#ye good addition

[to-be-a-dreamer]

I really enjoyed that one moment when Grian was explaining why they needed to kill the wither that he spawned whilst everyone else was actively fighting said wither and then Gem screamed "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE'RE DOING?????" with the most genuine feminine rage I've ever heard in my entire life every single woman in a 2,000-mile radius felt that in their soul

#gem was such a good addition because she's really good at participating in the nonsense #whilst also making it very clear that she thinks this is all nonsense #she is OVER your shit but yes she will help #this is nothing against grian btw it was just a very funny moment #geminitay #grian #secret life spoilers #secret life #secret life smp #life series #trafficblr

[extraaa-30]

at the pitch meeting for the job episode:

someone: we need to establish continuity with the s1 biblical scenes, some kind of callback

neil and/or douglas mackinnon, about to be the funniest people alive: oh, haven't you heard...?

#crowley's not up for killing kids 😊🐐 #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #bildad the shuhite #good omens fandom #good omens memes #go #yes i'm aware he also canonically doesn't kill human children #and i'm as much a fan of adopted parent of the feral neighborhood hoards crowley hcs as the next person #but the way the ark scene was shot is always SO funny to me #crowley: not the kids?!?! #az: yes even the human young😔 #crowley: ..them too??? #most gifs by @fuckyeahgoodomens btw #my only addition is the shit one at the end #extraaa

[feluka]

I don't know how you lot have managed to stay in charge all this time. -I'm not sure we have.

#good omens #aziraphale #muriel #my gifs #good omens spoilers #muriel's laugh when they say 'yes exactly!' makes my heart sing. they're so cuteeeeeeeee. best addition to the cast

[stardustshimmer]

The scallywag in me told me to turn Magolor into a swashbuckler instead of sleeping at a reasonable hour.

I happily obeyed.

Anyways meet Captain Magolor, or as I personally like to call him, Magolarrr!

#yes this means the lor starcutter is a pirate ship #I may or may not try to include this concept in the Meta Pirate AU… #the design may or may not change later #I mean I’m liking it so far #but I might make a few additions to it #ok eat up magolor fans! good night! #kirby #kirby fanart #kirby art #kirby au #stardustshimmer’s meta pirate #magolor #magolor kirby #magolor fanart #my art

[springs-hurts]

Okay it's little sad but kind of funny how Merlin didn't know his father, Arthur didn't know his mother as in just one parent. Arthur was good with swords, Merlin had magic...

Meanwhile Morgana and Morgause- both Orphans,both had magic and were good with swords, a complete package 😭😭🙏🙏

#We definitely did not need Arthur and Merlin #Just kidding #In all seriousness #Don't think Morgana was as good with swords as fandom likes to portray #Because Arthur worked on his skills #Had tutors to help him #Morgana #Don't think she had that much training #And anyway #Who cares #Arthur was best warrior out there go argue with a wall #But I digress #Morgause was a later addition #Later as in #In my mind later #Anyway #So Merlin and Arthur were completing each other #Morgana didn't need anyone else to complete her #That's why she didn't need any partner #Yes #bbc merlin #bbc arthur #BBC Morgana #Morgana pendragon #arthur pendragon #merlin bbc #Arthur and Merlin #Two sides of same coin #Morgana was like- I don't need an other half #I'm enough for myself

[wander-wren]

small things to stop doing in your fics

(or any kind of writing, but i live on ao3. we begin with flat-out crimes and then slowly start moving into things that just bug me personally but aren’t wrong)

epithets. if i’ve said it once, i’ve said it a thousand times. you should only be using epithets for characters whose names we do not know. they can also be used VERY rarely to break up the repetition of names/pronouns or to emphasize characters’ relationships/viewpoints, ie “his boyfriend” or “the asshole.”

writing out accents. please stop. you can include a couple of small things, like “somethin’” or “ya” (for “you”), but even keep that to a minimum. specific turns of phrase/references go way farther imo to establish a character’s culture/background/etc. a little goes a long way, and doing it repeatedly can make sentences hard to parse. this also! applies! to children and babytalk! have you ever listened to a child speak? toddlers can enunciate pretty well!

not enough commas. put commas before names and titles. it’s not “Hey John” or “I’m on it captain,” it’s “Hey, John” and “I’m on it, captain.” also, put them after discourse markers/interjections such as “well,” “so,” and “now.” you should be writing “So, how are the kids?” not “So how are the kids?” even if your character is speaking quickly, you still want the commas because of grammar. it can occasionally be acceptable to omit them if you want to indicate extreme excitement/panic/anger/etc, but use it sparingly.

too many commas. i’m a comma fiend like the rest of you so i’m guilty here too, but we gotta at least stop with the comma splices. commas split and independent and dependent clause, meaning that one part of the sentence cannot grammatically stand alone. if all parts are complete sentences on their own, that’s a comma splice. try splitting it into two sentences, using a semicolon, or rewriting. this is usually fine in dialogue, though, that’s just how people talk.

also, using a lot of commas to denote panic is something i used to be HUGELY guilty of and now i hate it. instead of, “I, I, I don’t, I don’t know,” you can try, “I-I…I don’t—I don’t know!” probably not that much punctuation that close together, but for the sake of example. emdashes and ellipses, my beloveds 🫶

roleplay speak. i don’t know what else to succinctly call this? i’m referring to the tendency to be redundant and over-explain, especially in dialogue. it’s a phenomenon i see constantly in rp circles, usually because of post length requirements (and i have little issue with it there, it’s just the culture). things like:

“Surprise!” Adam shouted, popping out from behind the door.

“Oh my god!” Scott screamed, having been completely startled and not expecting Adam to be home yet.

yeah, we can guess that Scott is startled, right? because of the screaming? and clearly if Adam is surprising Scott it stands to reason his presence is unexpected? why are we stating this twice?

i believe this also comes from the mistaken idea that every line of dialogue needs a tag attached, which is….horrible. you can let the dialogue exist on its own sometimes, friends. you can also include an action beat without a tag. like above, i could have just said “Adam popped out from behind the door” and omitted the shouting altogether. we can assume he is being loud because that’s usually how people do surprises. anyway. moving on.

condescending to readers. this isn’t so much about writing as it is author’s notes and the like, and “condescending” may be a strong word, but i’m trying to be succinct. at any rate, please stop telling your audience to not read your fic? “do not read if sensitive to [blank]” or “if you have [disorder] skip this fic!” is a horrible way to trigger warn. people know their own boundaries. tell them what the work actually contains and let them self-select.

i also find “rest stop/check-in” type notes condescending, like “if you are reading this between the hours of 10pm-4am, go to sleep” and “STOP! have you eaten/drank/walked around in the past few hours? go do that!” again, we know ourselves. i’m not your kid, don’t tell me what to do. i don’t mind a polite, casual little “thanks for reading, remember to drink water and take your meds, bye” note, though.

the others in this category? i will straight up not read the fic over that on some days. ESPECIALLY because, in my experience, the people who are most intense about warning for every little thing are the ones with the mildest fics, and that’s not what i’m here for.

complaining about your own wrong tags. this is, admittedly, such a nitpick, and it definitely is more common in certain communities than others. but as longtime followers may know, i’m a bit obsessed with ao3’s tagging system and it drives me BONKERS when people use the wrong tags and follow it with “not actually but there’s no tag for xyz.” here’s the thing: you can still look at all the works that have ANY tag, just the non-canonized ones can’t be filtered on. and the best way to get a tag canonized is, guess what, to USE it! imagine that. also, if you’re using the wrong tag, you’re just going to clog the filter results and get people who don’t actually want to read your fic. just stop.

#writing advice #fanfiction #wren writes #writeblr #this has been in my drafts for a while getting things added to it as i come across them #i think it’s good now #feel free to add your own grievances as long as they’re small #last addition was the commas bc i just dnf’d a fic for having like no commas ever #why is every character talking at warp speed i cant focus #also yes i’m a hypocrite bc you can probably find at least most of these in my fics. ik i have the rp speak one very recently. but thats bc #its a rp turned fic and i’m lazy about editing #i dont mind it in that case i think rp fics are fun its when its clearly Not a rp fic that i get annoyed by it

[feathered-serpents]

I’m just saying. I think the man is this close to choosing violence

#good omens #yes this was originally an addition to another post but I thought it was funny enough to make its own post #I do not care if you agree #good omens 2

[notbecauseofvictories]

stealingmirrors replied to your post “rolling cookie dough I made a few days ago into...”

that pasta you talked about in the tags sounds actually divine??? would that i could be a friend in your kitchen, that all sounds lovely

...it was really, really good, even reheated in the office kitchen or left on the countertop as I bustled about, working from home.

Honestly, I have yet to encounter a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen that isn’t good, easy to understand, and most importantly, flexible---I have Jamaican beef handpies in the freezer, I’ve left pastry proofing for forty-eight plus hours; even in the recipe below I basically kept stirring and adding pasta water until the cream sauce was exactly the consistency I wanted, no measurements required. I love a recipe so durable that you actually can’t fuck it up, unless you have truly no knowledge of cooking at all, in which case: sorry and also, thank you for supporting the takeout economy.

So in celebration of great recipes and the people who hate them, from America’s Test Kitchen Vegetables Illustrated:

#I didn't realize I would be this person BUT! cookbooks are good actually. #I think I prefer the ebooks because they're searchable and can be bookmarked with a click of the mouse and are still portable #but also. it's really nice to know that a bunch of people in a kitchen tried adding an additional cup of cream #or shallots vs onions #and decided #yes actually. this is the best version. #even if I disagree! I just like knowing someone thought about it #........also I think you should add some red pepper flakes to the shallots when you saute them #tw food #no love sincerer than the love of food

[hand-face-chan]

I'm only halfway though Hbomberguy's new video and I dont know if this is a universal experience but my main horrified takeaway from hbomb's plagiarism video so far is that one of my highschools TAUGHT AN ENTIRE CLASS OF 13 YEAR OLDS TO PLAGIARISE. LIKE, ON PURPOSE.

I ended up moving to a much better highschool, but my first highschool essentially taught us to "write" essays by reading what someone else had written and then write what they said again but putting it "into your own words". Which in practice was teaching us to change, for example, "the works of Shakespeare were regarded by many as the first popular art form" to "Shakespeare's plays have been said by some to be the first example of popular media". One teacher actually told us that the process of writing an essay was "saying what the people you've researched have said, in a way where it sounds like you said it".

Like. The tactics that actual plagiarists use to hide the fact that they were stealing. An actual teacher tried to teach me to do that.

#hbomberguy #im so glad i left that school early the next year. it definitely would have gotten worse. #i literally didnt learn what a bibliography was until grade 9 because of how shit my first highschool was. #at the same time if a student wrote a paper that was 'too good' even if it was orginal theyd accuse them of stealing without proof #like i wrote a completely original paper and got the note 'this is very good - did you write it all yourself?' #fuck you man. yes i did. despite you trying to teach me to do the opposite #they accused me of getting my parents to write it for me. i had to show them everything i researched and my dad lost it at them #this was also the same school where they took every kid with a disability out of maths regardless of if they were good at maths or not #and taught them shapes like they were fucking three years old #i remember hanging out in the maths with all the other autistic kids and prentending to have never seen a triangle before for a joke #and while thats really bad and abelist. the non-disabled kids were still being taught addition and division like they were 8 and not 12 #the whole thing was a massive fuck up shit fest. it took the year 7 maths teacher leaving for us to all get the same maths class #and we STILL werent being taught to an age appropriate level because we missed so much grade 7 maths it had to be caught up in grade 8 #i would burn it down but its not a highschool anymore lol

[kyouka-supremacy]

Akutagawa calling Atsushi by his name there and there and there but really where's Atsushi calling Akutagawa by his first name

#I don't really care about Akutagawa calling Atsushi by his name like. yeah it's cute. But Jinko is an extremely cute nickname already. #Atsushi letting go of the surname on the other hand!!!!! Now we're talking. #Yes I'm thinking again about How to Tame a Tiger's Hair by Mississippi_moon yes I think about this 1706 words fic an unhealthy amount #ryūnosuke akutagawa #atsushi nakajima #sskk #bsd #bungou stray dogs #mine #I thought of a very good and well worded addition to this post right before going to sleep but I was too tired to write it down... #Now I've forgotten about it and I'm wondering if sleep was worth it #Probably‚ yes #q. #04/10/22

[art-soboro]

hiii what's good guys : ) i got the absolute pleasure and a privilege of joining @starstrider's 5e planescape campaign as a pallid elf druid (circle of stars) named Idhesur Velalu and so far it's been an incredible blast! Idhesur is a reused character from a one-shot i took part in back in 2022 and since then i've had a hankering to revisit them because i got really attached to the concept. they were due for a slight redesign and so they got one along with an impromptu reference sheet (that doesn't even cover all of the details but thats a problem for the future me). the third image is their original one-shot token that i've attached for fun (and which is also due for a remake...)

Idhesur is old, kinda mean and will sell your grandma's ashes if that means their survival and or if said ashes are worth a damn in the first place. they also use any pronouns! diversity win. they've lost their way in life somewhat but don't let that get to them lest the horrors (decades old suppressed trauma) catch up to them. the usual!

+ PATTERN BRUSHES USED (CLIP STUDIO PAINT): 1751605 1742204

#dnd characters #dnd art #pallid elf #dnd druid #circle of stars druid #character design #artists on tumblr #original art #idhesur tag #i debated posting this kinda cus its not that good of a reference sheet imo (ie the missing ''layers''/details/angles etc) #so i thought to maybe postpone it until i expand on it a bit but i could always rb this with the necessary additions later #so like yeah why shouldnt i #for now though im taking a break from this design and going to try to do smth else #sorry for the radio silence by the way it's been rough art wise for a good bit now but we're living we're chilling #for those curious also the pallid elf species was pulled from the explorer's guide to wildemount sourcebook #yes the cr*trole one. i think i settled on a very specific idea for the character look/build pretty quickly back then #and it was a great fit

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Just watched the newest Percy Jackson ep and I genuinely liked the way they did the Medusa part and how they’re handling Grover

#Grover my boy #grover underwood #grover #grover pjo #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #pjo tv series #pjo disney+ #semispoilers starting here #like yes he’s fucking tired of these two arguing all the time! he gets to be pissed that they won’t get along! #the consensus song my beloved #I like that we get an actual reaction to his uncle ferdinand being dead cuz like yeah that shit would hurt #the fury (no clue how to spell her name) and medusa each giving annabeth and percy an offer and them denying it was actually a really good #addition in my opinion like it really solidifies their loyalty to not only the quest but to each other #they had the option to get what they truly wanted and they said no and I really liked that #medusa was so pretty and I love how she’s truly our first introduction to the bad side of the gods outside of how percy feels about his dad #also!!! the k on the sneakers!!!!!! luke!!!!!!!!!! #as funny as gabe saying the prophecy was I would’ve liked to hear the oracle say it #I had kinda built up the scene and hearing the raspy dead voice of the oracle say the prophecy would’ve have made an amazing scene #and using gabe for more of a comedic tone kinda dampened the scene for me #but it looked phenomenal and I really can’t wait to see how they do the prophecys in the second and third books #I wanna know who would appear for clarisse and the hunters #I think ares showing up for clarisse and artemis showing up for the hunters would be really interesting #so setting up the whole ‘a different person shows up for everyone’ should be cool #I just can’t get over how it was gabe #i would’ve liked to see that scene but it’s sally or poseidon saying the prophecy for extra impact #I’ll stop nitpicking now it was a really good episode #autism (mads) speaks

[vinniesasslicker1]

Imagine this…

Imagine this beautiful man sleeping ever so peacefully in your bed. He’s cuddling the blanket with it in between his sweet thighs while he’s naked, the blanket hiding the good parts. His beautiful hips are visible as well as one of his thighs. His soft snores taking over the silence of the room.

Now you can go to sleep, ur welcome.

(What would you do?)

#kiss band #vinnie vincent #Good night #and yes I’m going to bed early #Imagine this… Vinnie addition

[pharawee]

"tawan would have lived an ordinary but good life if he didn't meet kinn" excuse me Jane? Making me feel for that hoe??

No but seriously that's making me think and I think it's more of korns doing than kinn. Because everyone says kinn was soft until tawan betrayed him and yeah my brain doesn't have enough cells to be more coherent

Ohoho! I'm so glad you sent me this ask. I have so many ~thoughts~ about Tawan.

I mean, let's face it. Tawan isn't a good person. With the way he kidnapped and then kicked an unconscious Chay he might not even be redeemable (if he didn't, you know, die).

I have this headcanon that Tawan (in the series - in the book he's just ?? ???) led an ordinary life until he met Kinn. I mean, they met where? At uni? I bet Tawan was cute and flirty and ambitious, and Kinn was pretty much Mr Perfect. His lifestyle must have seemed so glamourous and appealing to an outsider like Tawan (because I don't think he was part of that whole mafia thing at all).

And I believe Tawan when he says that it all began to fall apart when some rival mafias started threatening his family (because all the best lies are told when you add a bit of the truth to them). I don't think Tawan meant to betray Kinn. I think he was just way in over his head and panicked. Which of course made him a liability and a threat. So yeah, you're right, Korn would have realised right away and made sure that his empire Kinn is safe. He probably thought it a kindness to let Kinn think that Tawan had always been a mole and that shooting him was the only choice left to him (because we know Kinn is too soft and would have never done so otherwise).

So, yeah, it might not have been Kinn's intention, and perhaps his only fault lies in being too naive and too blinded by love but, in a way, Kinn loving Tawan was Tawan's downfall.

And of course, that's when Vegas swept in and gleefully manipulated what was left of Tawan further until all that remained was blind devotion. Who in their right mind would even believe all of Vegas' sweet nothings? All it needed was a ring - which is such a simple and sad and very un-mafia-like thing. I feel like not even Vegas fully realised that Tawan was never cut out for all of that mafia stuff. In the end, it turned him into the loose cannon that we meet in the series.

That isn't to say that Tawan is a victim only. He's more like... collateral damage. Weak and very human. A tragic villain, at most. A very pretty and unhinged and amazingly acted one at that. He totally stole the show for me and sometimes I still make up little fics in my head about him before I fall asleep lmao

#ask #kinnporsche tawan #kinnporsche #that was... probably way too tl;dr #but i have a lot of feelings about tawan #is he horrible? yes #do i love him? yes #and this is also why (in addition to so many other things lmao) #porsche and kinn were such a good fit #because like it or not porsche is so much more suited to mafia life #and tawan just... went under

[stvlti]

linger like a sandwalk - a playlist for Dune Part Two

I'm back 💃 after 2 years of not posting new playlists for my fandoms 💃 this new Dune movie is living in my head rent free 😮‍💨 of course I had to make fanmix for this one to try and consolidate my thoughts.

Tracks ⏏️

Bloodline -- Gabriels  //  No Church in the Wild -- Jay-Z & Kanye West  //  Mary Magdalene -- FKA Twigs  //  Pink Matter  -- Frank Ocean  //  Smother -- Daughter  //  Say You'll Go -- Janelle Monáe  //  A Time of Quiet Between Storms (Dune Part Two OST) -- Hans Zimmer  //  Your Blood -- Nothing But Thieves  //  The River -- Kero Kero Bonito  //  Bad Religion -- Frank Ocean  //  Telekinesis -- Travis Scott ft. SZA & Future  //  Transform -- Daniel Caesar ft. Charlotte Day Wilson

Meta ⏏️

An explanation of the song choices & related thoughts on the film *

(*) I still have not read the book *lies down* As soon as life slows down I swear I will. The 2 Denis Villeneuve films combined already make for a rich narrative and storyworld however, and this playlist is very much based on that.

▶️ Bloodline -- Gabriels

It's the bloodline This thing came before you Bloodline

I wanted to open this playlist on something that gets right at (one of) the core themes of Villeneuve's Dune, and to me that is the idea of bloodlines, legacies and self-fulfilling prophecies.

Birth rights can be stole Truth is you were always alone Tears in your hands Seems you lost before you began Your ancestors' blood fed the soil and the sand

I think a point that many filmgoers miss - and is also a point I missed on my first viewing of Part Two - is that the Lisan Al Gaib prophecy and Paul's claim to it is wholly manufactured. Upon rewatch, several lines in the 2 films jumped out to me: 'On Arrakis, a path has been laid' (Mother Mohiam in Part One), and first Paul (during his first meal in Sietch Tabr) and then Lady Jessica's declaration that they must persuade the non-believers that he is the Lisan Al Gaib so as to ensure their continued survival among the Fremen. Irulan's later commentary, 'these are our religious patterns', cemented this fact for me. We are reminded that The Bene Gesserit has sent missionaries to the Fremen over decades and centuries, creating the religious circumstances for Paul to consolidate power among the natives. He has as much a claim to the title of the Mahdi / Lisan Al Gaib as any other outerworlder from the Houses of the Imperium - that is to say, he isn't really the Chosen One. 'Birth rights can be stole', and this is a birth right he stole.

Yet, he does undoubtedly hail from his mother's Bene Gesserit lineage and, through consuming the Water of Life, inherit the ancestral memories of both his masculine and feminine forebearers from both the royal bloodlines and the Fremen lineage of Reverend Mothers. (We see this during the montage after he takes the WoL, falling through a super cut of the faces of the Fremen Reverend Mothers who came before him before eventually finding a vision of Alia on the sand dunes.) His 'ancestors' blood fed the soil and the sand' on which he now stands as the (false) prophet that will lead his Fremen tribe to ruin...

It's the bloodline Don't let it destroy you Bloodline

... and in ascending to the title of the Mahdi, he will undoubtedly lose everything that made him Paul the individual in the first place. Greater prophecies, plans and conspiracies will eclipse his humanity. This is the real bloodline that drives him to war and genocide. 'Don't let it destroy you' - but maybe it's already too late.

▶️ No Church in the Wild -- Jay-Z & Kanye West

I mean, come on, this song choice is just too obvious isn't it?

Human beings in a mob What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God? What's a God to a non-believer who don't believe in anything? Will he make it out alive? Alright, alright No church in the wild

'Mob' = the Fremen and their Fedaykin guerilla troops. 'King' = Rabban, and later Feyd-Rautha, and the Harkonnen regime. 'God' = Paul as Mahdi and Muad'dib, the desert terrorist. 'Non-believer' = Chani and her brethren among the Northern skeptics.

But the sonical landscape of this song also played a huge part in my inclusion of the song on this list. I'm a lover of words before all else, but something about Dune made me want to curate a sonically coherent playlist that accompanies the story in lyrics as much as it does in sound. The grueling, forward momentum of this song's iconic beat lends itself to the raids the Fedaykin warriors launched against the Harkonnen-controlled spice fields.

▶️ Mary Magdalene -- FKA Twigs

In my head I call this the quintessential Bene Gesserit song. Listen, and read the lyrics:

A woman's work A woman's prerogative

The song makes it clear from the very first lines that it's about the woman's birthright and sovereignty. Most of the Bene Gesserit ladies we see in this film have roots in the royal bloodlines themselves. In that, they have a claim to a particular prerogative. Yet they also actively govern the domain of procreation, descendancy, succession, and survival of royal bloodlines. That is the nature of 'a woman's work' in this storyworld.

A woman's touch, a sacred geometry I know where you start, where you end How to please, how to curse Yes, I learnt you needed me Yes, I'm here to open you Yes, I know that your heart is blue (So cold)

FKA Twigs' darkly seductive vocals paired with this particular verse really evokes that entire Lady Fenring/Feyd-Rautha sequence.

I fear before the fire True as Mary Magdalene Creature of desire Come just a little bit closer to me Step just a little bit closer to me

The seduction continues here, but there's power inherent in the 'creature of desire' Mary Magdalene represents. Her story and her iconography bears a heavy resemblance to the Bene Gesserit sisters and their relationships with the men of the Imperium and its court.

I can lift you higher I do it like Mary Magdalene I want you to say it Come just a little bit closer 'til we collide

A woman's hands So dark and provocative A nurturing breath that could stroke Your divine confidence

I really fuck with the Mary Magdalene allegory in this song, and the chorus nails the mythos and authority she commands in modern reimaginings of her figure in relation to Jesus' mythos. Yet there's something softer in the latter half of the chorus - the devotion she shows to her partner is on equal footing, less of manipulation and more of the muse she can be for him to realise his full potential. With the arrival of the second verse we truly see how important she is to a man's dominion. 'A nurturing breath that could stroke [His] divine confidence': that is the power of Lady's Jessica's love for and devotion to Leto Atreides.

A woman's war Unoccupied history True nature won't search to destroy If it doesn't make sense

Of course, it would be remiss of me not to point out that certain parts of the Bene Gesserit's characterisation functions as a manifestation and perpetuation of Frank Herbert's very of-its-time misogynistic, gender essentialist ideas of a woman's station and the (only) avenue through which she derives her power in the material world - her womb. (Miss me with that radical feminist bs.) But we also see, in the film, Princess Irulan's character: a female historian whom the film suggests would have been happier free from the trappings of the Bene Gesserit programme and her Imperial lineage. 'A woman's war; unoccupied history': Mary Magdalene is a prime example of how for most of history, women are often anonymous (as that Virginia Woolf saying goes), their histories are often erased and deemed as unimportant; Irulan's inner thoughts and history are also cast aside and given no voice in the Dune narrative, but in an ironic twist, she dedicates her life to documenting the history of others.

▶️  Pink Matter -- Frank Ocean

What do you think my brain is made for? Is it just a container for the mind? This great, grey matter Sensei replied, "What is your woman? Is she just a container for the child?" That soft, pink matter

This song provides more of a male - or at least, androgynous - perspective on the question of the Bene Gesserit breeding programme ('Is she just a container for the child?' / 'My God, she's giving me pleasure'). But it gets right at the core of the question of whether the women in this universe, and the avenue through which they gain power, is truly confined to being 'just a container for the child'. I also really liked the direct parallels Frank Ocean's lyrics draw between the womb (pink matter) and the mind (grey matter), as the other main source of power Jessica drives from is through her mind and the prescience becoming the Reverend Mother has afforded her.

▶️ Smother -- Daughter

In my head I call this Lady Jessica's song.

I want all that is not mine I want him, but we're not right In the darkness, I will meet my creators And they will all agree that I'm a suffocator

I think it's more intimate than either of the 2 songs that come before this one, and centres Jessica squarely in her role as a mother before her place as a Bene Gesserit sister. She knows she will meet her creators - the generations of mothers and Bene Gesserit sisters who came before her - and she knows they will disapprove of the path she has manipulated to suit her ends, first for Duke Leto (in bearing him a son) and then for her son's survival (in spreading propaganda of him as the Lisan Al Gaib among the Fremen tribes). Now I know that the films sort of reduce her to a one-dimensional villain in Part Two, but I've heard that she is a lot less gungho about their little homegrown personality cult of Paul as the Lisan Al Gaib / Mahdi in the book. In fact, his accelerated transformation into a religious figurehead and his willingness to exploit the Fremen for that, at the cost of his own humanity, seems to be an unintended outcome that she regrets. She has unwittingly become a 'suffocator', in that regard - a mother killing her own child's humanity in his metaphorical cradle as soon as she exposed him to tales of the prophecy.

Oh love I'm sorry if I smothered you I sometimes wish I'd stayed inside My mother

▶️  Say You'll Go -- Janelle Monáe

Say you'll go to Nirvana Will you leave Samsara? Or in the words of Dhammapada, "Who will lead? Who will follow?" Our love will sail in this ark The world could end outside our window Let's find forever And write our name in fire on each others' hearts

Something about Janelle's crooning vocals against the symphonic strings and melodies just makes this a timeless love song. I love including it in for my ships 🥺 and I think it rather fits PaulChani, the star-crossed lovers that they are. 'Let's find forever' is my 'I will love you as long as I breathe'.

But of course, the question of whether Paul will go south looms over their heads like the Sword of Damocles. 'Will you leave Samsara? ... Who will lead? Who will follow?'

▶️  A Time of Quiet Between Storms (Dune Part Two OST)

Among the Dune OST, this song holds a higher and special place in my heart because of the way it celebrates their first on-screen kiss, but is also used as a reprise of sorts at the end of the film as Chani walks out on Paul. It's a bittersweet track. And it's lived in my mind rent free much the same way that last shot of Chani, with her quivering lips and angry eyes, has.

This brings me to the name of the playlist: the PaulChani tragedy, and just, the film as a whole, has definitely lingered in my mind. It has dragged against my thoughts gently, but persistently like the rhythm of a sandwalk.

I also chose to place it in the middle of playlist to sever it into 2 parts, much the same way the film is severed into 2 parts: before Paul undergoes the Water of Life ritual, when he is still an idealistic boy who actively rejects the title of the Mahdi for fear of the wartorn future he's foreseen, and afterwards, when he claims the mantle of the Mahdi.

▶️  Your Blood -- Nothing But Thieves

You know it's your blood that I bleed Tell me that there's some way that I'll get through the night I carry your moral disease I don't wanna be something I'm not to stay alive

You guys don't know how long I've wanted to put this song on a fanmix!! I've called this Joey Wilson/Jericho's song from the moment I heard it 😂 but I think the same themes can be found in Paul's story too, specifically his first scene right after recovering from the Water of Life ritual. 'We're Harkonnens.' And his realisation that that's how they'll survive: by becoming Harkonnens. It's the Baron's blood that he bleeds, and conflicted as he is about that, eventually he'll come to realise that he has to 'be something I'm not to stay alive'.

▶️  The River -- Kero Kero Bonito

Holy mother Receive our hearts in your arms And let our souls pass The day the rain returns again

These 4 lines are repeated throughout the song, almost like a prayer. It reminds me of the way Stilgar holds onto those same 4 words, 'As it was written', throughout the film as an affirmation of his religious convictions - the belief that the true Mahdi will bring paradise one day and with it, the rain.

When Earth is submerging And heaven is open The river will carry all of us to Where we belong ... Then a torrent crashes down Releasing the jungle swelling in the ground And as was foretold our time is out

▶️  Bad Religion -- Frank Ocean

If it brings me to my knees It's a bad religion This unrequited love To me, it's nothing but a one-man cult And cyanide in my styrofoam cup I can never make him love me Never make him love me

This song places us in Chani's pov. To her, Paul's meteoric rise of notoriety among the Fremen is 'nohting but a one-man cult'. She loved him as he was - an outsider who stayed humble and learnt her ways, and earned a place among her Fedaykin brethren. But as a power-tripping outerworlder claiming to be the Mahdi - she doesn't recognise him, and she 'can never make him love [her]' again, not as the man he has become.

▶️  Telekinesis -- Travis Scott ft. SZA & Future

I could've took the pain and I could've went out sad Streets stepped in and raised me, but I ain't have my daddy

So I'm gonna be honest: this is actually the track that started this entire project for me 🙈 But you see it, right? Travis Scott as Paul's voice, and SZA as Chani's...

I can see the future, it's lookin' like we level through the sky I can't wait to live in glory in eternal lastin' life

The fact that 'I can see the future' is the refrain of this song. In its original context I'm almost certain that Travis meant it less literally, and more in the realm of being able to guess the trajectory of his career as he continues to top the charts as a hip hop superstar. But it lends well to the context of Paul's religious myth-making as well. 'Eternal lasting life' and all that.

How can I sleep when you're out catchin' bodies? I still wanna be with you, trust me, I know that's insane ... We both ain't shit and it's workin' for me Workin' for me, yeah I can see the future, I can see the future

The thing that breaks my heart about the ending of the film is that you can see Chani still loves Paul, but not who he has become. I also like that the song flips the refrain around and has SZA sing it too. Except when she says, 'I can see the future', she says it self-deprecatingly. It's a future of more heartbreak and betrayal (by way of mutual infidelity) and ruin.

▶️  Transform -- Daniel Caesar ft. Charlotte Day Wilson

If a leopard never changes its spots How can I change what I've got? Transform, transform, transform, transform We don't punish the tiger for catching its prey So how am I the one to blame? If it's in my nature Transform, transform, transform, transform

One thing rewatching these films has made me realise is that Paul's 'sudden flip' to becoming a coloniser exploiting the Fremen's religion for his own gains in Imperial politics after drinking the Water of Life is actually less of a plot twist and more of an inevitability that has been advertised since Part One. Towards the end of the first film, he says to Liet Kynes that he intends to marry one of the Emperor's daughters and make a play for the throne. In Part Two, during his first meal at Sietch Tabr, he says to his mother that he must convince the non-believers that he is the Lisan Al Gaib. He may not have intended to bear the mantle of the Mahdi, perhaps he was foolishly, idealistically looking for a different path towards revenge and the throne, but he has never been above playing the game and utilising court politics to secure his 'victory', so to speak. He was born of royal blood and forged in those politics. It's in his nature.

It's never over until life ends Lay down beside me, do it again

These 2 lines reminds me again of that promise Paul and Chani exchanged: 'I will love you as long as I breathe'. (And if I remember correctly, Chani said something to the effect of 'I will be here for you as long as you stay who you are' as well.) I didn't want to end this playlist on a downer ending, hence this song choice.

If you've made it this far into my meta-commentary, thank you! Hope you've enjoyed this playlist ♡

#Spotify #dune part two #paulchani #Paul Atreides #chani kynes #fremen #lady jessica #yes these are the key characters my playlist represents...will type up meta another time #oh Spotify we're really in it now #remember the good days of 8tracks.com? they really let us post playlists as long as it had 8 songs on it....... #Eugenia's mixes #Eugenia makes stuff #margot fenring #lady fenring #fedaykin #stilgar #now adding other character tags with my new additions to the playlist #Eugenia writes meta

[alhaith4ms]

kaveh who enjoys date nights that involve his favorite wine and building those miniature diy craft rooms together with you <3

#mari's thoughts #he also takes this time to not only spend time with yiu but to also talk shit abt alhaitham #also !! he's so good with making the miniature furniture in the miniature rooms too #kaveh also makes additional furniture or changes the wallpapers of the tiny room with the extra materials he has lying around #kaveh x reader #yes im writing this