, at 23 minutes, to have footage of the shy young Elizabeth the Great vowing to give her life in service; the two women are so unalike that they barely seem the same species. Never mind, here’s Harry doing his feminist thing, murmuring sadly about ‘the pain and suffering of women marrying into the institution’ over a photo of Kate and Sophie looking sad – but they’re pictured at Remembrance day, of course they look sad! Should they be high-fiving each other? Both H&M take swipes at their families; H mentions that his friends in Botswana ‘brought me up’ – take that, King Dad! – while M seeks out her bete noire sister Samantha’s abandoned daughter to testify that the only child’s (as M claimed to be) only sister is a wrong ‘un.  

‘Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go’ sings Harry, which seems like epic trolling, considering he seems to spend most of his time swanning around on private jets and playing polo. He has the shiny-eyed zeal of the newly-converted preacher in a religion of two – fine when talking about human dignity, but a bit weird when talking about hummingbirds. Moaning about how they’re both children of divorce, M reads a self-pitying poem she wrote as a girl about having two of everything and wishing she had only one. Then why has she got so many toilets? Her ‘confiding’ style in particular gave me the ‘ick’ as the kids say – like an actress in a tampon commercial reassuring the audience about absorbency. At times there’s an ‘Uncanny Valley’ feel to the thing – like the protagonists are actually playing themselves in a Hallmark Channel biopic. 

Summing up, I speak very much as one who had the typical Meghan ‘journey’ (to use a word she and ‘Haz’ probably favour) starting out making a drooling fool of myself over her (see Spectators passim) and then going off her when her entitlement and hypocrisy became evident. I expected to despise this documentary series, but it’s actually a little scary too. Seeing that the pair are so interested in mental health, I wonder if they understand that they may be – in my layman’s opinion – suffering from both paranoia and persecution complex, and that it might be wise to seek professional help? After all, Meghan allegedly not being allowed to access psychiatry was one of the things which turned them against the Firm in the first place. Now they can do it to their hearts content. 

Looking back, Meghan may well treasure this documentary as her optimum moment, her place in the sun, with the eyes of the world on her at last; I can imagine her watching this in a darkened room, her beauty fading, like Norma Desmond in her lonely Californian chateau. For Harry, it may be the moment when he lost his family for good, and so cause him increasing sorrow. In the future it’s likely that – like every toxic couple from the Macbeths to the Depps – they may turn on each other, heightening the performative aspect of their relationship even further. There is something of a Red Shoes danse macabre about this now – neither can ever go home again, and neither can appear to help themselves. 

But on the other hand, it is amusing. Most character-driven humour is alchemised in the gap between what people think they are and what they actually are; writing in The  Spectator in October in the wake of M’s Variety interview, I advised, ‘If Meghan can provide “content” on this level – creating a character we love to hate on a level with an Alan Partridge or a David Brent, or a deluded show-business buffoon comparable with Count Arthur Strong – throughout the coming winter of discontent, maybe we should at last just cave in and award her the applause she craves. Because comedy gold such as this does not come knocking every day.’ Like a pair of lap-dancers accusing people of looking at them, in a vehicle so cheesy that it makes Richard Curtis look like Jean-Luc Godard, they are the natural heirs to the Kardashians – the Carcrashians. And though I blush to admit it, I can’t wait for the next ‘Volume’ to drop. 

WRITTEN 

Matthew Parris

Lady Hussey and the truth we dare not speak

Brendan O’Neill

When will Harry and Meghan leave us alone?

Sadie

Great article! Thank you❤️

[crones-trash]

"The Chosen One" on Netflix

Yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd watch 15 minutes of a new Netflix series to see if it was any good. It only took that long for The Chosen One to hook me into a 6 hour binge that blew my mind.

A summary of the plot is not really as important as the overwhelming artistry of the film. Shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, every scene, even wide vistas & towering lightning storms feels intimately intense. Fleeting mythic imagery entices the viewer into wondering what-the-heck is happening.

The story starts w/ its focus on a mother (Dianna Agron) & her son Jodie (Bobby Luhnow) fleeing unexplained but ominous danger. They settle in an impoverished village near the coast of Baja, Mexico. Both of their performances are compelling. Jodie, a previously unknown actor, projects a level of gravitas beyond his age. His self-contained persona dominates every scene he's in. Just look at him...

Good grief! If I were a preteen girl, I'd idolize him. His big blue eyes are wide-open in a state of perpetual drug-induced wonder. His mother is drugging him to suppress his powers!

Yep, the series is based on a comic book--American Jesus. Like most graphic fantasy novels, this one goes over-the-top w/ nearly operatic scenarios that tumble like dominoes falling toward a resolution I was half-expecting & fully-hoping wouldn't happen.

I won't spoil a moment of this experience by revealing too much. This is MUST WATCH TV!

#The Chosen One #Netflix #Jodie Luhnow

[kingdarkstalker]

this is a weird ask but hear me out. since i was a kid i've loved Warriors. i'm an adult now and just finished WOF. my dream is to write something like these series. before your blog i NEVER noticed anything wrong w WOF. now i'm concerned - what if despite my best efforts, instead of an inspiring series that carries the right messages, i fuck up like her? my real question: what would you have tui do to rectify the situation? genuinely, not devil's advocate. what is the solution? if you don't think there is one: what is your goal? to get people thinking about the themes she glossed over since she failed?

aah, to answer your first concern, its an understandable and heathly thing to worry about. you nor i definitely dont want to accidentally write something like tui sutherland, but the good news its actually quite easy to avoid writing like tui. do thourough research on whatever sensitive topic you're writing about if you dont have life experience with it, and even if you do, its always good to research. talk to other people with the life experience you're writing about. have them read your writing and listen to their feedback. have your writing proofread by LOTS of people if you can! have confidence in yourself and the fact that you care about writing an inspiring series with the right messages, but dont default to "im right", simply know that if you're willing to learn and change, your writing will NEVER be like tui sutherland's.

i very much suggest you check out my friend jasmine's analysis video on Wings of Fire because she goes more into the harmful tropes that are found in not only WOF but fantasy books as a whole, and she talks about ways to avoid these and reflect on yourself if you have.

now, about your second question.

in an ideal world, i think it would be the best if tui sutherland pulled wings of fire from anywhere its being sold and publicly held herself accountable for the actively dangerous things she's written to children, donate her money to the people whos trauma shes profited off of, and fucking never write again. she needs some serious recovery to realize the aggregious worldviews that she seems to deem as inherent and good.

realistically, though? she's a big time author published by scholastic. someday i hope to write to scholastic about her, but i hardly have the fucking spoons to focus on my own life right now. the best news right now is that the netflix show was cancelled, though im not sure why. my goal right now then? would be indeed what you said, to make people understand the mistakes that tui has made so that they aren't made again. do you really think that its simply pointless to understand these flaws? we can and MUST learn from her mistakes so kids can read books written by people who understand whats important and how to explain these things to a young audience. dont just give up because lots of huge authors are bigots, because capitalism favors bigotry. write your story! im sure that if you put even an ounce of geniune care and effort into it, it will be unbelievably better than tui sutherland's work.

#asks #tui sutherland #wings of fire